In most jurisdictions property surveyors are required to file their record of survey if any monuments or calculations changed or if they placed new markers.

So in most jurisdictions whoever does the title search will typically have access to the survey and the buyer could likely obtain a copy from them.

Survey markers don’t usually protrude from the ground. Since surveys are often undertaken when someone might want to know the property line, they are often flagged, but they don’t have to be.

I suspect this is the same as any inspection. The person who ordered and paid for the inspection owns it, and can sell if they so wish. Happens with home inspections done with property sales. Buyer A orders and pays for an inspection then backs out of the transaction. Buyer B has no right to see that inspection without paying for it.

I wouldn't buy a survey from a previous owner, unless it wasn't included in sales package of the house (even though I might insist on seeing it before purchase). Sure, they legally can sell it separately, but I wouldn't give them that satisfaction, and they could hang on to a worthless piece of paper instead. If I needed a survey done, I'd get one done from scratch at the time I needed it..

There are multiple types of surveys. They don't all require or involve staking a property. Perhaps the sellers had an mortgage survey or another type done recently and were willing to sell it to the buyer. There is nothing nefarious here.

Don’t banks make a survey a condition of the loan? Maybe it is part of the appraisal process? I think those are pretty basic surveys so the property owners know about where the lines are. If you are going to put up a fence on the property line, then you need to have it staked. Which is expensive.

I often think of home sales/purchases as exchanges of information... a.k.a. signals. While there may be nothing nefarious about someone wanting to sell the buyer something that is only valuable to the owner of the property, it would give me pause. While it may be nothing, it’s also a signal that they might remove the fire pit because they paid for it. I recommend you not ignore that information.

Typically, you shouldn’t buy a survey or an inspection from someone else. It creates a privity problem. You are generally not entitled to benefit from a contract that you were not an intended beneficiary of at contract formation. While future owners are often seen as intended third party beneficiaries of surveys, you want your own survey if you intend to build something near the property line such as a fence, this makes them generally less valuable to the buyer than they were to the seller.

As an aside, I have never seen a fence company who would install a new fence without a flagged survey, nor have I seen a county that required one. You are liable for damage you do to someone else’s property, even if your customer told you to do it. Most fence companies don’t want to be liable when a property owner misses their property line. This wouldn’t really apply to fence replacement or shared fencing.

There is no law to have the property line staked if you are fencing, but it really sucks if you mistakenly put your fence even a teensy bit onto your neighbors property because then you have to move it. So spend the extra money, and if your fencers mess up, it’s on their dollar to fix it.

So the fencers don’t mess up.

Thanks for all your replies. I've learned a lot. What I've mainly learned is that customs and laws vary from place to place. The place where I live wasn't annexed into the city until fifty years ago. All the lots on my street were three acre lots. I've lived here forty years and lots of buying and selling has gone on during that time. My lot was 2/3 acre because the builder and owner of the property was having trouble paying his taxes after the property was annexed. He sold off a lot of the lot and still wasn't able to afford it. Our lot lines were very well marked with posts that were about five feet high. There were also rebar stakes in the ground. Because my lot was so well marked I thought everyone's was. After asking around I am hearing lots of stories.

Incredible!

@Stax - Do fencing companies in your area actually install new fences near the property line without a survey?

In both areas that I have homes in, fencing companies require that the property line be marked by a surveyor before they will install a new fence near it. It is a liability issue and I am actually surprised that any fencing company will do otherwise.

If the fencing company installs your fence on your neighbor's property, and your neighbor objects, they have to restore the neighbor's property to its original condition. Which means they have to remove the fence, dig out the concrete, fill the holes and sod those areas. The final cost of correcting one side is likely to be more than the entire fence and installation. That amount can also be difficult for them to recover.

Of course, you can DIY it and put up your own fence, but without a survey you need some way to find the property line and you better be sure that you know where it is. Because your neighbors don't have to DIY the correction if you mess up.

So, I think it is completely fair to say that if you are putting up a fence on the property line, you need a survey. This is not to say that it is required by law, but it is certainly prudent.

ETA: Just because I can see a semantics argument coming... Putting up a fence is different than replacing an existing fence. If you are just replacing an existing fence you may not need a survey as that largely indemnifies the fencing company.

I see Stax deleted his/her post. Some areas also have zoning laws with setbacks, depending on the size/height of fence being installed. Would be hard for the contractor to stay 10’ off the property line if the property line was not marked.