Could a Kentucky landowner record a subdivision plat they prepared without a licensed surveyor?

Plain-English summary

In 1994, Kentucky's Attorney General said an unregistered landowner could survey property the person owned or leased under the exception in KRS 322.030, so long as the work did not involve public health or safety. That exception addressed the prohibition on unregistered practice in KRS 322.020. It did not excuse a separate rule, KRS 322.400, that generally barred a county clerk from recording a survey-related map or plat without a registered land surveyor's seal and signature.

The opinion acknowledged a possible exception where a planning commission had approved the plat, citing KRS 100.329. It also said no provision allowed removal of an improperly recorded plat, and that whether a proposed subdivision affected public health or safety depended on its particular facts.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1994. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Historical summary

Landowners preparing plats

The AG read KRS 322.030 as allowing an owner or lessee to perform surveying on that property without registration unless public health or safety was involved. It said this was an exception to the practice restriction in KRS 322.020, not a general permission to record a resulting plat.

County clerks and planning commissions

KRS 322.400 separately prohibited a clerk or other filing authority from accepting a survey-related plat without the registered surveyor's personal seal and signature. The AG said an owner-made subdivision plat ordinarily could not be recorded under that rule. It acknowledged a possible exception if a planning commission approved the plat, citing KRS 100.329.

Previously recorded plats and safety questions

The AG found no procedure to remove an improperly recorded instrument. It also declined a blanket rule about whether all subdivisions implicate public health or safety. The opinion contrasted residential building lots without access, water, or sewage provisions with a farmer's sale of a hayfield to a neighbor, and said the answer depended on the specific situation.

Common questions

Did owning the property let someone record an unsigned subdivision plat?

No. The AG said the owner's surveying exemption applied to unregistered practice, while the separate recording statute still required a registered surveyor's seal and signature.

Could a clerk record a plat approved by a planning commission?

The opinion acknowledged a possible exception to the seal rule if a planning commission had approved the plat, citing KRS 100.329's recording requirement.

Could a clerk remove an unsealed plat that had already been recorded?

The AG said it found no provision for removing that instrument from the records.

Did every lot division involve public health or safety?

The AG said neither a universal yes nor a universal no was justified. It treated that question as dependent on the particular subdivision and its circumstances.

Background and statutory framework

The state licensing board asked whether unregistered landowners could record their subdivision plats, whether already recorded plats could be removed, and whether subdividing lots for sale implicated health or safety. The AG distinguished KRS 322.020's registration rule, KRS 322.030's owner-or-lessee exception, and KRS 322.400's separate filing requirement. It then noted the planning commission approval rule in KRS 100.329 and declined to decide health and safety without a specific fact pattern.

Citations and references

• KRS 322.020: prohibition on unregistered surveying practice.
• KRS 322.030: owner-or-lessee exception, limited by public health and safety.
• KRS 322.400: seal and signature rule for filing survey-related documents.
• KRS 100.329: recording of planning commission-approved plats.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.ky.gov/Resources/Opinions/Opinions/OAG94-024.htm

Original opinion text

OAG 94-24

March 31, 1994

B. R. Salyer

General Counsel

Kentucky State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors

504 Flemingsburg Road

Morehead, Kentucky 40351-1022

Dear Mr. Salyer:

You have asked three questions regarding KRS chapter 322 and its applicability to landowners who prepare their own plats and similar documents.

Three statutes are implicated by your questions. The first is KRS 322.020, which states:

No person shall practice or offer to practice engineering or land surveying, or use, assume or advertise in any way any title or description tending to convey the impression that he is an engineer or land surveyor, unless he has been registered under this chapter.

An exception to the foregoing rule is provided in KRS 322.030, which states:

KRS 322.020 shall not apply to:

(3) The practice of engineering or land surveying by a person on property leased or owned by the person unless the practice involves the public safety or public health[.]

The third statute applicable to this inquiry is KRS 322.400, which states:

It shall be unlawful for the county clerk of any county, or any other public authority with whom the same may be required by law to be filed, to accept for filing, file or record any map, plat, survey or other document related to the practice of land surveying, unless there is affixed thereto the personal seal and signature of the registered land surveyor by whom, or under whose personal supervision and direction, such map, plat, survey or other document was prepared.

Your letter indicates that some landowners who are not registered surveyors have laid out their property in subdivisions and attempted to record the plat with the county clerk. Your first question is:

Is a county clerk, or other public authority, permitted to record a subdivision plat which was prepared by a land owner who is not a registered professional land surveyor, in spite of KRS 322.400?

The answer to this question is no. By its explicit terms, the exception contained in KRS 322.030 ("land surveying by a person on property leased or owned by the person") applies only to KRS 322.020; there is nothing to suggest that the exception also applies to KRS 322.400. That is to say, by enacting KRS 322.030 the legislature has provided that it is not an offense for an unregistered person to perform land surveying on property he owns or leases; but the legislature has not enacted a provision that would allow such a person to record the fruit of his efforts in the county clerk's office.

We acknowledge a possible exception to this rule. If a planning commission has approved such a plat, then the county clerk is compelled by KRS 100.329 to record it.

Your second question is:

If KRS 322.400 prohibits the recording of a subdivision plat referred to in Question No. 1 above, and if a county clerk or other public authority has recorded such a document, is there some procedure for removing the document from the clerk's or public authority's records?

There is no provision for removing such an instrument from recordation.

Your third question is:

If a land owner who is not a registered professional land surveyor prepares subdivision plats of property leased or owned by him for the purpose of selling lots to other parties, does that practice involve the public safety or public health?

We cannot state as a general rule that every subdivision of property into lots implicates public safety or public health. Nor can we state the opposite. Common sense would indicate that a division of property into residential building lots with no provision for road access, water, and sewage would certainly be contrary to public health and safety. Conversely the sale of a farmer's hayfield to his neighbor does not raise such concerns. The answer to this question can be determined only in reference to a specific situation.

Sincerely,

Chris Gorman

Attorney General

Ross T. Carter

Assistant Attorney General