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
Generic name given for any association of property owners sharing an interest in commonly owned property. Community associations may be developed in condominium, cooperative, or housing ...
The land-to-building ratio is a means to calculate in percentage how much a structure occupies the total land parcel on which it is located. It is the total building area as a percentage of ...
Individual who gives false statements under oath, which is a criminal act punishable by imprisonment and fine. An example is signing a tax return that fraudently understates rental income, ...
Loan such as a mortgage that the borrower has consistently made payments on when due over many years. The borrower has proven his creditor worthiness. ...
Owned by one individual or sole ownership. ...
Affordability is a term used to describe the ability of a person or entity to pay in relation to the income earned by them. Affordability is the comparison of a person's income against ...
The word’s etymology reflects several diverse or seemingly unrelated topics under the same umbrella. As part of everyday discourse, you’ll find the term “omnibus” ...
To understand the definition of the term demised premises, one must understand what demise means. Because demised premises is a widespread use for the term demise. The demised premises ...
Amount the taxpayer gets back when he or she files the tax return at the end of the reporting year because taxes were overpaid for that year. The tax overpayment equals the tax payments ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.