Real Estate Commissioner

The California Department of Real Estate is headed by the Real Estate Commissioner, who is appointed by the governor. The Commissioner is responsible for determining administrative policies, enforcing the California real estate law, and regulating certain real estate syndicates, real property securities transactions, subdivisions, and licensing procedures. The Commissioner has issued a regulation, called the Code of Ethics and professional Conduct, which is binding upon all licensees. The Code of Ethics does not permit “pocket listings.” (A pocket listing occurs when a licensee takes a listing on a property, but keeps it a secret, so that no other licensee can earn any part of the commission. This 16 practice harms the seller because it restricts the number of licensees who are looking for buyers for the property.) The enforcement of real estate law in California is very much divided. The Real Estate Commissioner has the sole authority to issue, restrict, suspend, and revoke all licenses.

While the Commissioner can also fine a licensee, the Commissioner cannot award monetary damages to an injured party. Only the courts can do this. The Commissioner cannot prosecute a licensee for any violation of the law. The district attorney would prosecute the violator. Notice that the court system can award monetary damages and put someone in jail, but only the Commissioner can take action against a person’s license. The Real Estate Commissioner also heads the Real Estate Advisory Commission, which is a group of ten advisors, appointed by the Commissioner to assist him or her. Six of the members must be licensed brokers, and the group must be geographically representative, with no more than three members from any one county. When a formal complaint is filed against a licensee, the Real Estate Commissioner investigates. A hearing may be held under the Administrative Procedures Act (which is found in the Government Code), after an accusation has been served upon the licensee. Action, in general, must be filed within three years of the act (longer limits are permitted in some cases for fraud, misrepresentation or false promise)

A Topographic Survey: Maps, Angles

A topographic survey is a survey made to secure data from which may be made a topographic map indicating the relief or elevation and irregularities of the land surface. (1) Maps are based on measurements of distances, directions and heights. Surveying is the name given to the methods of making these measurements. The simplest and most commonly used method of measuring the distance between two points on the ground is called chain surveying. It is very similar to the way in which the distance between two points on a piece of paper is measured using a foot-rule. In chain surveying the place of the foot-rule is taken by a chain which is laid down in a straight line between the two points. Small areas are often surveyed entirely by chain survey provided the ground is not too rough. (2) Angles in surveying are measured with special instruments called theodolites. In its simplest form the theodolite is a telescope mounted above a horizontal circular scale, which is rather like a protractor. It is marked in degrees, minutes and fractions of minutes. (There are 60 minutes one degree). Theodolite also allows the measurement of angles in a vertical plane, such as the angle between the horizont and the top of a tall building or hill.

A Topographic Survey: Route Survey

(3) Route survey is a survey necessary for the location and construction of transportation or communication lines such as highways, railroads, canals, transmission lines and pipe-lines. The preliminary work consists of a topographic survey. Mine surveying makes use of the principles of land, topographic and route surveying with modifications in practice made necessary by altered conditions. Both surface and underground surveys are required. City surveying is the term frequently applied to the operation of laying out lots and to the municipal surveys made in connection with the construction of streets, water supply systems and sewers. (4) The maps and data produced by surveyors are used by civil engineers in many ways. Before construction begins the exact position of the various parts of the dam, or the track of the railway or road, are fixed on the ground by using normal surveying methods. In choosing the site for a dam, for instance, an engineer can study on a map the courses of all the streams in the area. By reading the contours he can calculate the amount of water which can be stored by building a dam of a given height in a certain place. In the same way the results of soil survey marked on a map will give the engineer vital information about the foundations. When deciding the route of a railway or road, the gradients, radii of curves, heights of embankments and depth of cutting can be calculated from data supplied by the surveyor. In case of a tunneling which is usually carried out from both ends simultaneously a base line is set out on the ground at each end and the course followed by the tunnellers is continually checked by measuring both levels and angles with reference to the base line. By this means it is possible to make the two tunnels meet accurately or within 1 or 2 inches over a distance of a mile or more.

A Topographic Survey: Terrestrial Photogrammetry

(5) Terrestrial photogrammetry or photographic surveying from ground stations had been found to be a useful addition to other methods in mapping of mountainous areas. The work consists of taking photographs from two or more control stations and in utilizing the photographs for the projection of the terrain in plan and elevation. (6) Surveying by the methods described above is very laborious. The surveyor has to work over all the ground step by step. A great deal of time is saved by modern methods of photographic air survey. Photographs taken from airplanes in flight have been used as aids to map-making since World War I. If such photographs are to be really useful the height and position of the airplane at the instant of taking the photographs must be accurately known. The development since 1940 of radar methods for finding the position of aircraft has increased the role of photogrammetry in surveying. Air photographs may be taken with the camera either pointing vertically downward, or at an angle. Vertical photographs are preferred for map-making especially when height and contours are required. The advantages of air survey are the speed with which the field work is accomplished, the wealth of details secured and used in locations otherwise difficult or impossible of access. Air survey is widely used by explorers in investigating the Arctic zone.