Hi, I am evaluating data and came across a new term "Land Lots" in context with legal description. The data I am evaluating is national and this data point is introduced in ADDITION to lot, which, as you know, is a common element in legal description.
The usage seems to be predominately in Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia.
My question is this: Is land lot the local term for lot?
There are some occurrences where both are populated with different values. Any ideas on why that would be would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your responses!
No, I don't think so.
I heard the term Land Lot from a colleague who was licensed in Ga in reference to original surveys. Being a colonial state, there were certain procedures to survey a Land Lot similar to surveying a Township in a PLSS state. He said they could be very complicated surveys to retrace or re-establish a Land Lot.
I am sure some GA surveyors will correct me.
I only worked in Georgia as a chainman and I-man/ junior pc. I recall land-lot lines being shown on the larger tracts I was involved with, north and east of Atlanta. I don't recall ever finding a "corner" or using one for control (definitely not the same as a 'lot').
From my time on this board, I believe users Imbris and Andy Bruner have Georgia down pat (see the link below). Probably others, too.
From a quick search: Did I mention this place kicks arse?
Never heard of a land lot in Tennessee and Alabama.
Seems to me from time spent here that is as described above. Very large tracts of land to be subdivided much later.
I haven't heard of a "Land Lot" in Alabama.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Land_Lotteries
The link gives you the history of the Georgia Land Lot System. Having surveyed in GA for over 40 years, I will say that I have never found an original land lot corner. I have only heard of two occasions where anybody thought they had recovered an original . A land lot corner is treated the same as any other corner. We normally do not use double proportional distances to reestablish a Land Lot Corner. A Land Lot can be one of five sizes with the possibility of 3 different orientations. Of course, in the southeasterly part of the State, we do not even have Land Lots. Property was originally divided by Head Right Grants from the King of England. Now you can see why GA Surveyors are almost as crazy as Texas Surveyors.
Here are a couple of links to read about land lots. It's a unique system. I once had a lawyer in Palm Beach tell me I wasn't getting paid for a job because I didn't list the Section Township and Range on a survey. I explained we had no such thing but I listed the Land Lot, District, and Section with ties. She said that didn't matter I needed to list the S-T-R. After some heated discussions and sending here some links she finally decided that I didn't have to list the S-T-R that her check list required. Up hear they mostly set post oak post or other corners set from trees or used the trees themselves. Over the years the mountains have been logged, fires and chestnut blight have destoyed most all of the corners. It gets real interesting trying to prove the corners.
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/land-lottery-system
http://www.georgiaarchives.org/research/land_lottery
makerofmaps, post: 368161, member: 9079 wrote: Here are a couple of links to read about land lots. It's a unique system. I once had a lawyer in Palm Beach tell me I wasn't getting paid for a job because I didn't list the Section Township and Range on a survey. I explained we had no such thing but I listed the Land Lot, District, and Section with ties. She said that didn't matter I needed to list the S-T-R. After some heated discussions and sending here some links she finally decided that I didn't have to list the S-T-R that her check list required. Up hear they mostly set post oak post or other corners set from trees or used the trees themselves. Over the years the mountains have been logged, fires and chestnut blight have destoyed most all of the corners. It gets real interesting trying to prove the corners.
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/land-lottery-system
http://www.georgiaarchives.org/research/land_lottery
You should have asked her if she wanted you to locate all the unicorns on the tract.
"There's no such thing."
"My point exactly."
Thank you all for your contribution. Based on this information, I will treat it as additional information to the legal description if STR is present.
Land Lots were Georgia's attempt at a "Public Land System". The eastern portion of the state had already been deeded by the "Sovereign" in Headright Grants. With more people wanting to move in a settle the state came up with a system for lotteries to distribute the remaining portions of the state. There are 5 different sizes of Land Lot: 40 acres (20 chains per side), 160 acres (40 chains), 202.5 acres (25 chains), 250 acres (50 chains), and 490 acres (70 chains). Depending on the District and the date of the lottery they are in is what determines the size of the Land Lot, generally the poorer the land the larger the Land Lot. The closest analogy I can give is to a Township.
There are also "Sections" in Georgia, but they are in no way related to Sections in the PLS. All of northwest Georgia (most of the state north of Atlanta) was the original Cherokee County. Cherokee County was divided into 4 Sections containing hundreds of thousands of acres.
Now you know probably more than you would ever want to know about Land Lots.
Andy
Andy Bruner, post: 368286, member: 1123 wrote:
Now you know probably more than you would ever want to know about Land Lots.Andy
Not at all. Thank you for the education. Your explanation makes me think land lots is one of the primary legal description method in use in Georgia. Would that be a fair assessment?
I have categorized legal descriptions, nationwide, into these high level groups:
- Metes and Bounds
- Section / Township / Range (STR)
- Subdivision / Tract / Lot (Subdivision)
To this, I am thinking I add regional methods, which would include land lots.
Are there other legal description methods that I have not accounted for?
The reason for the grouping is to help us decide if we can readily parse the data into something programmatically usable. For example, it's common practice to parse out STR into their part to enable sorting and searching. We are, potentially, attempting to parse out land lots using the Subdivision methodology resulting in mangling of the data in hilarious ways.
Really appreciate everyone contributions.
Thanks again!
Curious, post: 368419, member: 11499 wrote: Not at all. Thank you for the education. Your explanation makes me think land lots is one of the primary legal description method in use in Georgia. Would that be a fair assessment?
I have categorized legal descriptions, nationwide, into these high level groups:
- Metes and Bounds
- Section / Township / Range (STR)
- Subdivision / Tract / Lot (Subdivision)
To this, I am thinking I add regional methods, which would include land lots.
Are there other legal description methods that I have not accounted for?
The reason for the grouping is to help us decide if we can readily parse the data into something programmatically usable. For example, it's common practice to parse out STR into their part to enable sorting and searching. We are, potentially, attempting to parse out land lots using the Subdivision methodology resulting in mangling of the data in hilarious ways.
Really appreciate everyone contributions.
Thanks again!
You are correct for most of the state. Something like:
Being a parcel in Land Lot XX, District YY, (Sometimes Z Section), Any County, Georgia and being more particularly described as follows:
Andy
New York has something uncommon. Forget what they are called.
