Can I trust my neighbour's survey? Hello. My neighbour is rebuilding a retaining wall between our houses. He has gotten a surveyor to do a survey. He's shown me the survey and where the property line is and it looks OK to me based on the measurements on t

In Ontario surveyors are governed by the Association of Land Surveyors of Ontario which maintains and enforces rigorous standards upon the profession (www.aols.org). A cornerstone of an Ontario Land Surveyor's mandate is to protect the publics interest. While we, as homeowners, hire surveyors to do work for us, their primary responsibility is to the integrity of our land fabric, something that they take quite seriously. 

While I can't speak for every surveyor out there, and of course there are always exceptions in every industry, it is most probable the the surveyor that your neighbour hired did his/her professional duty and documented the boundary exactly where it is, in their opinion. This would have been preceded by historical research as well as an examination of nearby monumentation to determine where exactly the boundary lies.

If you are at all uncertain contact the Association of Land Surveyors of Ontario (www.aols.org). In my experience (we are a survey firm ourselves) the overwhelming majority of work that is done by this profession is not influenced by the client's needs or desires, but rather true to the physical and documentary evidence found.