Bardon sits on the fall of Mount Coot-tha, and there is barely a flat block in the suburb. Streets climb, gullies cut through, and the houses have been built around all of it with retaining walls, decks, stairs and long driveways doing the work of making steep land usable. Almost none of that was set out from a properly established boundary. A boundary survey fixes the reference point everything else depends on. A registered cadastral surveyor searches the title and the original survey records, re-establishes the corners of your lot and marks them on the ground, so you are working from a measured line rather than an inherited assumption.
The suburb’s history compounds the terrain. Bardon was subdivided in stages across the early decades of last century, on allotments shaped to suit the contours as much as the plan, so lots are frequently irregular rather than neat rectangles. Later subdivisions pushed rear lots and battle-axe blocks up behind the original houses, served by long shared driveways. Add the character housing that keeps being raised, extended and built under rather than replaced, along with a century of fences following the easiest ground instead of the surveyed line, and the gap between the title and reality can be considerable.
Before settlement you can still act on what you find. Afterwards you inherit it. A survey during due diligence confirms the true dimensions of the block, whether the fences and walls reflect them, and what easements cross the land. Bardon buyers should pay particular attention to two things. Drainage easements are common, because stormwater from the higher streets has to travel down through private land toward Ithaca Creek, and an easement across the rear of a block can rule out a pool or an extension. The other is rear boundaries against bushland and council reserve, where fences have often been placed for convenience over the years and may not reflect the actual line in either direction.
This one catches people out constantly, and it is worth understanding. The dimensions written on your title are horizontal distances, not distances along the ground. On flat land the two are the same. On a Bardon block they are not. If your plan says the side boundary is forty metres and you run a tape down the surface of a block falling at one in four, you will pass the true corner more than a metre before the tape reads forty. Do the same on a steeper site and the error grows further. This is a large part of why owners who have measured carefully still end up in the wrong place, and why a fence built with real diligence decades ago can still sit well off the line. Re-establishing the corners properly is measurement in three dimensions, not two.
Disputes over a fence run on certainty rather than proof, and on a steep block both neighbours can measure honestly and still reach different answers, for exactly the reason above. Having the boundary marked gives both households the same reference point, produced by someone with no stake in the outcome. That is what allows a sensible conversation about a replacement fence and how the cost gets split. It also gives you evidence you can rely on if things progress to a fencing notice under the Neighbourhood Disputes Act or an application to QCAT. In most cases the pegs settle it long before that.
Encroachment means a structure has ended up on the wrong side of the line, in either direction. Around Bardon the usual finds are sheds and studios tucked into the low corner of a block, decks and stairs projecting past a side boundary, and driveways that have been widened over the years into land that belongs to somebody else. Rear fences that have crept into bushland reserve turn up as well. None of it causes trouble until a sale, a building approval or a certifier’s inspection puts it under scrutiny, and then it holds up whatever you were trying to do. A survey establishes exactly where each structure sits relative to the boundary, which is what any resolution has to begin with, whether that means an agreement, an easement or moving the structure.
Setbacks, site cover, pool fencing and boundary walls are all measured from the boundary, so a wrong line puts an error into everything drawn afterwards. On Bardon sites the boundary work should almost always be paired with a detail and contour survey, because no designer can set floor levels, plan a build under, or work out how a driveway will climb the site without accurate levels and the position of the existing structures and retaining walls. Amending a drawing costs very little. Amending a footing on a steep site costs a great deal.
Where a block has the depth for a rear lot, a subdivision survey builds on the same re-established boundaries, and the work continues through to the construction set out and Form 12 once you start building.
Survey My Block is a Registered Consulting Cadastral Surveyor Organisation with the Surveyors Board of Queensland, and we work throughout Bardon and the surrounding inner west including Paddington, Ashgrove, Rainworth, Red Hill, Auchenflower, Toowong and The Gap. A boundary survey with us includes the title and survey record search, field work to re-establish and mark your corners, and a plan showing the boundary against the fences, walls and structures already on the site. If you want to know exactly where you stand before your next decision on the property, get in touch and we will explain what is involved for your block. We also provide identification surveys, detail and contour surveys, 3D scanning for steep or awkward sites, and set out certification and Form 12s across Bardon.
In Queensland, a survey of existing property boundaries is commonly called an identification survey. A registered cadastral surveyor examines survey records and physical evidence to identify, re-establish and, where appropriate, mark your property boundaries. An identification survey confirms existing boundaries, it does not create or alter property interests.
We recommend a boundary survey before installing or replacing a fence, constructing a retaining wall, building an extension, or carrying out other work close to a property boundary. It is also useful when purchasing or developing property, investigating a possible encroachment, or resolving uncertainty between neighbours.
Not necessarily. Fences, retaining walls and other improvements are sometimes built away from the true boundary, and the boundary cannot be reliably located by measuring from the kerb. GPS apps, Queensland Globe and online property maps are also not authoritative sources for locating boundaries on the ground. A cadastral survey is required to establish the boundary accurately
The surveyor will review the relevant title and survey information, undertake field measurements and reinstate the surveyed boundaries. Depending on the scope and site conditions, boundary corners may be marked or re-marked, and the survey plan may show relevant fences, retaining walls, buildings and encroachments in relation to the boundary.
A boundary survey provides independent professional evidence showing where the boundary is located and how nearby fences, walls or structures relate to it. However, the survey itself does not determine who is responsible for an encroachment or compel someone to relocate a structure. Where an affected improvement or encroachment is identified, the surveyor may be required to notify the affected landholder, and unresolved disputes may require negotiation, mediation or legal advice.
