Finding Your Property Line

While the City of Fargo does not offer a service to find your property boundaries, we can offer some tips on finding them yourself. Please note that a Professional Land Surveyor or survey firm licensed to practice land surveying in your corresponding state are the only entities that can legally locate property boundaries. To get a general idea of where the property lines are, you can try the following:

• Talk To Your Neighbors
  They may know of landmarks or other indications of where the property lines lie.
• Look at Your Sidewalk
  Unless it has been replaced, there should be a location where the sidewalk contractor stamped it on both sides of a break or “joint” between two sections of concrete. These stamps in the concrete typically lie in the general area of your property limits.
• Search for Property Pins
  When your neighborhood was laid out (platted), monuments were set at the corners of the lots and may still be in place. Be aware, however, that these “pins” can be susceptible to movement and/or disturbance. Look for the property pins in the ground; these are typically 5/8” diameter x 18” long metal rods placed vertically in the ground. The depth varies from flush with the surface to several feet under the sod line depending upon how much fill was required. They sometimes have a plastic cap on them that identifies the surveyor. A metal detector works great for finding them.
  Please note, locating the surveyor’s pins is not a substitute for accurate field surveys.

As a rule of thumb, property lines are generally located two feet from the back of the sidewalk (where the front yard and sidewalk meet) toward the home. However, there are property lines in the City that coincide directly with the interior edge of sidewalk, with others lying ten feet or more away.

For additional information, contact the Engineering Department.