To write a legal description of property, you identify which of three survey systems covers the parcel — metes and bounds, lot and block, or the Public Land Survey System — and then format the description using the components that system requires, starting with a caption that places the land in its county and state. In almost every case, the smartest first move is to track down the existing recorded description rather than draft a new one, because a description already in a deed, survey, or title policy has been through review and reflects the parcel as it legally exists.
Find the Existing Description First
The current deed is the most reliable source. The legal description sits in the body of the document, after the language identifying buyer and seller. Deeds are public records at the county recorder’s or clerk’s office, and many counties now let you search online by owner name, address, or parcel number.
A recent boundary survey works just as well. Surveyors produce a drawing that includes the full legal description. Title commitments and mortgage documents also carry the complete description, because lenders and insurers need it to confirm what they are covering.
Property tax statements are the one source to be careful with. Assessors routinely condense legal descriptions by 25 to 50 percent, cutting words and substituting abbreviations to fit their records. An abbreviated tax description may identify the right parcel for assessment but lack the precision a deed requires. If a tax bill is all you have, verify it against the recorded deed before copying it into any legal document.
Identify Which System Applies
Every legal description in the United States uses one of three frameworks, and geography decides which one.
Metes and bounds traces the outer boundary of a parcel from a fixed Point of Beginning using measured distances (metes) and compass directions (bounds), anchored by physical markers called monuments, until the path closes back on itself. This system dominates in the original thirteen colonies, along the Eastern Seaboard, and in Texas.
Lot and block applies to platted subdivisions. A developer records a plat map that divides a tract into numbered lots grouped into blocks, and any parcel on that plat is described by referencing its lot, block, subdivision name, and the plat’s recording information.
The Public Land Survey System (PLSS), also called the Rectangular Survey System, lays a grid of principal meridians and baselines across the landscape, creating six-by-six-mile townships subdivided into 36 one-square-mile sections. Descriptions pinpoint land by section, township, range, and principal meridian, then narrow further with fractional calls like “the Northeast Quarter of the Southwest Quarter.” The PLSS covers roughly 30 states, mostly west of the Appalachians.
The systems can combine. A parcel in a PLSS state with an irregular shape may use the rectangular grid in the caption to establish the general area, then switch to metes and bounds to trace the actual boundary.1Bureau of Land Management. BLM Module 3 Metes-and-Bounds Study Guide Condominiums are a separate case: a unit description identifies the unit number, the project name, a reference to the declaration and plat, and the owner’s percentage interest in the common elements, with the underlying land described in the declaration itself.
Start With the Caption
Every description, regardless of system, opens with a caption (sometimes called a preamble) that places the property in its general geographic context. At a minimum, the caption identifies the county and state. For PLSS parcels, it also includes the section, township, range, and principal meridian. For subdivisions, the plat reference and city usually suffice.2Bureau of Land Management. Specifications for Descriptions of Land
A caption for a metes-and-bounds parcel inside a PLSS state might read: “A parcel of land situated in the Northeast Quarter of Section 21, Township 35 North, Range 27 West, Fourth Principal Meridian, [County Name], [State Name].”
Draft a Lot and Block Description
This is the most formulaic of the three to write. State the lot, block, subdivision name, and plat recording data, and the description is complete:
“Lot 5, Block 2, Sunset Meadow Subdivision, as recorded in Plat Book 14, Page 32, [County Name], [State Name].”
The plat map at the county does the heavy lifting. Accuracy means matching the lot number, subdivision name, and recording reference exactly as they appear in the public record. The required elements are the lot identifier, the block identifier if used, the official subdivision name, and the recording information — book or file number, page number, date, and county.3Bureau of Land Management. Specifications for Descriptions of Land
Draft a Metes and Bounds Description
This one is a narrative. After the caption, four components do the work:
- A Point of Beginning (POB) tied to something a surveyor can physically find on the ground, not a vague reference like “the old fence post.”
- Courses, each stated as a compass bearing and a distance. “North 45 degrees 30 minutes East, 200.00 feet” is a single course.
- Monuments at corners or along boundary lines, including natural features like streams and artificial markers like iron rods or concrete monuments.
- Closure. The final course must return to the Point of Beginning. If the math does not bring you back, the description has a gap or overlap and needs a surveyor to resolve it.2Bureau of Land Management. Specifications for Descriptions of Land
You list each course sequentially: “Thence North 45 degrees 30 minutes East, 200.00 feet to an iron pin; thence South 44 degrees 30 minutes East, 150.00 feet to the northerly bank of Miller Creek…” The last course returns to the POB, closing the loop. Writing “thence to the Point of Beginning” without a bearing and distance for that final leg leaves a gap.
Bearings require careful attention. They are expressed as an angle measured from either north or south, turning toward east or west. “South 30 degrees East” and “North 30 degrees East” point in very different directions. Transposing one compass call can shift a boundary line by acres. State distances in feet carried to at least two decimal places.
Draft a PLSS Description
PLSS descriptions read from the smallest division outward: fractional quarter (or quarter-quarter), then section, township, range, and principal meridian. A full section covers 640 acres, so most residential descriptions include a fractional breakdown. “The Southeast Quarter of the Southeast Quarter of the Northeast Quarter, Section 13, Township 2 South, Range 2 West” narrows 640 acres down to roughly 40.
Punctuation carries meaning. In Bureau of Land Management conventions, a comma between quarter-section references means “and the,” while no comma means “of the.” “NE1/4 SW1/4” is the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter, a single 40-acre tract. “NE1/4, SW1/4” is the northeast quarter and the southwest quarter, two separate 160-acre tracts.2Bureau of Land Management. Specifications for Descriptions of Land
Add Easements and Exceptions
A description that ignores recorded easements or reserved interests gives an incomplete picture of what the deed is actually conveying. Known burdens should follow the boundary description with “subject to” language. A typical clause: “Subject to a 20-foot utility easement along the northerly boundary as recorded in Book 45, Page 112, [County] Records.”
The same treatment applies to mineral rights, water rights, or any other interest severed from the surface estate. If a prior owner reserved mineral rights, the current description needs to carry that exception forward so the new buyer does not mistakenly believe they are acquiring subsurface rights.
What Makes the Description Legally Sufficient
The test is whether the description identifies one specific parcel so clearly that it cannot be confused with any other piece of land. It does not have to be elegant or exhaustive. It has to be unambiguous. Courts have upheld short, simple descriptions and rejected lengthy ones that wandered or contradicted themselves.
A description that fails this test creates a cloud on title. That does not mean someone else owns the land. It means there is enough doubt about the boundaries or identity of the parcel that a future buyer, lender, or title company may refuse to move forward. Clearing that cloud typically requires a quiet title action, a court proceeding that is slow and expensive. Getting the description right the first time is far cheaper.
When You Need a Surveyor
If the parcel already has a valid legal description on a recorded deed and you are transferring the same land without changes, you can carry that description forward into the new deed. The work is copying it exactly, character for character, and that is a task for whoever prepares the deed.
Creating a new description is a different situation. Any time you are subdividing land, describing a parcel that has never been platted, adjusting a boundary between neighbors, or carving an easement out of a larger tract, a licensed professional land surveyor should draft it. All 50 states and the District of Columbia require surveyors to be licensed before they can certify legal documents showing property boundaries.4U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Surveyors
A residential boundary survey typically runs $400 to $1,400, with simple suburban lots on the low end and complex urban or heavily wooded parcels pushing higher. Larger acreage, difficult access, or conflicting records push it higher. A surveyor does more than produce a document. They physically locate existing markers, set new monuments, resolve discrepancies between the recorded description and conditions on the ground, and certify the finished description.
Fixing an Error After Recording
The correction method depends on how serious the mistake is. A minor typo, like a transposed digit in a plat book page number, can usually be fixed with a corrective deed. The corrective deed references the original, identifies the error, states the correct information, and is recorded in the same county office. Both grantor and grantee typically sign, and it must meet the same recording requirements as the original.
Some jurisdictions also allow a scrivener’s affidavit for clerical errors — a sworn statement, recorded in public records, explaining the mistake and providing the correction. It works for obvious clerical problems but generally will not suffice when the error changes which land the deed appears to convey.
A more serious error, like a description that identifies the wrong quarter-section or omits an entire boundary call, usually cannot be resolved with a simple correction instrument. When the mistake goes to the substance of what land was supposed to change hands, the options narrow to recording a completely new deed (if all parties cooperate) or filing a quiet title action if cooperation is not possible, such as when the original grantor has died or cannot be located.