Junior & Senior Rights in Land Surveying
One of the important aspects of land surveying is determining the rights and obligations of different parties who have an interest in the same land when a boundary conflict created by written documents occurs. These parties are often referred to as junior and senior rights holders.
Junior rights holders are those who acquired their interest in the land second to or later than the senior rights holders. For example, if A owns a piece of land and sells part of it to B, then B is a junior rights holder and A is a senior rights holder. Junior rights holders are subject to the existing rights and claims of the senior rights holders. For example, if A has an easement over B's land, then B cannot interfere with A's use of the easement unless it was agreed upon.
Senior rights holders are those who acquired their interest in the land earlier than the junior rights holders. They have priority over the junior rights holders in case of any conflict or dispute. For example, if A and B both claim ownership of the same piece of land, then the one who can prove that they acquired their interest first is the senior rights holder and has a better title to the land.
Junior/Senior Rights conflicts are rarely apparent based on individual written legal descriptions. They are usually only found by close examination of the subject parcel legals’ description and comparing that to the adjoining land description, or during the course of a Land Survey of the property, which uncovers faulty measurements or other errors in the records or on the ground.
The guiding principle for Junior/Senior Rights is a simple one. The first owner gets full rights to what was conveyed to him or her, as stated in the description of the land in the deed or patent document. Because that is a Senior right, any overlaps created by subsequent written documents are Junior and must yield to the first grant.
As a Professional Land Surveyor, it is imperative to avoid creating conflicts when preparing legal descriptions. Unfortunately, many legal descriptions are prepared by non-surveyors or those who don’t have the necessary experience to avoid creating conflicts or ambiguities.
If you have concerns with your legal description or description for a land you are purchasing, it is highly recommended to enlist a Professional Land Surveyor, Legal Counsel or a Title Officer to verify, however a surveyor will be the best to verify how the legal description relates to the ground.