The Legal Framework: ORS Chapter 672
Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 672 establishes the rules for land surveying practice in the state. It defines who may legally survey land, what qualifications are required, how surveyors are licensed, and what obligations surveyors carry once licensed. For property owners, the most important provision is straightforward: only a Licensed Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) holding a current OSBEELS license may perform, certify, and stamp boundary surveys or other work that legally determines property boundaries in Oregon.
This is not a technicality. Property boundaries have long-term legal consequences. A survey determines where your property ends and your neighbor's begins, informs building permits, supports or defends against adverse possession claims, and forms the basis of title insurance. The work must be done by someone with the professional training, licensing, and liability to stand behind it.
OSBEELS: Oregon's Licensing Authority
The Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying (OSBEELS) is the state agency responsible for licensing and regulating Professional Land Surveyors under ORS Chapter 672. The board oversees initial licensing examinations, continuing education requirements, license renewals, and disciplinary actions against licensees who violate professional standards.
To earn an Oregon PLS license, a candidate must hold a four-year degree in surveying or a related field, complete a structured period of supervised experience under a licensed surveyor, and pass the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) Fundamentals of Surveying and Principles and Practice of Surveying exams. OSBEELS then evaluates the application and, if approved, issues the license.
Active Oregon PLS licenses must be renewed periodically, and licensees must complete continuing education to maintain their license in good standing. OSBEELS maintains the official registry of all licensed surveyors in Oregon.
What Only a PLS Can Do in Oregon
Under ORS Chapter 672, certain surveying activities are reserved exclusively for licensed PLSs. These include:
- Determining and certifying property boundaries
- Preparing and certifying boundary survey plats
- Signing and stamping Records of Survey for county filing
- Preparing subdivision plats for recording
- Performing lot line adjustments that affect legal boundaries
- Testifying as an expert witness on boundary matters
GPS devices sold to consumers, satellite imagery, county assessor parcel maps, and online mapping tools do not produce legally valid boundary determinations. Only the work of a licensed PLS carries that legal weight in Oregon.
Survey Monuments Under Oregon Law
Survey monuments are the physical markers, typically iron pins or concrete monuments, that mark property corners in the field. Oregon law under ORS Chapter 209 requires that survey monuments be preserved. Intentionally removing, disturbing, or destroying a survey monument is a crime under Oregon law.
This protection exists because monuments form the foundation of Oregon's entire property boundary system. Each monument is a legal reference point that downstream surveys depend on. When monuments are destroyed, surveyors must reconstruct their positions from other evidence, which takes time, increases cost, and introduces the possibility of error.
If you discover a survey monument on your property, do not remove it. If construction, landscaping, or other work will disturb a monument, contact a licensed surveyor before proceeding. The surveyor can reference the monument's position before it is disturbed and re-establish it afterward, preserving the chain of evidence.
Recording a Survey with the County
After completing a boundary survey in Oregon, a licensed PLS is required by law to file a Record of Survey with the county surveyor's office. This filing creates a permanent, searchable public record of the survey. Future surveyors, title companies, buyers, and property owners can access filed Records of Survey when researching a parcel.
The Record of Survey includes a scaled drawing of the property boundaries, the monuments found and set, bearings and distances between corners, and the surveyor's certification. It becomes part of the permanent land records for the county.
When you hire a surveyor, ask whether the Record of Survey filing is included in the quoted price. Most licensed Oregon surveyors include it, but it is worth confirming.
The County Surveyor vs. a Private PLS
Many Oregon counties employ a county surveyor. The county surveyor's role is primarily administrative: reviewing Records of Survey submitted for filing, maintaining county survey records, and providing technical oversight for county public works projects. County surveyors do not typically perform private boundary surveys on behalf of individual property owners.
If you need a boundary survey for your property, you hire a licensed PLS in private practice, not the county surveyor's office. The county surveyor's office is where that PLS files the resulting Record of Survey.
Adverse Possession in Oregon
Oregon recognizes adverse possession under ORS 105.620. A person who has openly, continuously, exclusively, and hostilely occupied land belonging to another person for a period of 10 years may potentially claim legal title to that land through a court proceeding.
This matters for property owners in a few ways. If a neighbor has been using a strip of your property for years, you may have an adverse possession problem. Conversely, if you have been using land you believe is yours but that a new survey shows is technically the neighbor's, you may need legal advice about your options.
A boundary survey is the starting point for any adverse possession analysis. It documents where the legal property line is. Combined with evidence of actual use, it provides the factual basis for a legal proceeding or a negotiated resolution.
Deed Research and Oregon County Records
Before setting foot on a property, every Oregon PLS spends time in the deed records. The Oregon county recording system, maintained by County Clerk offices, contains deeds, plats, Records of Survey, easements, and other documents that define property boundaries over time.
Oregon uses two main systems for describing property: metes and bounds descriptions, which describe boundaries using bearings and distances from a starting point, and the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), which uses townships, ranges, and sections established by the original federal land surveys. Many Oregon rural properties use PLSS descriptions. Many urban lots are described by reference to a recorded subdivision plat.
A licensed surveyor knows how to research and interpret both systems. They compare current deed descriptions against recorded plats and prior survey filings to build an accurate picture of how your boundary lines are legally described before they measure anything in the field.
Find a Licensed Surveyor in Oregon
Every surveyor in our Oregon directory is sourced from OSBEELS state licensing records. Search Oregon surveyors by county to find a licensed Professional Land Surveyor near your property.