4.3 Discrepancies, Occupation, Encroachments, Rights-of-Way & Descriptions
Key Takeaways
Rule 7.3 requires all discrepancies between the survey and the recorded description, and the source of all information used, to be indicated on the plat.
When a gap, overlap, excess or deficiency, erroneous line or monument, or doubt about the true boundary is found, the nature of the inconsistency must be clearly shown (Rule 7.3).
A Mississippi plat must describe and locate physical evidence of occupation along a boundary line, including fences, walls, buildings, and monuments (Rule 7.3).
Visible encroachments must be shown with their extent, but subsurface encroachments need not be located unless the client furnishes their existence and location (Rule 7.3).
If streets or street rights-of-way abutting the surveyed land are not physically open, the plat must say so (Rule 7.3).
Item 9: discrepancies and sources
"All discrepancies between the survey and the recorded description(s), and the source of all information used in making the survey shall be indicated. When an inconsistency is found, including a gap or overlap, excess or deficiency, erroneously located boundary lines or monuments, or when any doubt as to the location on the ground of the true boundary or property rights exists, the nature of the inconsistency shall be clearly shown on the drawing."
In practice:
- Sources. List the deeds (book and page or instrument number), plats, GLO field notes and plats, prior surveys, and county surveyor records relied on.
- Record versus measured. Show both (item 11; Section 4.1).
- Gaps and overlaps. Draw both deed lines, dimension the strip, and label it, for example "Area in conflict between Deed Book 212, Page 45 and Deed Book 301, Page 88 — 0.42 acre." Deciding who owns the strip is a legal question (Section 8.2). The plat's job is to show it.
- Conflicting monuments. Show both, give the bearing and distance between them, and state which was held and why, or state that the conflict is unresolved.
- Excess or deficiency. Show measured and record distances between controlling monuments. How it is distributed depends on senior rights or proration (Section 8.2).
Item 10: physical evidence of occupation
The plat must include "a description and location of any physical evidence of occupation found along a boundary line, including but not limited to fences, walls, buildings, or monuments." Fences, hedgerows, tree lines with old wire, walls, field edges, ditches, and driveways near a line are all evidence. Locate them and show their relation to the line, for example: "Old 4-strand barbed wire fence 3.8′ W of line at NW corner, crossing line at Sta. 2+15, 2.4′ E of line at point B."
Why this matters: a fence may be the remains of an original survey, a line agreed on by neighbors, the basis of an adverse-possession claim, or only a fence of convenience. The surveyor cannot know which from the ground alone, so the plat must preserve the evidence for owners, title examiners, and the chancery court.
Item 15: encroachments
The plat must show "visible encroachments onto or from adjoining property or abutting streets with the extent of such encroachment." Then: "No sub-surface encroachments are required to be located unless their existence and location is furnished to the surveyor by the client." A visible shed 3.5 ft over the line must be shown and dimensioned. A buried septic line the client never mentioned need not be. If the client tells the surveyor where a buried line is, it becomes part of the required disclosure. Tie measurements to improvements must meet the Rule 7.5 class tolerance: ±0.1, ±0.2, or ±1.0 ft (Section 3.4).
Item 16: rights-of-way and easements
The plat must show "all public and private rights-of-way or easements which are observed, adjoining, or crossing the land surveyed and pertinent to the survey. If streets or street rights-of-way abutting the land surveyed are not physically open, a note to this effect shall be shown." The 2025 text added the unopened-street note. A platted but unbuilt street along the lot's frontage is a common source of access and title problems.
Good practice also shows visible evidence of possible unrecorded rights, such as a worn drive, power poles, or a pipeline marker, with a note that no recorded instrument was provided (Section 11.1).
Item 17: permanent improvements
The plat must show the "location of all permanent improvements which are relevant to the purpose of the survey being performed, with reference to the boundaries." The phrase "relevant to the purpose" was added in 2025. A retracement for a timber sale need not locate every outbuilding far from the lines. A mortgage survey of a house lot must locate the house relative to the lines.
Item 13: descriptions prepared by the surveyor
When the client requires a property description, the surveyor's description "should list all pertinent information that is shown on the survey plat." That includes the commencing point, point of beginning, course bearings and distances, description of all corner monuments, description and offset of witness corners, and basis of bearings. If State Plane Coordinates are part of the description, it must include the item-18 information (Section 3.4).
Documenting, not adjudicating
The disclosure items reflect a basic limit on the surveyor's role. The surveyor retraces the record boundary and documents possession. Converting a possession line into a title line takes something more:
- ten years of adverse possession that vests title under § 15-1-13, usually confirmed by a chancery suit to confirm and quiet title (§ 11-17-29);
- a valid boundary agreement or acquiescence (Section 9.2); or
- deeds between the owners.
A surveyor who moves a deed line to an old fence has decided a legal question without authority, and may have taken the adjoiner's land on the plat. The correct approach is to monument the retraced deed line, show the fence with offsets, and explain the discrepancy on the plat.
Worked scenario
A retracement finds (1) an undisturbed original iron pipe and a newer capped rebar 3.1 ft apart at the NW corner; (2) a 22-ft offset between the east deed line and a 50-year-old fence; (3) the neighbor's carport 1.6 ft over the south line; and (4) a platted street along the west side that was never built. The compliant plat:
- shows and describes both NW monuments, the bearing and distance between them, the cap number of the rebar, and which one was held and why (items 4 and 9);
- shows the fence with offsets and labels the 22-ft strip as occupation that differs from the deed line (items 9 and 10);
- dimensions the carport encroachment (item 15), measured to ±0.2 ft if the survey is Class B; and
- notes that the platted street is not physically open (item 16).
Deleting a monument or knowingly removing a boundary landmark to "clean up" the plat is not an option. Knowingly removing a boundary landmark to the wrong of another is a crime (§ 97-17-15), and concealment violates Rule 6.3.
During a boundary survey a PS sees a neighbor's storage shed extending 3.5 feet onto the client's lot. The client never mentioned a buried gas line that also crosses the line. Under Rule 7.3, what must the plat show?
Neither item, because encroachments are title matters for attorneys
Both items, because all encroachments must be located
The shed encroachment and its extent; the buried gas line need not be located unless the client furnished its existence and location
Only the buried gas line, because subsurface utilities are a safety issue
Along the west side of a surveyed lot, the recorded subdivision plat shows a 50-foot street that was never built. What does Rule 7.3 require?
A note on the drawing that the abutting street or right-of-way is not physically open
Nothing, because unopened streets have been abandoned by operation of law
Relocating the lot line to the center of the platted street
A statement that the adjoining owner now owns the street by acquiescence
A retracement reveals a 12-foot overlap between the client's deed and the adjoiner's deed. Which action satisfies Rule 7.3?
Divide the overlap equally and set new corners on the midline
Award the overlap to whichever deed was recorded first and omit the other line
Refuse to deliver a plat until the owners obtain a chancery decree
Show both deed lines, the nature and extent of the overlap, and the sources relied on
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.