Floating Parcel Help Needed in PA
Floating Parcel Help Needed in PA
(OP)
Hi all, hope someone here can shed a bit of light on this for me....
Here's the background. A neighboring property was recently sold and the new owner had his lot surveyed. With his lot came a 24ft by 37ft piece of property that had been carved out of my property around 1915.
My property description dates back to about 1800 and all calls and distances remained the same during that entire period according to the deed research that I've done.
The new neighbor called and told me that since that parcel is floating, i.e. it does not call out any substantive landmarks in it's description, it can be placed anywhere along the shared property boundary. I disagree because the metes and bounds description gives a bearing and distance along the edge of a road as one of the calls. The remaining calls in the description are taken at 90 degrees to one another so that the property forms a perfect rectangle.
This parcel is currently situated (at least the zig-zag in my fence puts it here) at a 3 street intersection on the inside of a curve in the roadway. I know that the road was realigned years ago when they removed the old wooden bridge, but I'm not sure whether it encroached on his little piece of property or not.
Anyway, assuming that the road didn't engulf his little piece, I think that in order to correctly locate that parcel all that would have to be done is to locate the tangent on this curve of the road that matches the bearing of the original deed that is given to be parallel to the road edge. Is that right?
I currently have a request in to the PADOT archives department to see if I can find an old plan of the area.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I want to give the guy what is rightfully his, but he's coming across in a really threatening manner so I wanted to know if there's any set way that this type of parcel should be pinned down. That way I'll know what to do next.
Thanks.
Here's the background. A neighboring property was recently sold and the new owner had his lot surveyed. With his lot came a 24ft by 37ft piece of property that had been carved out of my property around 1915.
My property description dates back to about 1800 and all calls and distances remained the same during that entire period according to the deed research that I've done.
The new neighbor called and told me that since that parcel is floating, i.e. it does not call out any substantive landmarks in it's description, it can be placed anywhere along the shared property boundary. I disagree because the metes and bounds description gives a bearing and distance along the edge of a road as one of the calls. The remaining calls in the description are taken at 90 degrees to one another so that the property forms a perfect rectangle.
This parcel is currently situated (at least the zig-zag in my fence puts it here) at a 3 street intersection on the inside of a curve in the roadway. I know that the road was realigned years ago when they removed the old wooden bridge, but I'm not sure whether it encroached on his little piece of property or not.
Anyway, assuming that the road didn't engulf his little piece, I think that in order to correctly locate that parcel all that would have to be done is to locate the tangent on this curve of the road that matches the bearing of the original deed that is given to be parallel to the road edge. Is that right?
I currently have a request in to the PADOT archives department to see if I can find an old plan of the area.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I want to give the guy what is rightfully his, but he's coming across in a really threatening manner so I wanted to know if there's any set way that this type of parcel should be pinned down. That way I'll know what to do next.
Thanks.





RE: Floating Parcel Help Needed in PA
1. I like your idea of getting a copy of the DOT plans, they should show the adjacent property lines before and after the road changes.
2. If your neighbor's survey was done for the transfer of the property, then it would have been filed as a "certified survey" with the Register of Deeds. That filing makes it a public record and you should be able to get a copy of the certified survey from your County Register of Deeds for a nominal cost of reproduction. Review that survey to see how the surveyor handled the parcel in question.
3. Call the surveyor that and ask him how he handled location of the so called "floating parcel". He should be able to tell you how he did it and why he did it that way.
4. If the fence line follows your understanding of the 1915 parcel and the fence has been in use that long, or nearly that long, then that should be evidence of where the property line is, based on long standing usage.
RE: Floating Parcel Help Needed in PA
Your ideas may be on the right track, and may even get close. There can be many other sources of evidence of the parcel's location other than the deed for the parcel itself. I agree with Jheidt that talking to the neighbor's surveyor would be a good idea as well as obtaining DOT plans.
I you still aren't happy, and you think it is worth it...hire a surveyor of your choosing.
RE: Floating Parcel Help Needed in PA
The plan of subdivision, even if registered back in the 1800's, can be found at the land registries office and you can easily obtain a copy of it. If you do not wish to hire the surveyor, you can also research and obtain copies of caveats and revisions to the original plan of survey from the office as well.
That will put the issue to rest.
KRS Services
www.krs-services.com
RE: Floating Parcel Help Needed in PA
Fortunately though I found a PADOT plan from their archives that shows the location of the floating parcel, so that will be all the information that I need.
Thanks everybody for your help with this issue. It's never a nice feeling for someone to atttempt to bully you into paying too much for something.
Now the tables are turned...
Thanks again.
RE: Floating Parcel Help Needed in PA
RE: Floating Parcel Help Needed in PA
the PADOT drawing that I got from their archives shows the corners of their fouindation and the location of the parcel corners can be (roughly) measured from those fixed points. Interestingly enough, the floating parcel is located in precisely the same spot it was in 1941 when PADOT widened and realigned the road.
I think I'll tell him to pound sand since the parcel isn't large enough to build on, and it's at least a hundred yards away from the house, so I'll have a really high tolerance for whatever ugly thing he wants to put there anyway.
Thanks again for the information.