How to Find a Legal Property Description
Legal descriptions of property are usually found with the deed and/or title documents. These documents are a matter of public record and should be on file at the county courthouse or tax assessor's office for the county in which the property is located. Legal property descriptions lay out the boundaries of a given parcel of land. Deeds and sales contracts require a legal description that is sufficient to allow a surveyor to accurately locate the property and its boundaries.
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Instructions
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Determine the county where the property is located. To find the legal description of a particular piece of property, you must know the county in which the property is located because this is where property records are maintained.
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Look up the county website on the Internet before actually visiting the county courthouse. From the website you should be able to determine which office maintains the property records (i.e. recorder of deeds or tax assessor's office) and where it is located. Some large counties may have several buildings to house the various government functions and property records may be located in an annex basement somewhere. Not all public records are online, so don't rely on online searches. By searching yourself you can go back to the original property survey.
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Visit to the courthouse to obtain the legal description of the property. Some courthouses will allow people access to the books where property records are recorded and have them look up and copy the records themselves. Other counties will have people on staff who will retrieve a copy of the legal description for you.
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Contact the closing attorney from the last time the parcel was bought and sold (as an alternative to obtaining it from the county courthouse). Whenever a parcel of property is bought and sold, a title search will be conducted to verify that the seller has a clear title and the right to sell the property. Usually a lawyer representing the buyer performs the title search. The buyer should be provided with a copy of the new title, deed and legal description of the property at the closing. The lawyer will maintain a file with copies of these documents.
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References
- Photo Credit courthouse image by pearlguy from Fotolia.com
