Existing Survey & Subsequent Landowners – Texas
I suppose my primary end question is: In Texas, can a surveyor be held liable by a current landowner for a survey that he prepared for a previous landowner? Here is a not so theoretical situation:
- Landowner A buys two city lots in 1988 that have been foreclosed on that are called to be 60′ N-S by 98′ E-W, but never oficially platted which are bounded on the East by a city street; bounded on the West by a dedicated alley, and bounded on the North and South by other landowners.
- Landowner B buys the two lots in 2009 using a survey that Landowner A has prepared by “Cut Rate Surveys 4 U”. Cut Rate Surveys 4 U (CRS4U) does not conduct the proper deed research, but instead uses a “Tax Map” that Landowner A provides showing the lot dimensions to be 60′ x 115′. CRS4U’s final survey shows the exterior dimension of the property to be 115.000′ by 119.999′ with no found monuments. The lot is now shown to be bounded on the East by a street and by an adjoining building corner at the Northwest corner, no other landowner information was given.
- Landowner C buys the property in 2017 using the survey that Landowner A had prepared for Landowner B in 2009.
- Landowner A dies in 2018.
- Landowner C decides to put up a privacy fence in 2019, and when he ties into the adjoining building corner at his Northwest corner like CRS4U??s survey showed, the building owner is not pleased because according to her, the building is 5?? West of her East property line, which is the West line of a 12?? alley.
Now, assuming that CRS4U’s survey is incorrect and Landowner C’s property does not actually cross the alley where the water and sewer lines are located and extend to the existing building corner:
Is CRS4U financially liable for having landowner C??s fence relocated since he prepared the survey for Landowner A (who is now deceased)?
If CRS4U is not financially liable for having Landowner C??s fence relocated, who is, or does it jus fall back to Landowner C?
If CRS4U is financially liable, could he have eliminated that liability by noting that the survey is prepared for Landowner A and is not to be used for any subsequent transactions?
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