Legal Description Of Property
Definition of "Legal Description of Property"
The legal description of property is a legal instrument to determine as best as one can, the physical boundaries and characteristics of a plot of land and the housing built on top of it. Its goal is for someone to completely identify a property just by reading the description provided, and it generally comes attached to lease agreements to guide possible disputes in the future. A legal description of property is mostly found in sales contracts, deeds, and mortgages.
Real estate lawyers are usually the ones responsible for the legal description of property, and – when doing one – they typically focus on aspects that don’t change much over the course of time. So, for instance, a street address is not the most common identifier in a legal description of property because street names do change a lot. So, no “the property is in the intersection of Old Guy Street with Brand New Name Street”, as time changes, and even the most popular name can be traded for any number of reasons - not to mention the street can cease to exist due to urban development or even natural disasters.
Some legal descriptions of property cover the quantity of land in acres, but the most common way of going about this document is making a description of the land itself through fractional designations that divide (and describe) the land in sections. This concept of locating or describing land is actually very old and has been around since 1785 when it was established by law under the Articles of Confederation as a way to divide the land in relation to the public land survey system. Its initial purpose was to determine farms and big real estate into “townships”, but as time went on and our society developed and started fragmentizing space within space, it grew more specialized and complex.
It is very important to have a professional do your legal description of property when doing the title transfer of your house because if it’s improperly done, the sale of the home can be marked as invalid due to improper land description.
Real Estate Tip:
You know who can connect you with a trustworthy lawyer to help out not only on the legal description of property but several other documents? A real estate agent! And we have the best ones! Contact a local one now!
Popular Real Estate Terms
A relatively unknown term, laches or the” doctrine of laches,” means failure to assert one’s rights or a claim in a given matter in time. Failing to take action on a ...
Insulation covered on each side by a material, such as metal. ...
State court where civil disagreements are decided by the judge or jury. A written record is kept of the deliberations. In some stats, civil and criminal courts are combined. ...
Timber wood situated on the exteriors of a loading deck to safeguard it from damage resulting when trucks unload and load. ...
Clause in an open-ended mortgage permitting the mortgagor to borrow additional sums of money in the future pledging than same real property collateral. A construction loan has a future ...
Formal, written, unconditional promise to pay on demand or at a future date a definite sum of money. The person signing the note and promising to pay is called the maker of the note. The ...
Map within a governmental jurisdiction showing the boundary lines and ownership of all real property. A cadastral program produces the cadastral map. ...
Having the intellect to comprehend the terms and conditions of a will and their impact. A testator must understand his or her estate and its eventual disposition and effects in order to ...
Individual engaged in selling a product or service. The product may be an investment in real estate. In some instances, state law may require licensing to safeguard the public by requiring ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.