Unless you want the satisfaction there is nothing that compels you to do any fence removal unless he pays for a survey and proves it is on his property. A simple residential survey is usually around $400 - $600. There are different types of lot surveys with different detail levels, be sure (if you choose to survey) that the survey you get will specifically address the fence issue.
As others mentioned look in the county land records for both you AND your neighbor’s house. There is likely to be a survey attached to one or the other with markers described. You also need to be sure that the encroachments (if there are any) are not so old that you are dealing with an adverse possession scenario (which may help you or hurt you).
The upshot is that little research can probably solve the question without the need for new survey.
I put up a 200’ or so fence on my property line over the summer, and had it surveyed prior to putting the fence up. The engineer had done a neighbor’s yard, so he had points nearby to pull off of. Total cost was $800 for five or six stakes, and the research/reconstruction of the lot dimensions (rods and chains measurements off of no longer existant stone walls and trees). I did not have any monuments placed by the engineer, he claimed that if he puts a monument down he is responsible for it forever, so he charges $1000 per marker. I put my own in where he sank the stakes.
Interestingly enough, he suggested I put the fence 18 inches inside of the line he gave me, based on stone wall distances on one side of my yard and the other side of a neighbor’s yard. I have 190’ of frontage, my neighbor has 90’. The stone walls (which are essentially inviolate property markers) are 279’ apart, leaving one of us a foot short. His statement was that should there ever be a dispute of my neighbor’s yard, the court would award my neighbor a foot-wide swath and deduct it from my side, putting my fence in my neghbor’s “new” yard if I had put it on the line. Having a surveyor/engineer with the knowledge to look ten or 20 years down the road to see possible disuputes was well worth the $800.
After reading this thread, I have a new understanding for why the City of Calgary requires Real Propert Reports to be provided with each sale of real estate.
I’ve known that rebar stakes are not the best marker for surveying a lot, since they tend to get hit with things, neighbors move them, or they get covered up or shifted.
What do you use for permanent markers?
I’m curious, because my neighbors ignorantly cling to them as die-hard no-sh*t permanent markers–having done construction (but not surveying), I know how easy it is to accidentally bump, shift, or otherwise lose a known point. But for ease in subdivisions, rebar is pretty ubiquitous.
