If you are currently in the process of buying a residential house or property, the Golden Hills Homeowners' Association (GHHOA) requires that you obtain an Improvement Location Certificate (ILC), as do many mortgage companies and/or title insurance companies. An ILC assures the mortgage and title companies that all of your property's improvements (decks, fences, house additions, etc) remain within your property lines, and do not encroach on neighboring properties. Additionally, the improvement location certificate determines that none of your neighbors has built or improved anything that crosses over onto your land. By ensuring that structures are located on the proper side of the deed lines, all parties reduce their exposure to potential property line disputes.
An Improvement Location Certificate will generally show the major structures, distances from structures to the deed property lines, and may also show easement areas. In the majority of cases, an Improvement Location Certificate will clearly show that a property has no encroachments, and will be sufficient. However, if an obvious encroachment exists, or if surveying shows a possible or debatable encroachment, you may want a more detailed land survey plat or a monumented land survey. These generally have more precise error tolerances.
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