Is the propery line measured from the curb?

Answer 1

The answer to your question depends upon what the title examination of your property reveals. If your property is a lot on a subdivision plan or plat, or has been surveyed, the plan or survey would show your property lines. If your property is in New England, has never been surveyed and fronts on a road, the size of the original property may have been changed by road alterations that have not been reflected in the deed description. Deed descriptions in some New England deeds have been carried forward for hundreds of years unchanged. For example: Suppose a large landowner conveyed a parcel on the main road through town to his son in 1860. Suppose the lot was 200 feet deep and 200 feet wide abutting the north side of the road when the road was only a twenty foot wide cart path. In 1925 the town paved the road and widened it to 30 feet, taking five feet of your frontage. The town continued to grow and in 1960 the road was again expanded to 60 feet to add another lane, taking another fifteen feet of your frontage. Your deed would still describe a 200 by 200 foot lot. However, you could not begin at the curb and measure back 200 feet. The road alterations would have taken 20 feet of your frontage and now your lot is only 180 feet deep. This is the type of information a professional title examination discloses. You can research your own property in the land records and obtain a copy of any subdivision plan or recorded survey that shows your lot. The answer may be a simple one.

Answer 2

Not always, because property lines are drawn out in a number of different ways.

Some lines start in the center of a road, while others start at some other point and can angle different ways to include varying landscapes.

The local county recorder should have the mapped layout of the properties in your area. They are usually detailed with a set starting point and then mapped (in degrees of direction/length to next point) and continue on until the surveyor returns back to the original starting point (which could be determined by a landmark or latitude/longitude measurement).