Franklin County Property Lines: How to Find Your Boundaries

Three kinds of boundary information, and what each is good for

“Where is my property line?” has three different answers depending on how exact you need to be. Most confusion comes from treating a map line as if it were a survey.

See Franklin County property lines online (approximate)

For a quick look, including an aerial view of property lines by address, use the Auditor’s Parcel Viewer.

1. Open the Parcel Viewer at gis.franklincountyohio.gov/parcelviewer.
2. Find your property by searching or by zooming to your street. Parcel lines appear as you zoom in.
3. Turn on aerial imagery from the map’s basemap or layer options to see the lines over a photo.
4. Click your lot to confirm the parcel ID and owner. Our GIS guide covers every map tool in detail.

Read the legal description in your deed

Your deed defines what you own. Get a copy through the Recorder’s online public records search or by calling 614-525-3930. You’ll find one of two styles of legal description:

Where to find Franklin County plat maps

A subdivision plat is recorded with the County Recorder when land is divided into lots. To find yours:

1. Note the subdivision name and plat reference from your legal description.
2. Search the Recorder’s online records for the plat, or ask the Recorder’s staff (18th floor, 373 S. High St.; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays).
3. Compare the plat’s lot dimensions with the parcel outline on the Parcel Viewer.

The County Engineer also maintains tax maps and publishes a Tax Maps & Surveying Data map that includes parcels, right-of-way, monuments, surveys and records. For how a parcel looked in earlier years, the Auditor’s Parcel Archive goes back to 1995.

How to read a subdivision plat

A plat can look intimidating, but most of what homeowners need is in a few places:

Compare the plat’s dimensions with the parcel outline in the Parcel Viewer. If they differ by more than a little, the plat governs, and a surveyor can explain why.

Reading a metes-and-bounds description

Older and rural parcels are often described as a walk around the boundary. A simplified, made-up example shows the structure:

• Point of beginning: where the description starts, often tied to a monument.
• Calls: each “thence” is one side of the parcel, with a direction and a distance.
• Closure: a good description returns to the point of beginning.
• “More or less”: acreage in a description is approximate; the calls control.

Real descriptions can include curves, references to neighboring deeds and exceptions for road right-of-way. That’s where a surveyor’s reading matters.

Types of surveys, and which one you need

If you’re not sure, tell the surveyor what you’re trying to do. That decides the type of survey.

Corner pins and monuments

Surveyors mark property corners with monuments, commonly iron pins or pipes driven into the ground, sometimes with a cap stamped with the surveyor’s information. Over time they get buried, pulled out during construction or moved. A few tips:

• A pin you find isn’t proof of the corner on its own; a surveyor verifies it against records and other monuments.
• Don’t move or remove survey markers.
• Photograph and note the location of any pins a surveyor sets for you.

If a neighbor’s fence or shed seems to be over the line

1. Don’t rely on the GIS map. The approximate line may simply be off.
2. Check your documents. Your deed, plat and any prior survey.
3. Get a boundary survey if the question matters enough to act on.
4. Talk to your neighbor with the survey in hand. Many issues end here, sometimes with a written agreement.
5. Consult a real estate attorney if you can’t agree, especially where a structure has been in place for many years.

You can find your neighbor’s name and mailing address through the owner search.

Check for an existing survey first

Before hiring a surveyor, see whether your property has already been surveyed. A prior survey won’t replace a new one for a dispute, but it tells a surveyor where to start and may be all a lender or buyer needs to see.

• Your closing file. Many buyers receive a survey or a survey-related document at closing.
• The County Engineer. The Engineer’s Tax Maps & Surveying Data tool includes surveys and records, and the Engineer’s Tax Map Office on S. High Street can help. Main office: 970 Dublin Rd.; 614-525-3030; 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
• The previous owner or builder. New subdivisions are staked out by surveyors, and builders may have plot plans.

Franklin County survey records kept by the Engineer are the best public place to look for a prior boundary survey.

When you need a licensed surveyor

A boundary survey is the only way to know where the line is on the ground. You need one when:

• building a fence, addition, garage, pool or driveway near a line;
• a neighbor disputes where the line is, or something seems to cross it;
• splitting a parcel or combining it with another;
• buying vacant or rural land, or land with an unclear description;
• a lender, title company or zoning office asks for one.

What to know when you hire

Changing your boundaries: splits and combinations

If you want to move a line, you’re creating a split, a combination or both. The Auditor’s Transfer & Conveyance FAQ outlines the path:

1. Zoning first. Contact your municipality’s building and zoning office. For township land, contact Franklin County Economic Development at 614-525-4684.
2. Hire a surveyor to prepare the new description and drawing.
3. Prepare the deed with a title company or attorney.
4. Get approvals from the Engineer’s, Auditor’s and Recorder’s offices.

After a split, the original owner receives the full tax bill until the next tax year. Combining parcels uses the Auditor’s Combination form, and separate bills continue until the next tax year. See the property transfers guide for fees and paperwork.

Easements and right-of-way

Your boundary isn’t the only line that matters. Easements give someone else a right to use part of your land, such as a utility line, a shared driveway or drainage. Right-of-way is land set aside for a road, often extending beyond the pavement into what looks like your front yard.

To find Franklin County easements on a specific lot, search the Recorder’s records by owner name or subdivision, then compare what you find with the plat.

Property line questions by situation

Setbacks and zoning: the other lines that matter

Even when you know exactly where your property line is, you usually can’t build right up to it. Local zoning codes set setbacks, the minimum distances between buildings and property lines, along with rules on height, lot coverage and fences. In Franklin County, zoning is handled by each city, village or township, not by the County Auditor. Some subdivision plats also show building lines or restrictions. Check with your local zoning office before designing a project, and bring your survey.

Trees, drainage and shared driveways

• Trees on the line: questions about boundary trees usually depend on where the trunk stands and local rules; a survey settles the location question.
• Drainage: plats often reserve drainage easements. Blocking one with a fence or shed can cause problems for you and neighbors.
• Shared driveways: look for a recorded easement or agreement at the Recorder. If none exists, an attorney can help formalize one.

The owner search helps you identify and contact neighbors about shared issues.

Preparing to hire a surveyor

You’ll get a faster, more accurate quote if you bring the surveyor what they need:

• your parcel number (see the parcel number guide) and the legal description from your deed;
• any prior survey, plot plan or mortgage location drawing from your closing;
• the subdivision plat reference, if your property is in a platted subdivision;
• what you’re trying to do: build a fence, add on, settle a question with a neighbor, or split the lot;
• any deadline, such as a closing date or permit application.

Confirm the surveyor’s Ohio license with the Ohio Board of Engineers and Surveyors, and ask for a written quote describing the work and deliverables.

If the Auditor’s map looks wrong

Small offsets between the parcel map and aerial photos are normal. But if the map shows something clearly wrong, such as your house drawn on your neighbor’s parcel or a lot line in the middle of your garage, report it to the Auditor at 614-525-4663 with a copy of your survey or deed. A map correction helps future owners, but it doesn’t change your legal boundary, which is set by your deed and plat.

Property lines when you buy or sell

• Buyers of rural land, vacant lots or unusually shaped parcels benefit most from a new boundary survey before closing.
• Sellers can speed things up by sharing any existing survey.
• Splitting off land for a sale means a new survey, deed and approvals. See the transfers guide, and check the Auditor’s forms for the combination and conveyance paperwork.
• Farmland in CAUV may face recoupment if a split takes land out of agricultural use; see the CAUV guide.

Do property lines affect my taxes?

Only indirectly. Your tax is based on the Auditor’s appraised value, which reflects your recorded lot size and buildings. If a survey shows your lot is materially smaller or larger than the Auditor’s record, share it with the Auditor’s office; a correction to land data can change land value. Buying a strip from a neighbor, or combining an adjoining lot, changes the parcel itself and is handled through the transfer and combination process. See the property values guide for how land value is set.

Fences and boundary disputes

Most boundary disagreements between neighbors end once both sides see a current survey. A few practical points:

• Talk before you build. Share the survey with your neighbor before a fence goes up. It’s cheaper than moving a fence later.
• Check local rules. Cities and townships set their own fence rules, such as height limits, setbacks and permits. Ask your zoning office.
• Know that long use can matter. Ohio law sets a 21-year limit for actions to recover real property (Ohio Revised Code 2305.04), which is the basis of adverse possession claims. These cases are fact-specific; talk to a real estate attorney if one comes up.
• The county won’t settle it. County offices keep records and maps; they don’t decide private boundary disputes or stake your line.

Who to contact about property lines

All county numbers are on the office contacts page.

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