Determining lot lines owners’ responsibility

Officials say they know that the boundary lines of some properties are not true to what property owners believe.

Incorrect boundary lines have been revealed when some people attempt to sell their property and during county and city projects.

International Falls resident Robin Bjorkquist found out recently that the boundary lines on property she was selling were not where she thought they were.

The lender serving the people purchasing the property were required to obtain a survey/plat sketch.

“The person who wrote the plat sketch measured and determined that we owned 10 feet of our neighbor’s house,” she said.

Bjorkquist called county and city officials in an effort to resolve the issue.

“The bottom line was deeding the neighbor X number of feet,” she said. “But the problem seemed to be nobody wanted to decide the X number of feet. It went from just deeding the land to ending up hiring an attorney for a legal opinion, which ended up being having to hire a surveyor which was more time and money.”

And while she says the solution was relatively easy — having the property surveyed and deeded to a neighbor — it cost Bjorkquist more money than expected to sell her house and her house could not be sold until the lot line issue was resolved.

Bjorkquist urges all property owners to determine where the correct boundary lines are before selling or purchasing property.

She noted that in 2004 a plat sketch was made for the property line, but it is not an official survey. “That person measured from the wrong spot,” she said. “And that’s the key — finding out where that legal spot is you have to measure from, the survey marker.”

Bjorkquist was told by the county’s surveyor where the marker was near her property so she could measure the lot line, she said.

“All of that information, you can find at the courthouse, but some plat sketchers are measuring wrong,” she said.

No one wanted to write a legal description without a legal survey, she said, so a surveyor was hired.

Bjorkquist said properties around her residence had changed hands several times throughout the years and mortgage companies were involved, yet the issue did not surface until she began the process to sell her property.

Koochiching County Board Chairman Brian McBride said county officials are aware that some boundary lines in the county are not where the property owners believe they are.

“The county views this as a discussion between property owners,” he said, adding that the county, or any other governments, can’t get involved in resolving the disputes.

He, too, urged property owners to ensure that the boundaries are correct before beginning the buying or selling process.

“We can lead them to surveyors, plat books and the assessor, but when it comes down to it, it’s the property owner’s responsibility (to ensure that boundary lines are correct),” he said.

Gary Skallman, Falls public works director, said each year brings a few requests for help by people attempting to determine the correct boundaries for their properties.

“If we know where there are registered property corners that someone can measure from, we’ll try to help them,” said Skallman.

Skallman agreed that key to determining property boundaries is identifying where to start measuring.

“Where the beginning point is is sometimes the part that people miss when they start measuring things off,” he said.

However, he said, over the years some people have placed markers on properties that are not true indications of lot lines. And that can create incorrect measurements of boundaries, he said.

“Within the city, if anybody that has a concern, call me and I can try to help out to the amount we can,” said Skallman. Skallman can be reached at his office at 283-1412.

Bjorkquist said she wishes she had been made aware of the potential that the lines she believed indicated her property ownership may not have been accurate.

“The most frustrating thing was that we didn’t know,” she said. “If the city and county were aware that there were issues with the property lines and we would have been notified, we could have got hold of the neighbors and all got together and had a survey done together and had all the lines adjusted at the same time instead of us having to pay the entire costs.”

And while her property line issue has been resolved and the sale completed, her former neighbors are left with unresolved property line issues.

“They’re going to have to do something if they ever want to sell because the cats out of the bag, you can’t pretend you don’t know it exists,” she said.

Meanwhile, Bjorkquist said she is sharing her story in the effort to educate others in the community about the potential for property line issues.

Bjorkquist said if she were to purchase a property, she would check what the courthouse has for a legal description and try to find a marker to measure from to get an idea if it is accurate.