Most boundary surveys could face court challenges, surveyors warn

Most boundary surveys carried out in Estonia over the past decade may be legally flawed and could be challenged in court by landowners, ERR reported. Officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and the Land and Spatial Development Board reject the concern.

When landowners want to change a property boundary, they hire a surveyor to establish precise boundary coordinates. Officials then enter the boundary on the cadastral map, after which it is recorded in the land register.

For the past 18 months, the Land and Spatial Development Board has allowed surveyors to test the state ESTPOS network for this work. Before the beginning of last year, surveyors had to rely on private companies’ reference stations.

Surveyors prefer the state network because it provides more accurate measurements. That option will end again in September, when surveyors are expected to return to private solutions.

Surveyors have told the Land and Spatial Development Board that returning to the previous system is not possible. They said they discovered during the winter that a careful reading of the law showed that non-state networks could not be used for cadastral surveys. In their view, private network stations also cannot be included in the geodetic points database.

Mart Rae, a board member of the surveyors’ association, said most cadastral surveys conducted over roughly the past decade had been legally incorrect.

“If cadastral units have been separated, whether for Rail Baltica, road construction or a defence industrial park, and non-state points were used for the survey, there is theoretically a risk of a challenge,” Rae said.

Rae said this did not necessarily mean the surveys were inaccurate. However, he said it created the possibility of boundary disputes, similar to the dispute between Andres and Pearu in the work Truth and Justice.

Officials say concern is unfounded

Erik Ernits, director of the spatial data and land registry service at the Land and Spatial Development Board, said the surveyors’ concern was unjustified and that there was no basis for challenging previous measurements.

“The rules have worked well in the past, and this problem has not been raised in this way,” Ernits said. “In my assessment, the law can clearly be interpreted to mean that surveyors may use private networks to provide the service.”

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications also sees no legal obstacle to surveyors continuing their current practice from September.

“These private networks have been in use for decades,” said Ivari Rannama, head of the ministry’s land and spatial policy department. “The surveyor is responsible for ensuring accuracy and making sure that the necessary connections and checks are carried out on site. The cadastral authority, the Land and Spatial Development Board, checks whether the survey work meets the accuracy requirements.”