Property Surveys and Encroachments in Canada

A property survey is a scaled drawing prepared by a licensed land surveyor that shows where a home, garage, deck, fence, or pool sits relative to the legal boundaries of the lot — and it flags anything that crosses those boundaries. It is one of the few documents that tells you what you actually own, which is why lenders, lawyers, and title insurers ask for it during a purchase, refinance, or sale.

In Canada, a survey carries real weight in a mortgage file. When you buy with a high-ratio mortgage insured by CMHC mortgage default insurance (or an equivalent private insurer), the lender needs to confirm that the property it takes as security matches the legal description on title. Federally regulated lenders apply OSFI Guideline B-20 expectations to residential underwriting, and property valuation and collateral standards sit inside that framework. Surveys also show up in closing costs when buying a house, alongside land transfer tax and title insurance.

What a Property Survey Actually Shows

A survey is not a photo of your yard. It is a technical document, drawn to scale, that typically shows:

• The legal boundaries of the lot, tied to measurements and plans on record
• The location of the house, garage, sheds, decks, pools, and additions
• Fences, retaining walls, and driveways
• Easements, rights-of-way, and utility corridors
• Any structure, fence, or feature that crosses a boundary
• Setback distances from the lot lines to the buildings

Surveys are prepared by provincially licensed land surveyors, and each province regulates them differently. A survey reflects the site as it was measured on a specific date. If a previous owner poured a new driveway or built a fence afterwards, an older survey will not show it.

The Main Survey Documents You'll See Across Canada

Names and requirements vary by province, so don't assume the document you used in one province is what a lender elsewhere will accept.

In Alberta, the compliance stamp matters: it tells a buyer whether the buildings and improvements comply with municipal bylaws at the time of the report. Without it, a lender or a buyer's lawyer may treat the report as incomplete.

What an Encroachment Is, and Why Lenders Care

An encroachment is any structure or feature that crosses a property line. It can run either direction:

• Your structure onto a neighbour's land — a fence built two feet over the line, a deck, a shed, a driveway, eaves, or a roof overhang.
• A neighbour's structure onto your land — their fence, garage wall, retaining wall, or landscaping.

Lenders care because an encroachment can affect the value and marketability of the security behind the mortgage. If part of the house sits on land you don't own, or a neighbour has a claim over part of your lot, the property is harder to sell and harder to value. Encroachments can also create boundary disputes, complicate a future building permit, and trigger municipal bylaw issues when structures violate required setbacks.

Easements and rights-of-way are different. They are registered rights for a utility, municipality, or neighbour to use part of your land — a hydro corridor or a drainage easement, for example. They are not encroachments, but they do appear on a survey and can limit what you can build.

How to Check for Encroachments Before You Close

1. Ask the seller for the most recent survey. Many sellers have one from their own purchase. Review the date and ask whether anything has been built or changed since.
2. Walk the property with the survey in hand. Compare fences, additions, pools, and sheds against the drawing. Gaps and mismatches are worth a question.
3. Order a new survey if the old one is outdated or missing. A survey typically costs a few hundred dollars for a simple urban lot and more for large or complex rural properties — confirm current pricing with a licensed surveyor in your province.
4. Cross-check the survey against the legal description on title. Your lawyer or notary does this as part of the title search. See title search and title insurance for how that fits together.
5. Make it a condition of your offer. If you're buying, a condition on a satisfactory survey or real property report gives you an exit if something serious shows up.

To see how the paperwork fits together, review your mortgage documents and the sequence in what happens on closing day.

Does Title Insurance Replace a Survey?

Not exactly. Title insurance is a one-time policy that can protect you against certain title defects, including some encroachments, boundary issues, and survey errors, depending on the policy and the endorsements purchased. It does not tell you where your boundaries are. A survey does. Many lenders accept title insurance instead of an up-to-date survey for financing purposes, which is why surveys are requested less often than they once were — but the two documents answer different questions.

If you're buying in an area with old fences, irregular lots, or visible additions, ask your lawyer whether a survey, a title insurance endorsement, or both make sense. Read the policy wording rather than assuming coverage.

What to Do If You Find an Encroachment

Options depend on the province, the severity, and who is affected:

• Leave it and disclose. A minor overhang may be acceptable if the neighbour agrees and the arrangement is documented in writing.
• Register an easement or encroachment agreement. This formalises the right and can satisfy a lender.
• Remove or relocate the structure. Sometimes the cleanest fix, especially if it also breaches a setback bylaw.
• Claim adverse possession or prescription. Rules differ widely across provinces and are tightly limited under land titles systems. This is a legal question for a lawyer, not a do-it-yourself fix.

Never rely on a verbal understanding with a neighbour. Undocumented arrangements often surface years later during a sale — exactly when they cause the most damage. If an encroachment puts your financing at risk, understand your options in what happens if you can't close.

The Bottom Line

A property survey is your clearest picture of where your land ends and your neighbour's begins. For a mortgage, it helps the lender confirm the collateral; for you, it exposes encroachments, easements, and bylaw problems before they become expensive. Ask for the seller's most recent survey, order a new one when it's stale, and bring in a lawyer or notary the moment a boundary issue appears. For the broader cost picture, see appraisal, inspection, and title insurance costs.