![]() To avoid inheriting an error, buyers should consider conducting a new land survey if one hasn’t been obtained recently. Human error when drafting a document or splitting a parcel of land may also cloud the title with an inaccurate legal description. Unplatted vacant properties often present the most prominent challenges related to legal description errors. However, old legal descriptions may be passed from one chain of title documents to another and an incorrect or incomplete description may be conveyed from one unwitting owner to the next. Surveys have become a far more precise science with GPS, drones, and planned community development. While relatively uncommon, a real estate document may contain an inaccurate legal description due to outdated surveying methods. Executing and recording other real estate documents.It also affects how the property is assessed and taxed. If a boundary dispute arises, the court will reference the legal description to determine if there are any encroachments or easements. The legal description clarifies exactly what parcel of land is conveyed to a new owner. ![]() A title insurance policy would be meaningless if you didn’t know what property it insures. So catching an issue early can make you a hero.The legal description provides accuracy and consistency over time, serves to prevent boundary disputes and problems with chain of title, and facilitates the transfer of ownership. ![]() It is not always easy to put a deal back 15 days or so. If the Title Company says 10 days before closing - “bad legal”, you have to correct or we are not insuring - the deal may be blown and clients won’t be happy. ![]() They should check legal descriptions too, but remember they are coming in at the end. Title Insurance - this is also where the title company comes into play. But you don’t want your client buying a property with a bad legal description. Correcting a recorded legal takes time and money. Typos on surveys don’t get caught and they end up in legal descriptions that don’t get checked and what once was easily correctable before some closing, 10 years later when the buyer’s attorney says the legal description is bad - it’s a big issue. Are we talking normal residential service lines we see on poles, or the 150 foot grid lines? Does a neighbor have an easement to access a lake? You do have to actually do a search and review all those “add on” things at the end of the property description. An easement to run a power line may or may not be a huge deal. That sounds like silliness, but recorded things, like an easement, can drastically change the value of a piece of property. The property description on a deed will likely exclude things like “easements and appurtenances of record”. Or is there a mistake in the description somewhere so that it does not close by getting you back to the POB? Common typos happen. Again, your angles need not be perfect.ĭoes the property description close? Based on the calls in the description can you end up back at the POB? (Closed). Get a cheap compass to put on your desk while you do it. Decide on an appropriate scale so you stay on the paper. Without being too concerned about whether you are sketching ESE at 15 degs- put pencil to paper and sketch it out. Often an iron stake that is driven into the ground. Your property description will have a POB on it. If you have a property description from a deed say - grab a sheet of graph paper and draw a north/south and East/west axis. And, out of the classroom, the survey will have the property description on it. While metes and bounds descriptions will be on deeds - they are based on a survey that was done. Look for survey copies of smaller parcels to practice. Property descriptions do come in metes and bounds but plats are 100 years old.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |