Real Estate Licensure 1.6

Feet in 1 acre

43,560 square feet

Feet in 1 mile

5,280 feet

Township

6 miles square, 36 square miles

acres in a section

640

Government Survey

In 1785 the federal government adopted the Government Survey Method of land description to facilitate the government sale of large tracts of land due to rapid western expansion in the United States. It is also called the geodetic or rectangular survey system and is used in more than 30 states. This method employs the use of imaginary lines running north and south (meridians) and east and west (parallels). These lines are six miles apart and form a checkerboard pattern as they intersect, forming a township. This method works well for identifying large parcels, but not for describing small lots.

Reference to Other Recorded Documents

Land can be legally described by referring to another publicly recorded document such as a deed or mortgage, if that document contains a full legal description of the parcel in question. For example: ...all the land described in the deed from Flint to Moseley recorded in Book 198, page 412, County of Buckingham, Commonwealth of Virginia.

Land Descriptions

Monuments method Metes and bounds method Government survey method Lot, block, and subdivision method (recorded plat) Vertical land description Reference to other recorded documents.

Lot, Block, and Subdivision (Recorded Plat)

States that do not use the government survey method generally use the lot, block, and subdivision method. The size and location of each block and lot is shown on a plat, which is then recorded in the public recorder's office (or Clerk's office, or land records) of the county or city where the land is located. A lot is an individual parcel of land intended to be conveyed in its entirety. A block is a group of contiguous lots. Blocks are separated by roads. Each recorded plat is given a book and page reference number, and all map books are available for public inspection. If a parcel of real property is part of a recorded plat, the legal description need only include the lot and block number, tract name, map book reference, county, and state. An example of this type of description is: Lot 3, Block A, Buckingham Subdivision, as recorded on page 16 of Plat Book 68 of the Public Records of Buckingham, VA..

Land Descriptions Not in Use

Street addresses, such as 1234 Flint Lane, Fairfax, Virginia, and place names, such as Moseley Farm, are informal references. They may be used in rental agreements, but are wholly inadequate for use in a document that may (or should be) recorded in the land records. Assessors parcel numbers, assigned by the county or city tax assessor to parcels of real estate that are then recorded in map books and are part of the public records of many counties and cities, may be useful to real estate brokers and appraisers. However, they should never be used as a legal description.

Metes and Boundsv

The metes and bounds method of land description is used to describe property by specifying its shape and dimensions. It can be used for unsubdivided, unimproved real estate, as well as irregularly shaped parcels. A metes and bounds description starts at a well-marked point of beginning (POB) and establishes the boundaries of the parcel by courses and metes (length in inches, feet, yards, miles) and bounds (directions based on landmarks, monuments, angles) and returns to the true point of beginning. A legal description that does not return to the point of beginning (POB) is defective.

Monuments Method

This method uses naturally occurring physical features of the land only (such as marked trees, large rocks or boulders, lakes or streams, etc.) to determine the boundaries of a parcel of real property in order to legally describe it. Although this method was relied upon in early America, it is now considered one of the least accurate methods of land description and is seldom used.

Vertical Land Description

Vertical land descriptions are necessary when air rights or subsurface rights need to be described. A datum is the point, line, or surface from which a vertical height or depth is measured. In selling or leasing subsurface drilling or mineral rights the datum is often the surface of the parcel. For example, an oil lease might permit the extraction of oil or gas from a depth greater than 500 feet beneath the surface of the parcel of land. Air lots are used to describe units in multistory condominium projects. Both the parcel of land beneath the air lot, and the elevation of the air lot are described.

Check

a 24-mile square formed by intersecting meridians and base lines

Survey Monument

a marker located at each section corner.

Section

each square mile within a township (640 acres). There are 36 sections within a township. A section is the smallest subdivision surveyed by government surveyors.

Standard parallels

east-west lines

Township Lines

east-west lines in a township

Guide meridians

north-south lines

Range lines

north-south lines in a township