FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions About Surveys
Q. My neighbor just hired a surveyor to survey his land and one of his lot corners seems to be over on my property, what can I do?
A. You can have your property surveyed by an Indiana Registered Professional Land Surveyor to determine where your corners are supposed to be.
Q. Does the County Surveyor do private surveys?
A. No, the County Surveyor does not do private surveys. This can result in conflicts of interest and ethical issues for the County Surveyor and legal exposure for the County.
Q. How much does it cost to survey my property?
A. You would need to call a private Indiana Registered Professional Land Surveyor listed in the yellow pages.
Q. Can you show me where my property corners are?
A. This office does not perform any private survey work.
Q. Can I find my property corners myself?
A. If lot corners were set with iron pipe or re to bar, you can find them with a metal detector. If you are going to construct an improvement, such as a building or fence, close to the property line you would be best advised to call an Indiana Registered Professional Land Surveyor.
Q. Can you recommend a private surveyor that I can use?
A. No, we can only direct you to look in the yellow pages under surveyors and call one of the Indiana Registered Professional Land Surveyors
Q. Does your office have a copy of my survey?
A. We may have a copy due to our diligent efforts to acquire the records of past private land surveyors, which are filed in this office. Many of these can be found in "Scanned Documents" on this web page.
Indiana has only recently required the recordation of boundary surveys in specific circumstances as in a) the creation of a new tax parcel; b) a previously unrecorded survey; or c) when the recent survey differs significantly from the description of record. Prior to 1990, the only surveys that we had in our files were given to us voluntarily. Since 1990, the state required that all boundary surveys be recorded in the County Recorder's office and filed in the County Surveyor's office.
Q. What are Section Corners?
A. Section corners were created when the government originally surveyed Indiana into "mile square" parcels. Section corners refer to the 4 corners of the "mile square" parcel. The intermediate half-mile corners are referred to as "quarter corners" because they divide the section into quarters. These corners are usually found near the centerline(s) of County roads. They are marked by monuments set under the direction of an Indiana Registered Professional Land Surveyor.
Q. Why do I see people from your office working or digging in the middle of the road?
A. The County Surveyor is required to maintain records indicating the location of each original government horizontal monument within his county. Many of these monuments develop the centerlines of county roads. (IC 36-2-12 sections 10 and 11)
Q. Where can I get a County Map?
A. Printed maps are available through the County Surveyor or can be found in "Scanned Documents" on this web page. Digital maps of individual tax parcels are available on the Auditor's GIS Mapping site.