The ManicaPost
Alfred Maenzanise
Correspondent
THE two terms beacons and boundaries are very important in the language of land property and they must be clearly understood from the onset.
Beacons and boundaries define the extent of land property.
Beacons are the monuments that are placed to mark the perimeter of a land parcel.
These are sometimes referred to as pegs.
In most cases, they are solid iron rods of minimum diameter of 12-millimeters and at least 45 centimetres long that are hammered into the ground so that their tops are flush with the ground.
Sometimes concrete of 15cm diameter and 15cm depth surrounds the iron rods.
This is common in urban areas.
In farms, a huge cairn of stones, which can be at least half a metre high and almost a metre wide, is used to cover the iron rod.
Boundaries are what are created when beacons are placed on the ground.
The line from the centre of one beacon to the centre of the next beacon is called a boundary.
What this implies is that in order for one to establish a property boundary, one must have located the two beacons that define such boundary.
This is important to understand simply because cases abound of land owners who make claims about encroachment by a neighbour into another’s property without having considered the position of beacons; that is, without a clear appreciation of the boundaries.
A boundary of a property may also be created as a curvilinear form, that is, as a series of connected curves or lines.
Examples of curvilinear boundaries are middle of a river, inner bank of a river, edge of wall and middle of wall.
Any development of the land property must respect the beacons of such property.
A development plan will always have a site plan which indicates the relationship of the new development to the beacons and boundaries of the property.
A usual requirement is that the new development must always be set out in relationship to the property boundaries.
Under no circumstances should a beacon ever be removed as this could attract prosecution.
In developments where this cannot be avoided, a practicing land surveyor should be engaged to supervise the removal and subsequent reinstatement of any property beacons.
This is usually the case in developments of commercial buildings and boundary walls. Section 37 of the Land Survey Act, Chapter 20:12 reads thus;
37. Offences and compensation in respect thereof
(1) Any person who, without lawful excuse, the burden of proof whereof shall be upon him—
(a) alters, moves, disturbs or willfully damages or destroys any beacon, bench mark, trigonometrical station, reference mark or town survey mark intended to be permanent and erected for the purpose of or in connection with any survey operations, whether such beacon, bench mark, trigonometrical station, reference mark or town survey mark is upon his own land or not;
or
(b) erects any beacon except under the supervision of a land surveyor, whether his intention is to alter the boundary line of any piece of land or to cause deception as to that boundary line or not;
shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level six or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
It is sometimes difficult to tell exactly the position of the boundary line where beacons are far apart, especially in farms.
Land surveyors are engaged to place intermediate marks which can be used for fencing purposes.
These intermediate marks must not be confused for beacons; and usually they do not meet the minimum conditions for beacons. They only serve to show the position of the boundary line.
What follows is Section 36 of the Land Survey Act, Chapter 20:12. It is very clear and for fear of diluting its contents the writer has copied it as it is;
36. Repair or re-erection of beacons
(1) Every owner of land shall maintain in proper order and repair, in accordance with regulations, any beacon or mark defining a corner point of such land, whether such beacon or mark was erected for the purpose of or in connection with a survey or resurvey of such land under this Act or any enactment in force prior to the 1st May, 1933, or for the purpose of or in connection with a survey or re-survey of any land contiguous thereto.
(2) If any such beacon or mark has not been maintained in proper order and repair, or has been removed or obliterated, the Surveyor-General may, by delivery or by transmission in a registered letter through the post, serve upon the owner of every piece of land whereof such beacon or mark forms a corner a notice in writing calling upon him to restore such beacon or mark to the prescribed condition, or to re-erect it in the prescribed manner, as the case may be:
Provided that the re-erection of any such removed or obliterated beacon or mark shall be carried out by a land surveyor.
(3) If such beacon or mark is not so restored or re-erected within six weeks of the date upon which any such notice was so delivered or posted, the Surveyor-General may cause such beacon or mark to be so restored or re-erected by a land surveyor.
The Surveyor-General may, at the request of the owner, extend the period of six weeks.
(4) The owners of all such pieces of land shall be liable in equal shares for the costs of the repair, restoration or re-erection of any such beacon or mark, and the Surveyor-General may recover from every such owner his share of all costs incurred by the Surveyor-General under subsection (3):
Provided that if any such owner, or the servant or agent of any such owner, has damaged, removed or obliterated any such beacon or mark, the entire cost of the repair, restoration or re-erection of such beacon or mark shall be borne by such owner.
This article was written by Alfred Jonah Maenzanise in his personal capacity.
