What to expect
| Typical duration | A check is quick · resolving a discrepancy can take months |
|---|---|
| Cost band | Figures live in the cost index |
| Permit required | Clean cadastral position is needed for the permit |
| Seasonal constraint | Not seasonal |
What goes wrong
- The registered boundary does not match the ground
- Terraces built and rebuilt over generations follow the slope, not the deed. The wall everyone has treated as the boundary may not be it, and the survey is what reveals it. See topographic survey.
- Inheritance not fully processed
- Extremely common. A property passes through a generation without the registration being completed, and ownership on paper does not match reality. Resolving it is a legal process and it takes time.
- Registered area does not match the actual plot
- A discrepancy in recorded area, which has to be reconciled before an application built on that area can proceed.
- Built structures not reflected in the record
- An extension, terrace or conversion that exists but was never permitted or recorded. This is the overlap with legalisation and it is the most consequential version.
- Shared and undivided ownership
- Multiple heirs holding undivided shares, all of whom must consent. On a family property that has passed through two generations this can be a large number of people, some of whom are abroad.
Why it stops a permit
A permit application asserts things about a property — who owns it, where its boundaries are, what its area is, what is already built. If the cadastral record contradicts any of those, the application cannot proceed on an unresolved contradiction.
The cost of finding this late is not the resolution itself. It is that the survey, design and engineering have all been produced and paid for against a position that turns out to be unsettled, and some of that work may need revisiting once it is resolved.
The order to do things in
- Check the cadastral position and title before spending anything on design. This is a lawyer's and surveyor's task, not a builder's.
- Compare what is registered against what physically exists — the survey does this.
- Where there is a discrepancy, establish what resolving it involves and how long, before committing to a programme.
- Where unauthorised structures are involved, resolve the legalisation position. See legalisation.
- Only then commit to design fees and a construction programme.
Our role, which is limited and worth stating
A contractor is not a lawyer, notary or surveyor, and cadastral matters belong to them. What matters is that the check happens at the right point in the sequence rather than being discovered by an architect three months in.
It is the single most common reason we tell a client to slow down before spending money. An owner keen to start in March who has an unresolved inheritance is not going to start in March, and it is better to say so at the first meeting.
Where it is resolved and the project proceeds, the same information feeds the survey, the design and the permit file, so the work is not wasted.
Questions people actually ask
How do I check my cadastral position?
Through a lawyer or notary, alongside the topographic survey. If you are buying, it is a standard part of proper due diligence and should not be skipped in a hurry to complete.
My property is inherited and the paperwork was never finished. Can I still build?
Not until the position is resolved, and how long that takes depends on the situation and on how many parties are involved. It is worth starting the moment you know you want to build rather than at design stage.
What if my neighbour disputes the boundary?
That is a legal matter rather than a construction one. The survey establishes the technical position; resolving a dispute is for lawyers. Building over a disputed boundary is the one thing not to do.
Can a discrepancy be fixed quickly?
Some are administrative and reasonably quick. Ownership and inheritance matters, and anything involving multiple parties, are not. Get an assessment of your specific position before assuming either.
Does this affect a purely internal renovation?
Less, because no permit may be needed. It still matters for your own security of title, and it will matter when you sell.