- Why do I Need a Survey? -
If you must obtain a mortgage to purchase your home, the
mortgage institution will require you to provide a survey before
they will release the funds to your lawyer for the purchase of
the home.
A survey will verify the property dimensions to ensure that
what you have been told you are buying is the same as what
you are actually buying. The survey will also
indicate the exact location of all structures on the land and the
distance of the structures from the lot lines. This
information will allow your lawyer to make sure that the location
of the building(s) on the land conform to City By-laws.
Some properties are subject to easements; a right by some
authority over a specific portion of the land. One example
might be a sewer easement where the municipality has the right to
enter on a certain part of the property to install or maintain a
sewer line. A survey will show where some of these
easements are located. This will help your lawyer ensure
that no structures have been built over these easements, and will
in turn allow you to know their locations in the event you should
decide to build any additions in the future.
Who provides the Survey?
The vendor would normally provide the survey; however if the
vendor has no survey, the responsibility for obtaining one falls
with the purchaser. Before you ever sign an offer to
purchase, you should inquire into whether or not there is a
survey.
What if there is no Survey?
A new survey can be obtained from an Ontario Land Surveyor
for any property. Expect to pay $600. to $800. for a
new survey on a property within the city. Rural properties
generally cost more.
If you know that there is no survey before making your offer
to purchase, it is often possible to negotiate with the vendor to
split the cost of the survey. If this is not possible, the total
cost will fall to the purchaser.
An alternative to a survey is to purchase a Title Insurance
policy. Please click here to
see an explanation of the pros and cons of Title Insurance.
Send E-mail to David Fysh at david@davidfysh.com