> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://truenorthboulder.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Is an ILC a Survey in Colorado? What It Can't Tell You
- URL: https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/is-an-ilc-a-survey-colorado/
- Published: 2026-08-21T09:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-22T16:11:11.000Z
- Description: Your file has an Improvement Location Certificate in it, and it looks like a survey. Colorado statute requires it to say, in print, that it is not one and may not be relied on for a fence line. Here is what it does certify, what it can't, and when the difference costs you.
- Author: Daniel Hsieh
- Tags: Answer Brief, Buying, Colorado Law

Somewhere in your file, or in the email the title company just sent you, is a page that looks like a survey: a surveyor's seal, a drawing of your lot, the house sitting inside it, dimensions along each side. It is called an **Improvement Location Certificate**, and Colorado law requires it to tell you, in print, that it is not the thing you think it is.

> **The short answer:** An ILC is **not** a survey. Statute requires a legend saying it is not a land survey plat or improvement survey plat and is not to be relied upon for the establishment of fence, building, or other future improvement lines. It certifies what appears to be true on its date. It cannot establish where your line runs.

If you are moving here from a state where a full boundary survey arrives at closing, this is the swap, not a corner cut. The ILC is the standard Colorado instrument in a residential purchase.

## The word that separates them is *monuments*

|                                                   | Improvement location certificate                                                      | Improvement survey plat                                                        |
| ------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Rests on                                          | the surveyor's *"general knowledge of land boundaries and monuments in a given area"* | a **monumented land survey**, showing structures, visible utilities and fences |
| Are your corners **required** to be found or set? | **Not required**                                                                      | **Yes**                                                                        |

A *monumented* survey is one in which the monuments marking the boundaries are **found or set**. That is the work an improvement survey plat includes and an ILC is permitted to do without. Which does not make an ILC careless. It is a licensed professional's depiction, and the surveyor carries full liability for it. It is simply not the product of someone walking your lot and locating the pins.

## The legend is on your copy, and it says more than you expect

Under [C.R.S. § 38-51-108](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-38.pdf?ref=truenorthboulder.com), the certificate must be prominently labeled and must carry a statement that it is *"not a land survey plat or improvement survey plat"* and *"not to be relied upon for the establishment of fence, building, or other future improvement lines."* It also states that it is **valid only for a named party** and describes the parcel's **appearance on a date**.

Then the legend keeps going, and this is the half almost nobody reads. The surveyor further certifies that the improvements **appear** to sit entirely within the boundaries *except as shown*, that there are no encroachments by improvements on adjoining premises *except as indicated*, and that there is no apparent evidence or sign of any easement *except as noted*.

So the document is not silent on what worries you. It is limited in one precise way: it can **note** what appears to be there. It cannot **establish** where the line is.

## Why is an improvement location certificate in your file at all?

Because it was ordered to serve a title policy, not to answer your question, and usually the title company drives it rather than your lender: it may require one *"among other requirements"* for extended owner's coverage, which is what clears the standard survey exceptions off your commitment. If you paid cash and skipped extended coverage, there may be **no such page in your file** at all.

⭐ **Which leads somewhere most buyers never think to look.** The statute lets a surveyor prepare an ILC for a client *"whether or not the client is the owner or buyer."* Read that beside the legend: the certificate names who it is valid for, and that name may not be yours.

## The lever you still have is a date on your contract

Whether a new ILC or survey is obtained at all, who orders it, and who pays are **blanks on the contract, filled when the offer is written**. But if you are already under contract, you are not out of moves: if it arrives late, or you simply dislike what it shows, you may object or terminate in your **sole subjective discretion** by its objection deadline.

So open your Dates and Deadlines table now and find the New ILC or Survey **Objection** and **Resolution** dates. If either is inside a week, that is a call to your broker today rather than a read. An unresolved objection here behaves like the other resolution deadlines, which our [contract deadlines guide](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/colorado-contract-deadlines-boulder/) walks in full.

One more, easy to miss: the "new" document need not be new work. The contract allows a **previous ILC or survey certified and updated** to a current date, so only the certification has to be fresh.

## What to do tonight, and what to order

1. **Read the certificate.** It may already have noted the thing you are worried about.
2. **Check both dates** on it, the certification and the fieldwork, against what you saw standing in the yard.
3. **Check who it is certified to.** If a new one is being ordered in your transaction, ask that it be certified to **you**.
4. **If an encroachment shows,** check whether it is already *of record* first: a recorded easement puts it on your title commitment, where the job is accepting it rather than discovering it.

Then, if you want a fence on your side of the line, if a neighbor's shed or wall may be over it, if a setback is tight on a planned addition, or if you are buying acreage where an old fence follows the terrain rather than the deed, **order an improvement survey plat, and start early.** What you are usually waiting on is the surveyor's queue, not the drafting.

Our [Wonderland Lake guide](https://truenorthboulder.com/boulder/wonderland-lake/) has the sharpest local case: Boulder OSMP surveys its own boundary and can require removal of fences that crept onto open space, with that liability transferring to the buyer. And where a line is genuinely contested, a survey finds it but does not settle a competing claim to it. That belongs with a Colorado real-estate attorney.

Why we are not quoting you a price

Every comparison of this kind you will find online prints a cost range for an ILC and a survey. We are not going to. Surveyor pricing is genuinely parcel-specific — acreage, terrain and the condition of existing monuments all move it — and the figures circulating for the northern Front Range trace back to brokerage blogs and lead-generation sites rather than to anyone who does the work. We would rather you call two surveyors and get a real number for your parcel than act on one we could not stand behind.

None of which makes the ILC a bad document. It makes it a **specific** one, and the mistake is asking it a question the statute already told you it will not answer. The good news is that the answer is sitting in your file tonight, and it takes about five minutes to read.

Common questions

## Frequently asked

Is an improvement location certificate the same as a survey?+ 

No, and Colorado law requires the document to say so itself. Under C.R.S. 38-51-108 an ILC must be prominently labeled an improvement location certificate and must carry a statement that it is not a land survey plat or improvement survey plat and is not to be relied upon for the establishment of fence, building, or other future improvement lines. The statute also says an ILC shall not be designated as or construed as being either of those documents. The definitions draw the same line: Colorado defines a land survey as a series of observations and measurements made to locate or restore a boundary, and an ILC as a representation of the boundaries and the improvements on them. One is fieldwork. The other is a depiction.

What is the actual difference between an ILC and an improvement survey plat?+ 

Monuments. Colorado defines a monumented land survey as one in which the monuments marking a parcel's boundaries are either found or set. An improvement survey plat is defined as a land survey plat resulting from that monumented survey, showing structures, visible utilities and fences. An ILC, by contrast, may be prepared from the surveyor's general knowledge of land boundaries and monuments in the area, so that fieldwork is not required. Someone locates your actual corners for an improvement survey plat. For an ILC that step is optional, which is exactly why the statute says the certificate may not be relied on to set a fence line.

Does an ILC show encroachments?+ 

Yes, and this is the part most buyers miss. The certification legend the statute requires goes on to certify that the improvements are entirely within the boundaries except as shown, that there are no encroachments by improvements on adjoining premises except as indicated, and that there is no apparent evidence or sign of any easement except as noted. So your ILC may already flag a neighbor's shed or an easement crossing the lot, and it is worth reading tonight for exactly that. The limit is what comes next: the certificate can note an apparent encroachment, but it cannot establish where the boundary runs, and establishing the line is what resolving an encroachment takes. Two practical notes if you find one. First, check whether it is already of record, because a recorded easement or boundary-line agreement will appear on your title commitment, which makes it something you accept or object to rather than something you discovered. Second, be realistic about the cure: the usual outcomes are paper, meaning a recorded agreement, a title endorsement or a price credit, and almost never a neighbor moving a wall.

What should I order if I actually need to know where the boundary is?+ 

An improvement survey plat, which comes from a monumented survey where your corners are found or set. Order it before you build a fence, before you resolve a neighbor's encroaching shed or driveway, and before you rely on a lot line for an addition or a tight setback. An improvement survey plat is a surveyor's professional determination of the boundary; it is not by itself a resolution of a competing claim. If a boundary is already in dispute, or a structure has sat over a line for years, that is a legal question rather than a measuring one, and it belongs with a Colorado real-estate attorney.

Sources & data notes 
- Statutory text read from the official Colorado General Assembly printout: [Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 38 (2024 edition)](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-38.pdf?ref=truenorthboulder.com) — C.R.S. § 38-51-108 (improvement location certificate, the prohibition on construing it as a survey, the mandatory label, the full certification legend, and surveyor liability) and § 38-51-102 (the definitions of “land survey,” “monumented land survey,” “land survey plat” and “improvement survey plat”). The legend is not static: it was last amended by SB 13-161, effective July 2013.
- Contract mechanics read from the promulgated form itself: [Colorado Real Estate Commission, Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate (Residential)](https://dre.colorado.gov/real-estate-broker-contracts-and-forms?ref=truenorthboulder.com), adoption date August 5, 2025 — the New ILC or New Survey section (whether one is obtained, who orders, who pays, delivery, certification, the buyer’s objection and the resolution default) and the title section’s note that the title insurance company may require one “among other requirements” for extended owner’s coverage.
- The three instruments compared side by side, quoting the statutory definitions: [Professional Land Surveyors of Colorado, *Improvement Location Certificate vs. Land Survey Plat*](https://www.plsc.net/docs/ILC%5Fvs%5FISP.pdf?ref=truenorthboulder.com).
- On what an ILC does and does not assure, and on extended coverage: Beat U. Steiner (Holland & Hart, Boulder), [*Obtaining owner’s extended coverage*](https://www.hollandhart.com/files/38965%5FCRE-Approved-Contracts-Obtaining-Owners-Extended-Coverage.pdf?ref=truenorthboulder.com), Colorado Real Estate Journal.
- Lender practice is not uniform, and some lenders will not accept an ILC. Confirm what yours requires rather than assuming the form in your file satisfies it.

*True North Boulder is a real-estate team with eXp Realty. This is general information for Boulder and northern Front Range buyers, not legal advice. For what a specific certificate does or does not establish on your parcel, and for any boundary that is in question, talk to your broker, a Colorado professional land surveyor, and a Colorado real-estate attorney.*