Title Wars

Title Wars

Surveyors often find themselves in the middle of complex property disputes. Sometimes you get

to a subdivision that has several owners without easy or obvious road access to their land. This is

a problem. A building property must front onto a public road. The Land Title Act makes it clear

that there must be access. Developers used to create access by easement, which spelled out the

conditions under which other people could use a private property, but they ran into many

difficulties with this approach. So, they stopped using the easement approach.

But there would be situations with nice land that several people wanted to use, and each person

would have to have a separate title. So, we developed a new system, which was called access by

common lot.

You would create, for example, three lots. You would then create a fourth lot that would be

owned by all three parties. This would be in effect a roadway and would connect to the public

road. I did several subdivisions that way in the Slocan Valley, giving them access by common

lot, and the system was expanded up the Spokane Valley. I never did anymore after that; I think

the authorities probably stopped it.

In another interesting twist in the work of a surveyor, there was a taxation relief clause put out by

the federal government. If work was done on the development of a mine, the owners could get a

tax concession. We got the job of surveying a mine called the Tiny Tin Mine and ran a series of

control surveys.

A survey crew spent over a month surveying where the mine would go. Well, this Tiny Tin Mine

probably had some potential. We had to set up what is called a grid on the surface, so geologist

types could do geological analysis work.

The job involved going underground, too. I will never forget this experience. A certified miner

had to be with us all the time. It was dangerous in the mine. There were rotten planks

everywhere. If a plank broke, you could fall through and drop two hundred feet to the next level.

The mine inspector representing the province happened to mention that he thought a previous

surveyor might have maps of the mine. This surveyor was residing down in Montana.

So, I contacted him. He had the maps, which he willingly sent to me. But the mining company

needed the new survey to get a tax write-off. They could not just take those drawings. Nope, I

had to resurvey the whole mine. What a silly rule it proved to be, but that is just the way things

go.