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First of all let’s explain what a Real Property Report (sometimes known as an RPR) is. This is a legal document in the form of a plan or illustration which shows significant visible improvements on or within the property boundaries. this document is prepared by a surveyor and has the written opinions or concerns of the surveyor. The document can be relied on by buyers, sellers, lenders and municipalities as an accurate representation of everything that sits on the land. To be valid for dealing with the sale of a property the RPR should have a stamp of compliance from the local municipality.
As a property owner you need a RPR to show the location of improvements on the property, whether there are any encroachments from adjacent properties onto your land and to make sure that your property complies with local municipal requirements.
As a seller, you need to make sure that your RPR is up to date and has municipal compliance before selling your property. Not having this can delay the sale and cause a lot of frustration and heart-ache when it comes to transferring title from seller to buyer. Significant changes to the property since you purchased it could mean that your RPR is no longer valid. For example, you purchased a home a few years ago and at the time it had no garage. You have since built a garage and therefore your RPR (that you received at the time of purchasing the home) does not show the garage and is no longer valid.
As a buyer, you want to be sure of where the boundaries to your property lie, and any problems relating to the boundaries or anything on the land. For example, one of the things that attracted you to buy this particular home is that it has a swimming pool in the back yard. When looking at the swimming pool on the RPR it is found that it is too close to the boundary for municipal compliance and sits over a utility right of way. As a result the RPR cannot be given compliance. Do you now want to go ahead and buy this property?
Lenders will also need to know about issues with the RPR and make sure they are resolved before lending money on the property. In the above case of the swimming pool the cost of removing or moving the swimming pool could be considerable and may affect whether the lender is prepared to lend.
The RPR is a “snapshot” of the property on the date that the survey was conducted. Therefore, any significant changes made to improvements on the property, or adjoining properties after this could make the RPR invalid. improvements can include new or modified fences, decks, driveways, garages or other features. Just because you have never changed anything on your property since you’ve owned it doesn’t mean that your RPR is still valid. It could be that your neighbour has built a garage which, with the eaves, now encroaches onto your property.
If you are wanting to sell your property but the original RPR no longer shows all the improvements that have been added you should attempt to contact the surveyor that did the original RPR to see whether they can up date it rather than paying for a completely new RPR to be produced. Updating an existing RPR rather than getting a completely new one done could save you several hundred dollars.
RPR’s can only be produced in Alberta by a registered Alberta Land Surveyor. The cost of producing a new RPR varies depending on lot size and shape, number of buildings, natural features, age and availability of property boundary information. All surveyors in Alberta are registered with the Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association. For more details visit their web site at www.alsa.ab.ca
