Legal Description Of Property

Definition of "Legal Description of Property"

Mary Ann Izzarelli real estate agent

Written by

Mary Ann Izzarellielite badge icon

Ebby Halliday Realtors

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!

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Real Estate Terms

Person or business that benefits from the work of another person or business. The recipient has not compensated the other party for this gain. In law, the one being enriched at the ...

Not attached to any parcel of land but merely a personal right to use the land of another. ...

External top of a structure such as for an office building or house. ...

Body o law relating directly to condominiums and cooperative developments. Most property law provides vertical ownership of property in the sense that property owners own mineral rights as ...

Any gain or loss from selling of capital assets. The gain or loss is the difference between the net selling price and cost basis. The two types of capital gains or losses for tax purposes ...

Projecting structure or part of a building. For example, a home was built with balconies jutting out from the sides of the building or a large rock formation constructed out into the ocean ...

Fan with an opening to the outside air that lets stale or hot air exit the structure; usually used in a kitchen when cooking or in a bathroom that does not have a window. It is used for ...

Implied assurance from a landlord to a prospective tenant that an apartment is safe and void of health problems. ...

Money set aside for a possible loss, such as from a fire. ...

Popular Real Estate Questions