An improvement location report is a drawing prepared by a licensed land surveyor showing where the house, garage, fences, driveway, and similar features sit on a lot in relation to its recorded boundaries. Mortgage lenders and title insurance companies typically require one before closing. It is not a boundary survey, it does not set property corners, and it carries a printed disclaimer saying so.
What the Report Shows
The drawing maps the primary residence along with secondary structures like detached garages, sheds, and pools. Permanent features such as driveways, sidewalks, patios, and retaining walls appear as well. Fences and walls are drawn in relation to where the surveyor believes the boundaries fall, which is how the report flags a situation where a neighbor’s improvement may have crossed the line, or yours may have crossed theirs.
The report also notes recorded easements and rights-of-way — the strips of land where a utility company, municipality, or other party holds a legal right of access. Visible evidence of those easements, such as overhead power lines, utility pedestals, manholes, and drainage swales, gets documented too. Building over an easement can create serious problems, up to a court order to remove whatever you put there, so knowing where those corridors run matters.
Every report carries a prominent disclaimer. The wording varies by state, but the message is consistent: it is not a boundary survey, it is prepared for a named client (usually the lender or title company), and it should not be relied upon for construction, fence installation, or establishing boundary lines. The measurements are approximations, not the precise determinations that come from a full survey.
Why Lenders and Title Companies Require One
A mortgage lender orders the report to confirm that the property being pledged as collateral matches the description in the loan file. The lender wants to see that the improvements sit within the boundaries and respect local setback requirements. If the house encroaches onto a neighbor’s parcel or sits partly within a utility easement, that threatens the value of the collateral, and the lender wants to know before funding the loan rather than after.
Title insurance companies use the report when deciding whether to issue a policy and what exceptions to include. A standard title policy typically contains a “survey exception” that excludes coverage for boundary disputes, encroachments, and similar issues that only a physical inspection would reveal.1Old Republic Title. Getting to Insurability: Commitment Requirements and Exceptions When the buyer provides a satisfactory report, the title company may narrow or remove that exception, giving the buyer broader protection.2First American. What Is Not Covered by Title Insurance Without one, the policy leaves the buyer exposed to the kinds of problems the report would have caught.
For commercial transactions or higher-value residential deals, a title underwriter may insist on a complete, fully certified survey instead of a limited report.3Old Republic Title. Survey Matters The title company will tell you which level of survey work it needs.
How It Differs From a Full Boundary Survey
Confusing the two is the mistake that costs homeowners money. An improvement location report shows where structures appear to sit relative to the property lines, using approximate measurements. A full boundary survey establishes the actual, legally defensible property lines and typically includes setting physical markers (iron pins, concrete monuments, or flagged stakes) at the corners of the parcel.
The practical difference: if a neighbor’s fence looks like it might be a foot over the line, the report can flag that something seems off. Only a boundary survey provides measurements precise enough to prove it in court, serve as the basis for a legal boundary dispute, or satisfy a building department before construction begins. The report explicitly states that it cannot be used for any of those purposes.
Cost reflects the gap in scope. A boundary survey often costs several times more because it requires deeper research into recorded plats and deeds, more precise field measurements, the physical setting of corner markers, and a higher standard of legal certification. For a routine home purchase where the lender just needs to confirm the house is where it should be, the limited report is the faster and cheaper option. For anything involving construction, fence placement, lot splits, or boundary disagreements, a full survey is the only appropriate tool.
What You Can’t Use It For
The biggest misconception is that homeowners can rely on the report after closing. They cannot. It is prepared for a specific named client, usually the title company or lender, and the surveyor’s liability runs only to that client. A property owner who builds a shed based on the boundary lines shown in an old report has no legal recourse against the surveyor if those lines turn out to be wrong.
The disclaimer on the face of the document reinforces this. A typical version reads: “This is not a land survey plat. It does not establish property boundaries or the true relationship of improvements to them. Improvements are generally situated as shown. It is not to be relied upon for the establishment of fence, building, or other future improvement lines.” Those words are printed as prominently as any other text on the document, for a reason.
The report also may or may not reveal encroachments, overlaps, boundary conflicts, or area shortages. That language comes straight from surveying regulations in multiple states, and it is not false modesty. Because the surveyor is working with approximate measurements rather than precisely established corners, an encroachment could exist that the report does not catch. If you need certainty about an encroachment, you need a boundary survey.
If the Report Flags a Problem
When the report shows that a structure appears to cross a property boundary or sit inside a setback or easement, the transaction does not automatically fall apart, but it slows down. The buyer, seller, and their agents need to figure out what the issue actually is and how to resolve it before closing. Common responses:
- Order a full boundary survey to determine whether the encroachment actually exists and measure it precisely.
- Negotiate a price adjustment, where the encroachment is real but minor and the buyer accepts a reduced price rather than demanding a fix.
- Require the seller to remove the offending structure as a condition of closing.
- Obtain a signed encroachment agreement from the affected neighbors acknowledging the encroachment and permitting it to remain; title companies sometimes accept these to clear the issue.
The worst outcome is a major encroachment — part of the house sitting on a neighbor’s land, for instance — that cannot be resolved quickly. In that situation the buyer usually walks away. Catching these problems before funding is the entire point of requiring the report in the first place.
Cost, Timing, and Cash Buyers
Fees vary with lot size, the number of improvements, local market rates, and how quickly you need the report. For a typical residential property, expect somewhere in the range of $200 to $500. Properties with extensive improvements, large acreage, or complicated legal descriptions push toward the higher end. Turnaround from initial request to delivery is commonly one to two weeks, with rush service available from most firms for an added fee.
An older report from a prior transaction is usually not acceptable. New fences, additions, or neighboring construction could have changed the picture, and the title company needs to see what the property looks like now. A fresh report is ordered for nearly every transaction where one is required.
If you are paying cash, no lender is going to require you to get one. Skipping it to save a few hundred dollars is a gamble most experienced buyers would not take. Without some form of survey work, your title insurance policy will almost certainly carry the survey exception, meaning no coverage for encroachments, boundary overlaps, or similar physical issues the report would have caught.1Old Republic Title. Getting to Insurability: Commitment Requirements and Exceptions A reasonable rule of thumb: for a platted lot in an established subdivision with no improvements near the apparent boundary lines, the risk of skipping it is relatively low. For an irregularly shaped lot, neighboring structures close to the boundary, or any plan to build after closing, the cost of the report is trivial compared to litigating a boundary dispute or tearing down a structure built in the wrong place.