Property Survey Laws in Florida

• Florida surveyors operating without a license may be subject to civil penalties. Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

  Property surveying is a complex task with its own body of law. It requires the surveyor to make precise measurements of the boundaries, contours and surface features of a piece of land for mining, construction and other land use purposes. The state of Florida has enacted several statutes governing property surveying and the surveyors who carry it out.

Chapter 177.041: Boundary Survey

• Every plat or replat (defined as "a map or delineated representation of the subdivision of lands") performed by a survey must be approved by the local surveying authority or governing body. The surveyor must also submit a boundary survey of the platted lands.

Chapter 177.061: Statement Required

• Each plat offered for recording is required by law to be signed and sealed by the surveyor who prepared it. The surveyor is to include his name and registration number and the name, address and certificate of authorization number of the legal entity (or his own, if practicing independently) for whom he works.

Chapter 177.507: Certification of Corners

• This law regulates surveying and mapping of corners and prescribes that each corner record shall contain, at minimum, the following information: a description of the corner and monument, descriptions and measurements of at least three identifiable reference monuments, and a detailed illustration of the field conditions and dimensions where the survey was conducted.

Licensing

• Property surveying may only be conducted by an individual licensed by the state. An LS license is issued to a professional surveyor and mapper who evaluates and measures the size, shape, topography and tidal patterns (in the case of coastline) of property. An LB license applies to surveying and mapping business. Applicants must pay several fees and pass a series of examinations in order to obtain the license.

Chapter 472.007: Board of Professional Surveyors and Mappers

• The state's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has created the Board of Professional Surveyors and Mappers, comprised of nine board members appointed by the Agriculture Commissioner, to oversee issues and laws pertaining to property survey and mapping in Florida.

Chapter 472.036: Unlicensed Practice

• An unlicensed individual who engages in land survey work will be subject to a cease and desist order from the state survey board and may incur civil penalties between $500 and $5,000.