Liability of Units of Government to Private Parties for Mapping Errors

Subject:

Requested By: D. R. Holbrook, Director Ad Valoreum Tax Division Department of Revenue

Question: Where a county property-line map made pursuant to the "land records management program" contains an error, and a private party buys such a map and relies upon it in connection with some private activity not associated with the "land records management program," and suffers damages as a consequence of such reliance, is the unit of government responsible for the preparation or sale of the map liable to the party who has suffered a loss?

Conclusion: No; the maps are prepared for specific governmental purposes, and a private party who uses them for some other purpose is not protected thereby. Such maps are not a substitute for an attorney’s title certificate, or a surveyor’s certificate and plat.

G.S. 143-345.6(c)92) provides that the Secretary of Administration "shall, in cooperation with the Secretary of Revenue, conduct a program for the preparation of county property-line maps under the direction of qualified surveyors pursuant to standards prepared by the Departments of Revenue and Natural Resources and Community Development."

The Director of the Ad Valorem Tax Division of the Department of Revenue has pointed out that, while one of the principal beneficiaries and users of such maps will invariably be the County Tax Supervisor, who uses such maps (often called "tax maps") in connection with the administration of the county’s ad valorem tax program, such maps "are being increasingly relied upon by attorneys, real estate brokers, developers and others." He points out that some local officials are concerned about liability where a user has suffered damages because of gross errors in the delineation of property lines. To protect themselves from liability, they have suggested that a disclaimer be printed on the maps. Our opinion has been requested as to the liability of a unit of government or of a governmental official relative to erroneously prepared maps, and of the practical effect of such a disclaimer.

At the outset, it must be noted that the mapping program is part of the "land records management program" which the Legislature has directed the Secretary of Administration to establish "for the purposes (i) of advising registers of deeds, local tax officials, and local planning officials about sound management practices; and (ii) of establishing greater uniformity in local land records systems." G.S. 143-345.6(a). Thus, the program’s sole purposes are directed toward needs of units of government. There is not the least intimation that it is, or is intended to be, a substitute for the certificate of title provided by an attorney who has examined the record title to land for a client, or for a surveyor’s certificate and plat provided by a professional engineer or registered land surveyor who has located the lines on the ground, examined the land for easements, encroachments, etc. and reported the same to his client.

It is our opinion that by providing a copy of a map, prepared purely and simply for the purposes mandated by the land records management program, to one who purchases it for some other use, no unit of government or local official incurs any liability to the purchaser or user for errors on the map. To obviate the possibility of any misunderstanding along that line, a disclaimer would unquestionably be useful, but by no means is required, in our opinion.

We feel that it cannot be reiterated too strongly that when one acquires title to land, only two things reliably establish the nature and extent of the property acquired: examination of title by an attorney and a survey of the property by an engineer or surveyor. With these professionals, the client is by contract entitled to their professional responsibility, and their professional liability for errors. In relying upon a document prepared for other purposes by persons with whom he had no such relationship, the individual receives no such protection.

Rufus L. Edmisten Attorney General

Myron C. Banks Special Deputy Attorney General