Property Survey When Buying a House in Florida

What a Florida boundary survey actually shows

A boundary survey is a drawing, signed and sealed by a surveyor licensed in Florida, that locates your lot lines on the ground and shows what sits on and near them. Florida surveyors work under state minimum technical standards, so the content is fairly consistent. A typical residential survey shows:

• The legal description and the lot dimensions from the recorded plat.
• The house, garage, pool, screen enclosure, driveway, sheds and fences, located relative to the lot lines.
• Recorded easements the title company provides, such as utility or drainage easements along the rear lot line.
• Encroachments in either direction: your neighbor's fence on your lot, or your pool deck over the line or into an easement.
• The FEMA flood zone, as a note on many surveys. That note is not the same as an elevation certificate.

Survey vs title insurance: what each covers

Buyers often assume title insurance makes a survey unnecessary. It is the other way around.

• Title search and policy deal with recorded documents: who owns the property, mortgages, liens, recorded easements and restrictions.
• A survey deals with physical facts on the ground: where the improvements are and whether they cross a line or an easement.

A standard Florida owner's policy includes an exception for matters an accurate survey would disclose. Give the title company a current survey and it can usually remove or narrow that exception, so the policy then covers those boundary issues. Skip the survey and a neighbor's claim over a strip of your yard may simply fall outside your coverage. That single exception is the strongest argument for paying for a survey.

When to order it and who pays

On a typical Florida resale, the buyer orders and pays for the survey, and the lender usually requires it for a mortgage. Order it as soon as the contract is signed. Survey firms get busy, and you want time to react if something turns up.

• Under the Florida Realtors/Florida Bar contracts, the buyer may obtain a survey within the time the contract sets, and an encroachment or violation it reveals is generally handled like a title defect the seller is given time to cure.
• Miss that deadline and you may lose the right to object, even if the survey arrives later and shows a problem.
• Ask the title company to order it if you have no preferred surveyor. They do it daily and know what the underwriter wants.

Can you reuse the seller's old survey

Sometimes. If the seller has a survey from their own purchase and nothing on the property has changed, some lenders and title underwriters will accept it along with a seller affidavit stating there have been no changes. It saves the survey fee and some time.

I usually advise against it when any of these are true:

• A pool, fence, screen enclosure, addition, shed or driveway extension went in after the old survey.
• The old survey is more than a few years old or was prepared for someone else's lender.
• The neighbors have replaced fences, or the lot is irregular, on a canal or next to a preserve.

An old survey only tells you what was true when it was drawn. Most encroachments on Florida residential lots come from later improvements: a new fence that "looked straight," a pool deck widened to the edge of the lot, or a paver driveway over the side setback.

Problems a survey turns up, and what to do

Most findings are minor. A few are worth slowing down for.

• Fence a few inches off the line: common and usually resolved with a note, a title endorsement or a fence relocation agreement.
• Structure inside an easement: a shed or pool deck over a utility easement can be removed by the utility at your cost. Ask whether the easement holder will sign a release or consent.
• Setback violation: an addition built too close to the line may also be unpermitted. Check the permit history together with the survey.
• Neighbor's improvements on your lot: if left for years, they can lead to claims. Your attorney can address it before closing.
• Lot size smaller than advertised: compare the survey to the listing and the property appraiser's record. A meaningful gap is a price conversation.

For waterfront lots, ask the surveyor to show the seawall, dock and the line of mean high water if relevant. Those details drive permits and insurance later.

Read the survey yourself, slowly, with the plat next to it. Look for dashed lines (usually easements), any note that says "encroaches" or "over line," and the distances from the house to each side line. If something looks odd, call the surveyor during the inspection period. They will explain their own drawing, and that call costs nothing.

Survey vs elevation certificate

These are different documents, though the same surveyor can prepare both. The survey shows boundaries and improvements. An elevation certificate shows the elevation of the lowest floor and other building features relative to the flood elevation for the property's FEMA zone. Flood insurance carriers use it to price policies, and in A and V zones it can change a premium a lot.

If the house is in a high-risk flood zone, ask the seller whether an elevation certificate already exists, and if not, have one prepared during the inspection period so you can price flood insurance before you are committed. Some counties also keep elevation certificates on file for newer construction.

Condos, townhomes and land

A typical condo unit does not need a boundary survey, because you buy a unit defined in the declaration, not a lot. The statewide typical condo value is $262,592, and the costs that matter there are association documents, reserves and insurance, not lot lines. Townhomes vary: some are platted fee-simple lots that do get surveys, some are condo units. Vacant land almost always deserves a survey, plus a check on access, wetlands and utility availability.

If you are comparing houses and want me to flag lots with likely survey issues (canals, corner lots, older fences, additions), send me the addresses through the shortlist form and I will check them against the plat and permit records first.

This isn't legal advice.