re writing or creating a metes and bounds description for a Lot & Block property.
When will they (those who require it) learn that this in not only unorthodox but unnecessary and can lead to amiguity and confusion.
-What kills me is when a m&b description is created fot a L&B property and that there is no record of that description, the title company takes exceptions to any differences that there may be...
Totally unnecessary, but the easiest way to make them happy is to do something like this...
Lot 1, Block 1, Tract No. 1234, recorded in Book 1, Page 1 of Maps, in XXX County Recorders Office, also being described as follows:
Beginning at the Northeast corner of said Lot 1, marked on the ground by an iron pipe as shown on said map, thence South XX°XX'XX" East XX.XX feet to the Southeast corner of said Lot 1 as marked by an iron pipe monument as shown on said map, thence...
Then don't do it. I get requests to do this sometimes, and don't do it. Writing M&B in lot and block is a no-no. However, there are sometimes where it is just not feasible to do it any other way, like when you have only a part of one lot and parts of other lots that can't be described by aliquot parts (i.e. West 1/2 of Lot 12, North 1/4 of Lot 8).
Most of the time NOW, you end up doing a replat so it's irrelevant. Whenever I do it now, it's because I'm following some jackwagon who thought it was a good idea in 1975 or something.
Last summer I did a BIG survey for a college where they owned all of a city block except for something like two lots. The title attorney said he needed a new description. I asked why Lots 1-9 and 12-20 of Block 175 of the City of Somewhere wasn't good enough. He said well, you're showing it all in one survey, to which I retorted, Because it's all of their holdings in that block, and I showed you were all of the original division lines were.
He ended up seeing things my way, especially when I mentioned that his title search didn't turn up the alleys of record for the block (even though they weren't on the ground) and that he may want to consider some action from the city to his client to fix that since they had all of these improvements built in city alleys.
Gary Kent wrote a good article in The American Surveyor
> The most egregious example of description rewriting is the preparation of a metes and bounds description for a property that is a lot in a platted subdivision of record. On an ALTA/ACSM Land Title Survey, lenders often ask that the surveyor prepare a metes and bounds description when the record description is a platted lot. One common reason that this request shows up in the lender's comments is very simple: someone at the lender is looking at a checklist that states the courses shown on the survey must match the courses in the description—and they have a description with no courses! So, in order to check off the item, they need a metes and bounds
When will they (those who require it) learn ...
When YOU (the PROFESSIONAL) tell them NO!
Jim in AZ
> When YOU (the PROFESSIONAL) tell them NO!
1st of all; I'm ass-u-me-ing that the 'YOU' that you speak of, is the collective you, and that the 'YOU' is the surveying profession. -Secondly; I (as in me) did not, nor will I rewrite a lot block description.
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> re writing or creating a metes and bounds description for a Lot & Block property.
>
> When will they (those who require it) learn that this in not only unorthodox but unnecessary and can lead to amiguity and confusion.
>
>
> -What kills me is when a m&b description is created fot a L&B property and that there is no record of that description, the title company takes exceptions to any differences that there may be...
I have had uneducated people ask for that many times over the years. While approx. 90%+ of the time I do not write one for them, on the rare occasion that a lender absolutely will not complete the deal with out one I will write one with the caveat that "the following description is no way represents the correct legal description of the property" and "should never be used for any other purpose than that of satisfying the person at the lender who does not understand his job and relies on a "punchlist" written by someone else who had no understanding of what constitutes a correct legal description".
Incompetence irritates me. One who is incompetent and REFUSES to learn from those better informed/educated than themselves REALLY irritate ma.
:-@
I had a hard time complying with this request for a long time. I finally asked an attorney why he wanted a M & B description and gave him all of the reasons not to do one as listed above. He answered "I get so much more information with a description and the monuments are perpetuated in the description. ". I had no answer for that, in fact, I now have more respect for attorneys that request one than don't. Please keep in mind that I am in Texas, a no survey of record state, before you judge me.
Gene
It may be helpful to the L@#$er, but it REALLYopens up strong possibilities for creating cloud on title. Such things should NEVER be given to title companies.
SJ
TX RPLS 4585
😛
The rare competent real estate attorney knows that all written descriptions contain errors and the older the description, the larger the probable errors.
The primary responsibility of a surveyor in a real estate transaction is to find errors and provide a means to correct those errors that may have been acceptable in the past but would result in a fraudulent land transaction if the error was allowed to remain.
From Wigmore;’s compendium on “Evidence”, 2nd. Edition, Vol. 5 Section 2476:
“It is not necessary, and it is not humanly possible, for the symbols of description, which we call words, to describe in every detail the objects designated by the symbols. The notion that a description is a complete enumeration is an instinctive fallacy which must be got rid of before interpretation can be properly attempted. …”
Richard Schaut
I'M WITH RYAN ON THIS, BESIDES YOU CAN CHARGE 200 DOLLAR MIN AND OVER 6 COURSES $25 PER ADDITIONAL COURSE---HEY, ITS A LIVIN---TDD
DON'T BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU---TDD
