Boundary Dispute Methodology

When involved with boundary disputes, Met Consultancy Group (Met) takes great pride in providing clear, impartial, mapping evidence for use by clients, their Solicitors and in some cases, the Court. We examine all boundary disputes objectively regardless of what preferred solution has been expressed.

Traditionally, when a boundary dispute exists between two parties the surveyor will compare ground measurements to all relevant historical mapping. Met use this method and ensure all boundary dispute surveyors can:

  • Read and interpret title deeds and any plans attached
  • Understand and demonstrate knowledge for the history and accuracies of Ordinance Survey (OS) mapping which forms the basis of the majority of title deeds
  • Formulate an accurate written assessment of any findings through sound analytical skills
  • Facilitate and maintain temperament when dealing with strong emotions present in boundary dispute, and
  • Prepare a full Court report if required.

Overlays

Before Computer Aided Design came to the fore, any comparisons would be made by simply comparing like for like dimensions from the survey and the existing mapping. Film or “see through” plots of any surveys would often be used to overlay the existing mapping for comparison purposes. More recently we have been able to combine our surveys with existing mapping by inserting scanned documents into AutoCAD and thus creating a single homogenous plan.

Reliable, common points of detail (e.g. building corners) are used to fit the scanned mapping to our survey which has sub-centimetre accuracy. The accuracy of the scanned mapping can be instantly compared visually by seeing how well the line-work coincides. The surveyed detail can be seen as coloured lines – the scanned title deed are generally thicker black lines and the boundary shaded red.

Setting out

It is often the case that Met will set out the revised position of the boundary in question from the resultant position of our overlay. This might be following the instruction of the Court or through a mutual agreement of both parties to avoid any misinterpretation of our plans. All boundary works are

performed by trained surveyors with accurate equipment who can use the same control stations that were used for the initial survey.

We will always provide the best possible solution with an indication of our confidence in the outcome through an accuracy statement.