Boundary disputes, the basicsFrom the survey that finds the problem to the recorded line that ends it

Picture a new fence going in along a line two neighbors read differently. One owner walks it from an old corner, the other from a deed description, and the posts land a few feet apart from where either expected. Boundary disputes of that kind are argued from records, and the first record that matters is a current boundary survey.

Establishing or reestablishing land boundaries, and locating physical improvements, are part of the practice of land surveying under Va. Code 54.1-400. The surveyor licensing board's rule for a land boundary survey, 18VAC10-20-370, requires the surveyor to search the land records for the proper description of the land being surveyed and for the description of the adjoining land as it pertains to the common boundaries, then to compare the evidence found from all known sources, including evidence found in the field.

The professional must clearly identify on the plats, maps, and reports inconsistencies found in the research of common boundaries between the land being surveyed and the adjoining land.

18VAC10-20-370

That note on the plat puts a conflict between the two record descriptions on paper. How the fieldwork and the research are carried out, and how a current survey differs from a plat compiled from older papers, is covered in how land surveys work.

Neighbors who can agree on where the line should be have more than one way to settle it without a lawsuit, and each carries its own limits.

A boundary line agreement under Va. Code 15.2-2201

The definition of subdivision in Va. Code 15.2-2201 keeps a local subdivision ordinance from precluding a boundary line agreement between owners of adjacent parcels, but only one used to resolve a bona fide property line dispute and kept inside the statute's limits. What those limits are, and whether a particular agreement fits them, is worked through in what a boundary line agreement is and when Virginia law allows one; drafting it, and whether and how it is recorded, are an attorney's work.

A lot line moved by plat or vacated by deed

Under Va. Code 15.2-2275 a locality may provide in its subdivision ordinance that lot lines may be vacated, relocated or otherwise altered as part of a valid, properly recorded plat of subdivision or resubdivision. That action may not relocate streets, alleys, easements for public passage or other public areas, and no easement or utility right of way may be relocated or altered without the express consent of everyone holding an interest in it. Alternatively, a locality may allow lot lines to be vacated by a recorded deed providing that no easements or utility rights of way along the vacated lines are extinguished or altered without the express consent of all persons holding any interest in them. The deed must be approved in writing on its face by the governing body or its designee and must reference the recorded plat that created the line.

Carroll County's posted subdivision ordinance, dated April 14, 2014, has a device of its own, the boundary line adjustment, set beside the agreement in the boundary line agreement glossary entry. That ordinance says an adjustment is not a subdivision but requires the Agent, the county's subdivision agent, to review and approve its plat before it is recorded. The county's current Land Use and Planning page, by contrast, treats every division of a lot or parcel as a subdivision. Whether that plat review still applies when neighbors settle a line by an agreement under the state language, and what the current ordinance says, are questions for Carroll County Land Use and Planning, 276-730-3008.

Virginia's division fence statutes run on their own track. Adjoining landowners build and maintain division fences between their lands at joint and equal expense, unless one of them chooses to let his land lie open or they agree otherwise.

Neighbors can agree otherwise, and the Code says when such a deal outlasts them. An agreement about building or maintaining the division fence binds successors in title only if it is in writing and specifically says so, is recorded in the deed book in the clerk's office of the county where the land lies, and is properly indexed as deeds must be. The fence statutes decide who pays for a fence; where the line runs is still the survey's question, and the court's if it comes to that.