Law, Surveying & Conveyancing: Boundaries, Rights & Client Risk

Introduction

Surveyors and conveyancers regularly advise on the same properties but often view the issues through different lenses. Features on site, boundaries, structures, access routes, long-standing occupation and services, can all have legal consequences, yet the significance of what is seen on the ground is not always clear to the lawyer or the surveyor on their own.

This practical, interaction-focused session looks at what happens where law, surveying and conveyancing meet. It explores how survey evidence feeds into legal advice on sales, purchases and leases, how legal concepts such as the general boundaries rule, easements, covenants and adverse possession play out in practice and how to handle common problem scenarios. The emphasis is on communication, scope and professional risk: what each side needs from the other, how to flag potential legal issues arising from site findings and how to present clear, usable advice to clients. The session concentrates on everyday boundary, access and occupation issues rather than GIS or survey technology.

What You Will Learn

By the end of this live and interactive course, delegates will be able to:

• Understand where surveyors plug into the conveyancing process, and what lawyers and surveyors can reasonably expect from each other on a sale, purchase or lease
• Distinguish between legal and physical boundaries, and appreciate how the Land Registry’s general boundaries rule affects the way boundaries are interpreted in practice
• Recognise how site features - fences, walls, hedges, structures, access tracks, parking areas and long-used strips of land - can give rise to legal questions, including potential adverse possession and informal rights
• Identify how rights of way and other easements, repairing and access obligations, and restrictive covenants interact with what is actually found on the ground
• Determine when survey findings (for example, encroachments, obstructed access or discrepancies between description and reality) should be treated as legal risk issues and escalated to the conveyancer or client
• Use title and lease documentation (including title and lease plans) confidently as one source of evidence alongside what is seen on site, and spot inconsistencies
• Provide clearer, better-scoped instructions to surveyors so that inspections and reports directly support the legal work being undertaken
• Apply practical tips on reporting and communication: writing short, focused comments on boundaries, access and physical layout that conveyancers can use in client reports, and documenting assumptions and limitations to manage professional risk

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.