Red Hill packs more houses into less land than almost anywhere else in Brisbane, and it does it on some of the steepest ground in the city. The allotments were cut during the land boom of the late 1800s, sized for a worker’s cottage and a path down the side, and most of them are still exactly that size today. Houses sit close to their neighbours, retaining walls do the heavy lifting between properties, and the fence has been rebuilt more times than anyone can count. A boundary survey establishes where the line genuinely falls. A registered cadastral surveyor searches the title and the original survey records, re-establishes your corners and marks them on site, which gives you something reliable to design, build or argue from.
This is the heart of the issue in Red Hill. On a large block, a fence sitting three hundred millimetres off the line is an irritation. On a Red Hill block with a narrow frontage and a required setback on each side, that same three hundred millimetres can be the difference between a design that complies and one that does not. Errors that would disappear into a suburban backyard have nowhere to go here. It is the reason so many Red Hill projects hit a problem at approval stage rather than at concept stage, and the reason the boundary is worth establishing before a designer starts rather than after a certifier asks. The tolerance available to you is measured in centimetres, so the measurement itself has to be better than a tape off the fence.
Before settlement you still have options. Afterwards the situation is yours. A survey during due diligence confirms the true dimensions of the lot, shows whether the fences and walls reflect them, and reveals easements before they become a problem. In Red Hill this bears directly on what you can do with the property. Buyers here are almost always planning something, whether that is raising the house, building in underneath, extending to the rear or replacing a decayed structure, and all of it turns on the width and depth you actually have rather than the width and depth you assumed. Working out at design stage that the block is narrower than the fences suggested is an expensive way to learn it.
With houses this close together, fence disputes in Red Hill tend to be more personal and more pressing than elsewhere, because the disputed strip is often the only usable side access either household has. Both owners are usually certain, and neither can demonstrate anything. Marking the boundary introduces a position that belongs to neither party and can be seen by both, which is what allows an actual conversation about a replacement fence and how the cost is shared. It also gives you evidence to rely on if the matter turns into a fencing notice under the Neighbourhood Disputes Act or an application to QCAT. Most of the time it does not get that far once the pegs are in.
Because the buildings sit so close to the lines, Red Hill produces encroachments that are easy to miss. Eaves and gutters overhang boundaries. Stairs and landings project past them. Retaining walls holding one property up turn out to be standing on the other. Air conditioning units, water tanks and rainwater downpipes get installed in the only space available, which is sometimes not your space. These sit quietly for years and then surface at the worst time, during a sale or partway through an approval. A survey establishes precisely where each structure sits in relation to the boundary, which is where any resolution has to start, whether that ends in an agreement, an easement or a change to the structure.
Setbacks, site cover, boundary walls and pool fencing are all measured from the boundary, so an incorrect line contaminates every drawing that follows it. Red Hill work almost always needs a detail and contour survey alongside the boundary survey, because the fall across these sites is severe and your designer cannot set floor levels, plan a build under, or work out access and parking without accurate levels and the position of the existing structures and retaining walls. On tight sites it is also worth knowing early whether the work can be built entirely from within your own land, since access over a neighbour’s property is a conversation best had with a marked boundary in front of you.
Where blocks have been amalgamated or there is genuine depth to work with, a subdivision survey starts from the same re-established boundaries, and the work carries through to the construction set out and Form 12 once building begins.
Survey My Block is a Registered Consulting Cadastral Surveyor Organisation with the Surveyors Board of Queensland, and we work throughout Red Hill and the surrounding inner north west including Paddington, Bardon, Kelvin Grove, Ashgrove, Petrie Terrace, Spring Hill and Newmarket. 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 currently on the site. If you want certainty 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 tight or complex sites, and set out certification and Form 12s across Red Hill.
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.
