부동산 지식 27-Legal Descriptions
Legal Descriptions
Methods of Legal Description
Metes and Bounds
The Rectangular Survey System
Recorded Plat Method
Describing Elevation
METHODS OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION
There are many common ways of describing properties: address (100 Main
Street), name (Buckingham Palace), and general description (“the south forty
acres”). Such informal descriptions are not acceptable for use in public
recordation or, generally speaking, in a court of law because they lack both
permanence and sufficient information for a surveyor to locate the property.
Even if a legal document or public record refers to an address, the
reference is always supported by an accepted legal description.
A legal description of real property is one which accurately locates and
identifies the boundaries of the subject parcel to a degree acceptable by courts
of law in the state where the property is located.
The general criterion for a legal description is that it alone provides sufficient
data for a surveyor to locate the parcel. A legal description identifies the
property as unique and distinct from all other properties.
Legal description provides accuracy and consistency over time. Systems of
legal description, in theory, facilitate transfers of ownership and prevent
boundary disputes and problems with chain of title.
A legal description is required for:
public recording
creating a valid deed of conveyance or lease
completing mortgage documents
executing and recording other legal documents
In addition, a legal description provides a basis for court rulings on
encroachments and easements.
120 Principles of Real Estate Practice
The three accepted methods of legally describing parcels of real estate are:
metes and bounds
rectangular survey system, or government survey method
recorded plat method, or lot and block method
Since the metes and bounds method preceded the inception of the rectangular
survey system, the older East Coast states generally employ metes and bounds
descriptions. States in the Midwest and West predominantly use the rectangular
survey system. Some states combine methods.
METES AND BOUNDS
A metes and bounds description identifies the boundaries of a parcel of real estate
using reference points, distances, and angles. The description always identifies an
enclosed area by starting at an origination point, called point of beginning, or
POB, and returning to the POB at the end of the description. A metes and bounds
description must return to the POB in order to be valid.
The term “metes” refers to distance and direction, and the term “bounds”
refers to fixed reference points, or monuments and landmarks, which may
be natural and artificial. Natural landmarks include trees, rocks, rivers, and
lakes. Artificial landmarks are typically surveyor stakes.
Many states use metes and bounds description to describe properties within
the rectangular survey system.
A metes and bounds description begins with an identification of the city, county,
and state where the property is located. Next, it identifies the POB and describes
the distance and direction from the POB to the first monument, and then to
subsequent monuments that define the property’s enclosed perimeter.
THE RECTANGULAR SURVEY SYSTEM
The survey grid
Sections of township
Fractions of a section
Converting section fractions to acres
RECORDED PLAT METHOD
Subdivision plat map
Description format
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