When you own a piece of property, you have a vested interest in keeping most people off of your land. In many cases, people like emergency services or utility personnel are entitled to enter your land, whether it’s an emergency or they’re collecting data for your public utilities. But can land surveyors trespass in Idaho? Read on to find out.

Land surveyors and trespassing in Idaho

According to Idaho State Code Section 54-1230, land surveyors are not trespassing if they come onto your land for job purposes.

The text of the statute provides that “Any person duly licensed by the state of Idaho as a professional land surveyor, including all subordinates subject to the supervision of a licensed surveyor while undertaking land survey activities, and any surveyor or his subordinate … by the congress of the United States may enter upon lands within this state for the purpose of exploring, triangulating, leveling, surveying, and doing any work that may be necessary to carry out the objects of existing laws relative to surveys, may establish permanent station marks, and may erect the necessary signals and temporary observatories, doing no unnecessary injury thereby.”

However, the surveyor is required to provide notice to the landowner and occupants. This can be done by mailing a notice via first class mail, or giving personal notice. Surveyors are expected to work with the landowners and occupants so as not to disrupt their business or daily lives as much as possible.

The reason for this is that land surveyors are working in the public interest: in other words, it’s important for public safety, health and welfare for people to know exactly where boundaries lie, in addition to other services land surveying firms in Idaho provide.

The only way that a land surveyor could be considered trespassing on private property is if an individual surveyor comes onto your property while not performing their job duties.

Responsibilities of a land surveyor

If a land surveyor needs to come onto your property, you’ll need to let them do so. However, they do have some responsibilities to you. First, they need to provide notice that they’ll be coming onto your property. They also need to respect your privacy, and limit their impact as much as possible—you should still be able to perform your regular daily activities or business duties.

A good land surveying company will provide you with information about the main surveyor on your property, as well as their contact information. They should tell you how long they expect to be on the land, if they have to dig any holes for survey markers and any other factors that might impact your property or daily activities.

Bottom line

In short, a land surveyor can come onto your property to do their job, but they need to do it in the least impactful way possible. You can expect notice and contact information if there are any issues.

For more information about land surveying and trespassing in Idaho, call Mason & Associates today.