[bill93]

That survey plat would help a lot for anyone deciphering this description.  It seems to have more abbreviated terms than the ones I usually read, except for the condensed descriptions the taxing people make from the actual deed descriptions.

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[Mark Mayer]

It’s not a wonder that you are having trouble reading that block of text. First, that is not your legal description, it is the tax assessor’s contraction of your legal description. Second, I’ve been surveying for over 30 years – including several years in Canada, and I have never before seen a description that quoted distances in feet and inches. Decimal feet, or metric. Or chains. I’ve read of descriptions that had distances in varas and even “smokes”. But never feet and inches. 

As far as interpreting this description goes, I do this for a living. I’d do it for free but my wife gets pissed when I do that. It is winter now and our children are cold, and hungry.  I’m sure that there is a surveyor in Toronto in the same circumstance. But as a public service I’ve formatted the blob of text you posted into a somewhat more readable format. Perhaps this will help you on your way.

It makes heavy reference to the dimensions and boundaries of Lot 201, for which there must be a map, somewhere. It will be quite impossible to interpret your parcel dimensions without that map in hand.  

 

 

Commencing at a point in the southerly limit of Toronto Avenue distant 8 feet 10 inches measured westerly from the northeasterly angle of Lot 201;

thence southerly in a straight line parallel to and 8 feet 10 inches distant from the easterly limit of Lot 201, a distance of 64 feet 4 1/2 inches;

thence southerly in a straight line a distance of 67 feet 8 inches more or less to a point in the southerly limit of said Lot 201 distant 10 feet 8 inches measured westerly from the southeasterly angle of Lot 201;

thence westerly along the southerly limit of said Lot 201, a distance of 34 feet 3 inches more or less to a point distant 25 feet 3 inches measured easterly from the southwesterly angle of Lot 201;

thence northerly in a straight line a distance of 63 feet 6 3/4 inches more or less to the intersection of the southerly production of the middle line of the party wall between the semi-detached brick houses constructed on said Lot with the southerly limit of the frame structure adjoining the southerly limit of the said brick houses;

thence northerly along said production and along the middle line of the party-wall of the said semi-detached brick houses, and the northerly production thereof, a distance of 70 feet 7 1/2 inches more or less to the intersection of the line with the southerly limit of Toronto Avenue a distance of 20 feet 9 inches more or less to the Point of Commencement;

SUBJECT TO a right of way at all times for all persons entitled thereto, over, along and upon the southerly 12 feet of the above described lands;

SUBJECT TO a right of way at all times for all persons entitled thereto, over, along and upon the following described lands:

Commencing at the northeasterly angle of the above described parcel; thence westerly along the southerly limit of Toronto Avenue a distance of 4 feet 6 inches;

thence southerly parallel to, and 4 ft 6 inches distant from the easterly limit of the above described parcel, a distance of 64 feet 4 1/2 inches;

thence southerly in a straight line a distance of 55 feet 8 inches more or less to a point in the northerly limit of the southerly 12 feet of the above described parcel, said point being distant 6 feet from the easterly limit of the above described parcel;

thence easterly along the northerly limit of the southerly 12 feet of the above described parcel, a distance of 6 feet to the easterly limit of the above described parcel;

thence northerly along the easterly limit of the above described parcel a distance of 120 feet and 1/2 inch more or less to the point of commencement;

TOGETHER WITH a right of way at all times in common with others entitled thereto, over, along and upon the following described lands:

Commencing at a point in the southerly limit of Toronto Avenue, said point being distant 4 feet 4 inches measured westerly from the northeasterly angle of Lot 201;

thence westerly along the southerly limit of Toronto Avenue a distance of 4 feet 6 inches;

thence southerly in a straight line parallel to and 8 feet 10 inches distant from the easterly limit of Lot 201, a distance of 64 feet 4 1/2 inches;

thence southerly in a straight line a distance of 67 feet 8 inches more or less to a point in the southerly limit of Lot 201, distant 10 feet 8 inches measured westerly from the southeasterly angle of Lot 201;

thence easterly along the southerly limit of Lot 201, a distance of 6 feet 4 inches more or less to a point distant 4 feet 4 inches measured westerly from the s easterly angle of Lot 201; thence northerly in a straight line parallel to and 4 feet 4 inches distant from the easterly limit of said Lot 201, a distance of 132 feet more or less to the Point of Commencement

[Norman_Oklahoma]

@mark-mayer

BTW – Those calls for “along the party wall” makes those party walls monuments of the survey, and the line is going to go along the party walls, and the production thereof, regardless of any quoted dimensions.

[dmyhill]

@reggie416
I am not a surveyor in Canada…if you meant the Toronto, ON, Canada. 

But, if it was me, and I wanted to pile wood in an area unused as a right of way…I might just do it, will anyone complain? This is not a recommendation, but often the question is more a matter of practicality than anything else.

You mention the cost of a survey, and a few comments on that:

1. For the history of land tenure in the USA and probably Canada, people have weighed the cost of a survey vs the benefits. Usually the use of the land and/or the value of the land plays into the math. It is a perfectly reasonable answer to decided to not get a survey and use the land where and as you see fit until someone makes you stop. I say reasonable not as expert advice, but because it is the normal activity I see OTHERS do. I recommend a survey. Sometimes “reasonable” isn’t advisable, you need to pay an expert to find that out. For that I recommend your lawyer.

2. That quoted price seems extremely reasonable, especially if you are in a Metro area like Toronto.

 

 

Pro Tips when posting questions:

If you give all the info, you will probably get a lot of expert advice. We will grouse about you not paying someone (always), then our insatiable need to problem solve will kick in, and the answers will typically come. But, if you don’t give all the info, you get useless info.

Don’t complain about our prices. We are all looking to make a living. 99% of the people here probably would charge you more, especially after finding out someone ripped out the last pins and the whole thing will likely be adversarial. 

Your concern about privacy is amusing. We are generally talking about public records, after all.

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-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.

[Mark Mayer]

Posted by: @dmyhill

2. That quoted price seems extremely reasonable, especially if you are in a Metro area like Toronto.

And the fact that it would be in canuck bucks. Multiply by 0.77 to get a US dollar equivalent.

[RPlumb314]

Reggie, survey drawings for your property and adjacent properties should be available from the public records. As I learned some years back from talking with Canadian surveyors, all properties are surveyed when they change hands, and the surveys are recorded. Here’s a link–

https://www.ontario.ca/page/overview-land-registry

Not being a Canadian surveyor, I have never done any research in this land registry. So I don’t know how the system works. But it is most likely arranged in an orderly fashion and not too hard to use. You would, however, need to become somewhat familiar with what legal descriptions are like.

I don’t know whether the survey drawings are posted online, but probably not. In normal times the procedure might be to go to the Registry office and pay a small fee for a copy of the drawing. There is probably a different procedure under Covid. You could call and inquire.

You could also ask whether one of the Registry officials would be able to check the records and pull out a drawing of the most recent survey of your property. That might take awhile, but it would be the simplest course of action from your point of view. It might or might not be possible during the pandemic.

Your parcel seems to be part of Lot 201, but that lot needs to be further identified in order to find survey drawings. The tax description begins with “PCL 123 SEC TOWNSHIP OF KING; PT LT 201 S/S TORONTO AV PL M440 TWP OF KING.” These abbreviations probably refer to a map, plat, or subdivision that created Lot 201 in the first place.

The first paragraph of the description, ending with the phrase “…to the Point of Commencement” describes your property lines. That would be the one to refer to in searching for survey drawings or other information about your property. The subsequent paragraphs describe rights of way.

[bill93]

Besides the use of inches, another thing points to this not being written by a surveyor.  It assumes that courses at slightly different bearings can have their lengths added to find the distance between their far ends.  In this case, it leads to discrepancies of some fractions of a foot that have to be covered by the “more or less”, especially where the easement goes from 4.5 ft wide to 6 ft wide to meet the southerly 12 ft.

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[reggie416]

Thanks alot for all the responses. 

I am going to use the area that I think is okay and see if anything comes of it. I figured this was a little more straight forward, I have been sorely corrected. I do have the “Parcel Register” purchased from ONLAND which has the exact same property description as described above and no map or survey corresponding to my property. I was able to find a map for LOT 201 on ONLAND which helped me make more sense but I still am getting lost. if there are any problems I will call on the professionals.

The house was built in 1922 so assuming that has to do with the use of imperial (moved to metric in the 70s I believe).

Again I appreciate the responses, seems you have a great community here.

Thanks,

Reggie