How to check land size - help!

Hi all,

We have recently had an offer accepted on a property, and my husband has just queried with me where the land actually ends compared to what is shown on the real estate agents details. Across the back garden is a fence that I assumed was to separate off the pool area from the rest of the garden, but we now think that this may actually be the edge of the land and the other land behind that may not actually be part of the property at all!

We have been advised by our solicitor to measure the land in any case, but due to the shape of the land it is very difficult for us to measure it from front to back ourselves, and is in an area where there aren't really fences and things around properties. Is this something we should get a surveyor to do or is there an easier way? Should the survey pegs still be in position, even though the house was built in the 70s?

It says in the contract that we are not able to claim anything if the land size is misdescribed or there are errors in the measurements, so I guess there's nothing we can do (our cooling off period ended today, just before we noticed the difference). However if the land is not what is shown on the real estate agents details then this seems unfair to lead us into thinking that the back section of land would belong to us as well! I was already planning to include a nice sitting area amongst the trees and things, so am a little upset that that portion of the block may not be ours (although it does seem to be used by the current owners).

I will query this with our solicitor but I think there's not much we can do as we've already signed and exceeded our cooling off - but does anyone have any suggestions for how we can find out for sure where our land ends and also who owns the strip of land behind? I think it may be part of a reserve or something, it has trees on so I'd like to know who would be responsible for looking after those...

Any advice to calm me down would be very much appreciated!

Not certain if this is an option... but I have previously looked at my shires mapping system (I live in Perth) to see what was being planned for our estate. I went to the city of cockburn website (my shire) and there was a link to interactive maps by Intramaps. It looks like this may be available for other areas but I haven't looked at it in detail. The details showed each individual lot and the boundaries etc. Just had to put in the address I was looking for. There may be a similar thing available for your area through your shire???

There should be a plan in the contract documents? A council subdivision plan?

Looking at your other thread it appears you have a copy of the title - all boundary dimensions will be written on it. Then you just need to verify on site. It's unlikely there will still be boundary pegs to be found - but you should be able to get a rough measurement from where you think the front boundary may be - get a long flexible measuring tape from Bunnings and do your best to measure on site. If that's not good enough to reassure you then you'll have to pay a surveyor to come out and re-establish your boundaries.

Thanks guys, yes we do have a copy of the title documents showing the plan, and have also got some other copies from the council showing our block too. The problem I was having is that the land is a bit of a funny shape as it is at the end of a cul-de-sac/ court street and has nothing behind it just a reserve or grassy area and some trees. As the plans don't show the position of the house it is hard to tell where the end of the block would be, in real life there are two fences, one at the very back where the trees end and the grass begins, and the other further in the garden which I thought was to fence off the pool but now think is actually the edge of the block.

Thanks bluesuede, I didn't realise buntings sold those really big tape measures so maybe we'll do that just to be sure. It's actually a different block to the one I posted about in a previous thread as we were not successful in buying that house, but we do still have the title docs etc for this one so if we can get on site to measure then hopefully we'll be able to figure it out.

We are however planning an extension at the front and so may have to get a surveyor out to do a site plan for planning applications, in which case they could measure the land for us then I suppose...

Thanks for your suggestions, feeling a bit calmer about it today as my husband has convinced me the garden will still be large enough for us even if that part is not included. Will probably still check the dimensions though to make sure the quoted size is correct, although not much we can do now the cooling off period has been and gone! I still like the house though just would be nice to know who does own that land if we don't....

Thanks

I would get a surveyor, just to be sure, especially if you are going to need one anyway.

If you are in Victoria, you can look at the official map of your title at the following URL:
http://services.land.vic.gov.au/maps/interactive.jsp

you can enter by address, or coordinates, by lot number on plan, etc.
It's great to show you exactly where your property boundaries are, you can search by address, then go to "build map" and choose "aerial photography", then "refresh map", that will overlay an aerial photograph so you can see existing features such as fences, houses etc. and see whether the fence is on the boundary line or not.
Although the aerial map may be several years old, so won't be useful for newer developments.

Thanks ugbug, tried the link - it was really helpful, I didn't realise you could overlay aerial photos

It looks like the patch of land at the back is not part of the block we're buying, as we suspected

Should be OK as the land is still large enough for us, but I'm wondering who that piece of land belongs to - might try to phone the council to see if they can help. There's powerlines nearby so I don't think they'd build on it but you never know, and it'd be good to know who is responsible for maintaining the trees on that section to make sure they're not a fire risk etc.

Is there an easy way to find out who owns land or if it is public land etc? Or is phoning the council my best bet?

Thanks for your help

Try the council, they should have a form to fill out to get owner details to discuss boundary fences.

I know this is a bit of an old post, but if anyone comes along with a similar query here is my experience -
Yes grab a 60m measuring tape from Bunnings, $28 and so useful for all kinds of things, we have given ours quite the workout!
We were having a lot of trouble trying to work out if the fenceline was the boundary line, where exactly the sixmaps (FANTASTIC website!) was telling us the boundary was, looked at where google-maps said the boundary was, we asked the neighbour (who owned the land before subdivision), we run into her ex who knew even more about the boundary lines, and I contacted the real estate selling the block next door to send me a map of the boundary division.
The conclusion we came to was that the six-maps site is completely wrong, and should be 20-30 metres further south - which is a lot over a 450 metre boundary line! And MOST of the fence is in the right place - luckily the most important part!
The reason this was important was because we needed to be able to prove we can get the BAL rating all the way to 33m cleared vegetation from the house site on our own land, in case the neighbours side gets all overgrown etc.
We thought we were going to have to pay $1000 for a surveyor but I think we've gotten away with it...