1. Modern Real Estate Practice in Illinois
Chapter 9: Legal Descriptions

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Describing Land
Deeds, mortgages, and trust deeds require a specific (or legally sufficient) description of property to be binding
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3. Methods of Describing Real Estate
Metes and Bounds Method
Original type of legal description introduced in our country
Relies on a property’s physical features to determine boundaries and measurements
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4. Methods of Describing Real Estate
Rectangular (or Government) Survey
Established in 1785
Based on an artificially placed group of lines running throughout the country
Principal meridians
Base lines
Townships (tiers and squares)
Ranges
Sections
Correction lines
Fractional sections and government lots
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5. Lot-and-Block (Recorded Plat) System
Uses lot-and-block numbers referred to in a plat map filed in the public records of the county where the land is located
Two steps:
(1) A large parcel of land is described either by metes-and-bounds or by rectangular survey
(2) Once the parcel is surveyed, it is broken into smaller parcels
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6. Lot-and-Block (Recorded Plat) System
Often used to describe property in subdivisions
A lot-and-block system always refers to a prior metes-and-bounds or rectangular survey description
Identifiers:
Lot-and-block number
Name or number of subdivision plat
Name of the county and state
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Preparing a Survey
Legal descriptions should not be altered or combined without adequate information from a surveyor or title attorney
Survey
states the property’s legal description
Survey Sketch
shows the location and dimensions of the parcel
Spot Survey
when the survey shows the location, size and shape of building on the lot
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8. © 2008 Dearborn Real Estate Education
Measuring Elevations
Condominium laws require that a surveyor prepare a plat map that shows the elevations of floor and ceiling surfaces and the vertical boundaries of each unit with reference to an official datum
Subsurface rights are measured below the datum rather than above it
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Measuring Elevations
Datum
A point, line or surface from which elevations are measured or indicated
Benchmarks
A permanent reference point for marking datums, established throughout the United States
© 2008 Dearborn Real Estate Education