Surveys

The Lands Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network carries out the surveys on which the boundaries of the Network, the parcels of the Land Register and every lease depend. Its survey service consists of six teams, formed at establishment from the surveyors of member organisations, working to a single standard and a single system of boundary markers.

Surveys made by member organisations before 6 September 2026 were accepted into the Land Register during the transition period where they could be tied to verified markers. A registered survey now rests behind 94 per cent of parcels; the remainder will be surveyed under the programme below or on application for a lease.

Types of survey. The Office carries out four kinds of survey.

Boundary survey

Verifies and, where necessary, restores the markers on a district or parcel boundary and records their positions against the Land Register. Carried out under the survey programme and on report of a damaged or missing marker.

Subdivision survey

Divides a parcel into two or more new parcels, sets the new boundary markers and produces the plans from which the new entries in the Register are made. Required before any part of a parcel can be leased separately.

Lease plan survey

Produces the registered plan that accompanies every new lease, showing the boundaries of the leased land, its area and the markers to which it is tied. Carried out on inspection of the parcel during a lease application.

Topographic survey

Records the levels, watercourses, structures and features of a parcel or district for planning, drainage and works. Carried out at the request of member organisations and for the Office's own purposes.

The boundary survey programme. The programme visits every marker on every district boundary. Its first purpose is to verify the 413 markers that could not be verified during the transition; its second is to check every marker at a point where two or more districts meet, since these fix the whole system. Districts are surveyed in the order below, the smaller and more closely divided districts first.

The Ridgeway District, the largest and with the most markers, is allotted two weeks. A final week from 14 to 18 December 2026 is reserved for reconciling the results and for any marker that could not be reached on the first visit. The Office will report the completion of each district in the Newsroom, and the results of the whole programme in its first quarterly statistical report.

6

Survey teams in the Office's survey service

2,318

Boundary markers to be visited under the programme

413

Markers not verified at establishment

14

Weeks from the first survey to completion on 18 December 2026

Requesting a survey. Member organisations, leaseholders and applicants for a lease may request a subdivision or topographic survey. The steps below apply.

1. 1

   Step 1: Write to the Office

   Send the parcel number, the kind of survey required and its purpose, and your name, organisation where relevant and email address to the Office. A lease plan survey need not be requested; it is arranged by the Office as part of every lease application.

2. 2

   Step 2: Confirmation and date

   The Office confirms the request within five working days and proposes a date for the survey. Requests are met in order of receipt, subject to the survey programme; a subdivision survey is normally carried out within eight weeks of the request.

3. 3

   Step 3: The survey

   A survey team attends on the appointed day. The occupier of the land, and the occupiers of adjoining parcels where a boundary is affected, are notified in advance and may attend.

4. 4

   Step 4: Plan and registration

   The survey plan is issued to the person who requested it within three weeks of the survey and, where it affects an entry, recorded in the Land Register. Any new markers set are added to the register of boundary markers.

Survey requests and enquiries about the programme may be sent to contact@lands.gov.vin. For the markers the programme verifies and how to report one, see Boundaries; for the capacity of the survey service in figures, see Statistics; for answers to common questions, see the frequently asked questions.