'Leave the Wall and the Easement Off'

Decline, in writing, and offer lawful alternatives.

Why:

• A boundary survey map depicts what was found. Omitting a discovered encroachment and a recorded easement makes the map false in exactly the respects a lender, buyer, or future owner would rely on.
• A survey map is typically a public record and is relied on by third parties who have no way to know what you left off.
• Knowingly preparing a false map implicates the licensing statute and professional practice rules on competence, honesty, and misrepresentation, and can expose you to civil liability to parties who reasonably rely on it. -A recorded easement is not optional content; if it burdens the parcel, it must appear or be expressly and accurately described in a note.

Lawful alternatives:

• Produce a map that shows everything, with a clear note on the encumbrance and the overhang.
• Produce a separate site/topographic or improvement-location plan labeled "not a boundary survey" for the lender's setback purpose, with a scope statement and the boundary shown or referenced accurately.
• Narrow the scope in a written agreement - but scope limitation cannot make an inaccurate map accurate.

Put the request and your refusal in the project file the same day.

Separate the two issues: the fee and the deliverable.

• Deliverable: the threat does not change the standard. You cannot be paid into a false map. If the client wants a different, lawful product, you can price and contract for it.
• Fee: payment is owed for services actually performed under the contract. Review the contract's scope, termination, and dispute provisions; issue a written invoice for work performed and a written statement of what remains. Do not tie the invoice to a promise to falsify.
• Documentation: keep a contemporaneous written record of the request, your refusal, the alternatives offered, and the client's response. Send your position by letter or email, not by phone.
• Dispute resolution: propose mediation or the contract's dispute procedure. A mechanics lien or collection action may be available - confirm the contract and local law before mentioning it, and never use it as leverage to force an unethical product.
• Termination: if the relationship must end, terminate in writing, return or retain client documents as the contract and statute require, and leave the client a clear statement of what was and was not completed.

Do not accuse the client of a crime or diagnose his motives; state the professional rule and stick to it.

Communicate, in writing, and in plain terms:

• The location, dimensions and basis of the encroachment (1.8-ft roof overhang; block wall) and the fact that it is on the client's side of the record line as you retraced it.
• The existence, recorder's reference, width and location of the 12-ft access easement, and that it crosses the proposed building pad.
• That these findings may affect the project, the lender's requirements and the client's rights, and that the client should consult an attorney and the local building department.

Do not:

• Give legal advice - do not opine on whether the easement is valid, whether the overhang creates a prescriptive right, or who would win.
• Draft or advise on agreements, deeds or quitclaims for the parties.
• Conceal the findings from anyone entitled to rely on the map, including the lender.
• Promise silence, or hint that the situation could be "worked out" by leaving it off.

Boundaries of confidentiality: the client's business is confidential, but the content of a public record map is not, and you may not agree to keep a physical condition off a map that purports to show conditions. If the client insists, decline the assignment in writing rather than deliver a misleading product.