Capstone residential design project
Assignment #3: Property Legal Description & Ownership
Your property’s legal description(the precise boundaries of the property) andownership rights (how the property is ‘held’) are important issues in developing and designing a project for your client. In this exercisewe will coverthe concept of ‘ownership’; and you will research your client’s property’s legal description, which you will include on the cover sheet of your final architectural drawings.
Please read the following outline and answer the homework questions at the end.
Definition of Property
Real property consists of 1) the land and everything naturally occurring on, under, or above the land (trees, crops, ponds, minerals), 2) improvements to the land (houses, factories, barns, fences), and 3) fixtures (things permanently attached – kitchen cabinets, elevators, outdoor signage).
So in theory at least, the ‘land’ includes everything on the surface plus everything extending beneath the surface to the center of the earth, plus the air above the land extending to the sky.
Figure 1: In theory, property rights extend from the center of the earth to the sky
In addition to the land, improvements, and fixtures, ownership also consists of a “bundle of rights”.The complete bundle of rights includes:
- Possession – the right to occupy your property, invite others in and/or keep others out.
- Control – the right to alter the property physically and use it for any legal purpose, or not use it at all.
- Quiet Enjoyment – the right to own your property without interference. Past ownerscan’t make claims on your property.
- Disposition – the right to keep it, sell it, lease it, ‘devise’ it to someone in a will, or give it away.
Figure 2: A “bundle of rights” comes with your property
These individual rights can be limited by laws or ‘covenants’, and/or can be divided up and sold or leased separately.
So in summary, real property extends from the center of the earth to the sky, and is defined by vertical walls around the surface area of the parcel as stated in the assessor’s parcel map. Real property is fixed in position, and doesn’t move or change over time.
Figure 3: Property ownership includes important/valuable subsurface and air rights
Three methods are commonly used to legally describe land.
1)Metes and Bounds
The oldest form of legal description is description by metes and bounds. "Metes" means measurements or distances, and "bounds" means boundaries. Metes and bounds is still used, particularly for large and irregular parcels. A metes and bounds description gives the distance and compass direction of each boundary line of the property. It starts at a point of origin known as the "point of beginning" and traces all the way around the property back to that point. The earliest metes and bounds descriptions did not use compass directions or distances, but instead referred to identifiable physical features such as rivers or fences that "bounded" the property in question. Any parcel of land can be described using a metes and bounds description.
An example of what might be found in a metes and bounds deed follows:
Leonard, Rutland county, Vermont 1885
Beginning at a stake and stones about forty feet from the center of the brook that runs across the road South westerly from the dwelling house of the late Arnold Leonard deceased now occupied by the widow Phrelove Leonard and in the west line of the highway leading by the dwelling house now occupied by the widow Phrelove Leonard. Thence Westerly three rods to a stake and stones. Thence northerly five rods to a stake and stones. Thence Easterly three rods to the west line of the highway. Thence Southerly to the place of beginning containing fifteen rods of ground be the same more or less.
Perhaps the most famous example:
Early Tennessee Deed…
…a certain marked red cedar tree out on a sandy sort of plain; thence by another straight line, in a different direction, to a certain marked yellow oak tree on the off side of a knoll with a flat stone laid against it; thence, after turning around in another direction, and by a sloping straight line to a certain heap of stone which is by pacing just 18 rods and about one half a rod more from the stump of the big hemlock tree where Philo Blake killed the bear; thence, to the corner begun at by two straight lines of about equal length, which are to be run by some skilled and competent surveyor, so to include the area and acreage herein before set forth.
Figure 4: A ‘Metes and Bounds’ site map
2)Rectangular Survey
The rectangular survey system is based on principal meridians running north and south and base lines running east and west, which were located by the original surveyors to intersect at established landmarks. California has three principal base lines and meridians: Humboldt (starting at the summit of Mt. Pierce), Mt. Diablo (the summit of Mr. Diablo), and San Bernardino (the summit of Mount San Bernardino). They were established in the 1850’s shortly after California became a state.
Figure 5: The principal U.S. meridians and base lines
In this system, land is further divided into six-mile-wide strips known as ranges, which are numbered consecutively, east or west, from the principal meridian. Range lines run north and south. Lines running parallel to a base line and six miles apart are called township lines. Township lines run east and west. The range and township lines form the basic unit of the system, the township, which is six miles square. Townships are referred to by the intersection of a principal base line and meridian-for example, Township 5 North, Range 3 West. This uniquely describes a quadrant of approximately 36 square-miles. (The area is an approximation because of the curvature of the earth.)
Finally, each township is divided into 36 sections of approximately one-square mile (640 acres). Section 1 is in the northeast corner of the township. Section numbers proceed westward to the boundary of the township, then southward one section, and eastward again. This process continues until all the sections are numbered. Sections may be further divided into fractional portions.
Figure 6: The land is further divided into ranges, townships, sections, and subdivisions
A property description based on rectangular survey system:
. . . the following described property, situated in the Parish of Vernon, Louisiana, to-wit:- Southwest quarter of Southwest quarter (SW ¼ of SW ¼) and West Half of Southeast quarter of Southwest quarter (W½ SE¼ SW¼) of Section Eleven (11), Township Four (4) North of Range Eight (8) West, containing sixty (60) acres of land, more or less, together with the residence, garage, barns and garden used by J. H. Kurth, Jr. for the past ten (10) years, and also the garage building now being used as a pipe storage room, but there is excepted from this sale all other buildings and improvements on said property which are expressly reserved by the vendor.
3)Subdivision Maps or ‘Plat Maps’ (this is the most common in California)
A common modern method of legal description is based on recorded subdivision maps. This method is also referred to as description by lot and block or by recorded plat. Most local governments, as part of the development approval process, require the preparation of a subdivision map showing the streets and lots in the new development. A subdivision map divides the property into lots and for larger subdivisions, into blocks of lots. Each block and lot on the map is identified by a number, and the subdivision map itself is also given a number.
When the development is approved, the subdivision map is recorded and becomes a part of public record. Recorded maps are filed using a system of books and pages. A legal description using this method contains the lot number, the block number (if applicable), and the number of the subdivision map. A legal description by recorded map is short and easy to understand.
Figure 7: Historic subdivision map (plat map) of Ocean Beach
Figure 8: A modern subdivision map
A property description based on a subdivision map:
The land referred to herein is situated in the state of California, county of San Diego and is described as follows: Lot 153 of Glen Oaks Heights Unit No. 3, in the City of San Diego, County of San Diego, State of California, according to map thereof No. 3675, filed in the office of the County Recorder of San Diego County, March 29, 1967.
Assignment
- Research and record the legal description of your client’s property. You can look it up at the County Recorder’s Office -or find it listed on the title deed to the property, on Escrow Company title-search documentation, on paperwork connected with any refinancing of the property, and/or through online searches.
- Research the term “Fee Simple”. What does it mean in your own words?
- Research the term“Leasehold”. What does it mean? How does it differ from Fee Simple ownership?
- What are some examples of subsurface rights? Why might these be important? List some examples.
- What are examples of air rights? Why might these be important? List some examples.
- Can someone fly a drone over your property and peer in your window? Explain why or why not. This is a hot issue right now. Do some research and summarize the current, pending legislation dealing with this issue.