WHAT IS A CADASTRAL SURVEY?
Land titles in New Zealand have boundaries recorded in the Cadastre. That is a Government record of where your boundaries are and the approximate area of land contained within those boundaries.
Most titles to land are guaranteed by the government so your boundaries and area cannot be disputed by others. That means a neighbour cannot erect a fence or build across a boundary of a title you own.
The exception is titles that have a record on them (at the top of the title) saying “Limited as to Title”. This means the Government guarantees you own the title, but it doesn’t guarantee the area or boundaries.
Under the Cadastral Survey Act 2002, only a Licensed Cadastral Surveyor can determine your boundaries. In order for a surveyor to become licensed, they must prove to the Cadastral Surveying Licensing Board:
- They have a degree in Surveying that includes knowledge in surveying, civil engineering, law and planning.
- They have completed at least 2 years of practical experience in cadastral surveying.
- They have completed a range of assignments and legal exams that prove their knowledge obtained to graduate with a degree is applied in public.
- They have maintained that knowledge and experience on a year-to-year basis.
A Licensed Cadastral Surveyor may send a field party to mark a boundary, but they must be under their supervision. Not all surveyors are legally permitted to mark someone’s boundary.
Surveying involves precise measurement. This can be in the form of engineering surveying, like the setting out of a bridge, road, dam or tunnel, or cadastral, hydrographic or cartographic.
In Allen’s experience, he has been involved in the setting out of rolls in a paper plant in Kawerau, where parts of a millimetre mean the paper will tear in the machine or not.
Other forms of surveying involve marking out the coordinates of an object, or the precise dimensions of an object.
Cadastral Surveying is different. That is because the boundaries of a parcel not only relate to the location and dimensions of a parcel of land, but also to where the boundary has always been understood to be.
A cadastral surveyor follows a hierarchy of evidence in determining where a boundary is. That hierarchy is, in descending order of importance:
- Natural Boundaries. Where a boundary is, say, a water body, where is that now, and how did it move, if it has.
- Old and Original Marks. A boundary is set out by the surveyor who placed it, no matter what the paper record and calculations show. A cadastral surveyor will always look hard and wide to find marks, buried or obvious, that were placed by the previous surveyor.
- Occupation. Where there are original fences, hedges or other understood boundaries that have always been the understood boundary.
- The guaranteed dimensions and areas of adjoining parcels.
- Finally, the calculated positions of a parcel boundary.
So a Cadastral Surveyor cannot take coordinates onto your property and simply mark out the position of a peg. They are confined to determining where the Government guarantees the boundary to be, and are responsible for determining where the law says that boundary is.
You may see them some properties, or even roads, away from your property, trying to find marks and other evidence of an original survey.
The Government guarantee that backs a Cadastral Survey has no time limit. If a Cadastral Surveyor has been found to be incorrect in their determination of a boundary, they must correct that error at their own cost, whether that’s for a survey 1 year ago or 50 years ago, so we carry hefty (and expensive) insurance to guarantee our work. If a building set out by a cadastral surveyor is found to be over the boundary, the surveyor pays for demolition and correction.
A Cadastral Surveyor cannot treat a survey any lighter or greater depending on the number of pegs placed.
The majority of the time is spent determining where a boundary is. So, after all the evidence has been gathered, they can almost just as easily mark all your boundaries as mark one.
The determination of the boundary location is what counts.
A Cadastral Surveyor is responsible for determining the Government’s guaranteed property boundary. Who engages them is irrelevant to the decision they make in determining where a boundary is.
Another surveyor cannot challenge that determination. Any disputes need to be raised to the Surveyor General, who is the Government-appointed overseer of cadastral surveyors. See Surveyor-General | Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand.