New Hampshire · Land Surveyor seal requirements
New Hampshire Land Surveyor seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Land surveyors in New Hampshire seal under N.H. Code Admin. R. Lan 305.03; RSA 310-A:67, administered by the New Hampshire Board of Licensure for Land Surveyors. The seal reads “Licensed Land Surveyor”. Square, not round: two squares, the outer 1-9/16 inches and the inner 1-1/2 inches.
The Joint Board of Licensure and Certification no longer exists. RSA 310-A:1, the section that created it, was repealed by 2023, 235:27, effective July 15, 2023, and separate boards for professional engineers, architects, land surveyors, natural scientists and foresters now sit under the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification. Eng 308.02 was last amended June 25, 2024.
New Hampshire Land Surveyor seal
- Legend
- “Licensed Land Surveyor”
- Diameter
- Square, not round: two squares, the outer 1-9/16 inches and the inner 1-1/2 inches.
- Expiration date
- The square seal carries a transit, the full name and license number, "State of New Hampshire" left of the transit, "Licensed Land Surveyor" right of it, and a signature line. No date.(N.H. Code Admin. R. Lan 305.03(b))
- Signature date
- Not from the sealing provision, and narrower than it looks. Lan 305.03(a) and RSA 310-A:67, II require only the seal and the original signature — unlike the engineer, architect, landscape architect and geologist provisions of RSA 310-A, none of which the surveyor subdivision copies, the surveyor statute never says "shall be dated." The date comes instead from the technical standard for plats: "as appropriate to the purpose of the survey," a survey plat shall contain "the municipality, date, scale, bar scale, and description or purpose of the plan." So a plat must carry a date; a report of survey sealed under Lan 305.03(a) has no date requirement of its own.(N.H. Code Admin. R. Lan 503.09(b)(1); cf. Lan 305.03(a); RSA 310-A:67, II)
- City on seal
- Lan 503.09(b) does put the municipality and the preparer's address on the plat, but the seal face itself is only the transit, name, number, state and legend.(N.H. Code Admin. R. Lan 305.03(b))
- The seal consists of 2 squares, the outer square 1-9/16 inches and the inner square 1-1/2 inches.(Lan 305.03)
- Inside the inner square is a transit, with the full name of the licensee and the license number written horizontally. "State of New Hampshire" appears on the left side of the transit and "Licensed Land Surveyor" on the right.(Lan 305.03)
- At the bottom of the stamp there is a line for the licensee's signature.(Lan 305.03; RSA 310-A:67)
New Hampshire land surveyor seal questions
Is a New Hampshire land surveyor's seal round?▾
It is square. Lan 305.03(b) prescribes 2 squares, the outer 1-9/16 inches and the inner 1-1/2 inches, with a transit inside the inner square, the full name of the licensee and the license number written horizontally, "State of New Hampshire" on the left side of the transit and "Licensed Land Surveyor" on the right. No text runs in an arc and there is no diameter to specify, so artwork built on the engineer's or architect's concentric circles is the wrong shape from the outset. (N.H. Code Admin. R. Lan 305.03(b))
Does a New Hampshire land surveyor's seal need a signature line on it?▾
Yes, and the line is part of the seal rather than something added beside it. Lan 305.03(b) provides that at the bottom of the stamp there shall be a line for the licensee's signature, and RSA 310-A:67, II makes it statutory: the seal bears the licensee's name, the legend "Licensed Land Surveyor" and a place for the licensee's signature. A surveyor's stamp produced without that blank line is not the design the board authorized. (N.H. Code Admin. R. Lan 305.03(b); RSA 310-A:67, II)
Does a New Hampshire land surveyor have to date a sealed document?▾
The sealing provision never says so. Lan 305.03(a) requires the seal and original signature on all final plans and reports of survey, and RSA 310-A:67, II requires plans, plats and reports to be stamped with the seal and signed — neither says "shall be dated," even though the engineer and architect provisions elsewhere in RSA 310-A do. The date comes instead from the plat standard: as appropriate to the purpose of the survey, a survey plat shall contain the municipality, date, scale, bar scale, and description or purpose of the plan. So a plat carries a date, while a report of survey sealed under Lan 305.03(a) has no date requirement of its own. (N.H. Code Admin. R. Lan 305.03(a); N.H. Code Admin. R. Lan 503.09(b)(1); RSA 310-A:67, II; cf. RSA 310-A:18 and RSA 310-A:44)
When must a New Hampshire land surveyor affix the seal?▾
On all final plans and reports of survey prepared by the licensee, and the signature must be the original. Lan 305.03(a) carries none of the "issued or filed for public record" limit that Eng 308.02(a) and Arch 306.02(a) attach to the engineer's and architect's seals, so a final plan that never reaches a public office is still within the rule. (N.H. Code Admin. R. Lan 305.03(a); cf. N.H. Code Admin. R. Eng 308.02(a) and Arch 306.02(a))