Title Tale: The Importance of a Boundary Description
Written By: Mylene Marcelo, Title Manager/Title Officer
“You shall not move your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.” This is from Deuteronomy 19:14.
Setting the boundaries has always been necessary in a piece of land. This need arises from the concept of private ownership of property which is a fundamental right of man and one of the cornerstone of Western Civilization. The original 13 colonies used the “metes and bounds” system which has been brought here in America from England and can be traced all the way back to the Roman times. Beyond the 13 colonies and principally west and south of Ohio, the United States uses the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) also known as the Rectangular Survey System which system divides land into grid cells.
A description identifies and describes a piece of property. It delineates boundaries which separate a given parcel of land from those around it. A description by tax lot and block or by street address alone is usually adequate to pass title but it may be unacceptable from an underwriting standpoint. This is due to the fact that tax record descriptions are insufficient, unreliable and can change through time. Only a metes and bounds description or filed map description is generally acceptable for title insurance purposes.
It is important to have a good and true description. It is needed for property transfers and is included in a Deed and the same description is used in mortgages, leases and other real estate documents recorded in the county land records. A mistake in description that has not been corrected and have been passed on to several generations and have been ignored for years can result in boundary disputes and title issues. A construction of improvement may be put on the wrong property and could permanently alter the boundary lines of a property. In the court of law, an incomplete legal description is also not enforceable and without a proper description, the mortgage may even be encumbering onto the neighbor’s property.
Sometimes, it’s worth the client’s time and money to hire a land surveyor to update the description. This is very important especially when the owner owns a big piece of land and the land has been subdivided in order to sell or gift the other parcels. Maybe a portion of the property has been taken away also because a County ordinance said the road along the property needed to be expanded. It can also be caused by nature such as by land erosion or land accretion.
A good description is usually drawn and prepared by a professional surveyor or a real estate attorney. You want to make sure that what is written is what you own and you want to know what is left of your property or what has been gained just in case you want to obtain a loan as the same description will be used in the mortgage. Knowing how to read the legal description of a property is an acquired skill that needs to be learned by the person who is preparing the deed or mortgage. Rest assure that you’re in good hands with Allegiant Reverse Services as our title examiners have trained eyes to spot any discrepancies in the legal description.
