In the world of commercial real estate, an accurate legal description of a property is incredibly important. An airtight property description is much more than a street address, and ensuring you understand a property’s description can avoid costly mistakes down the road. In today’s blog, we explore why an accurate property description is much more than a street address.
Street Address Vs. Legal Description
If you need to give directions to your aunt who is visiting for Thanksgiving, you probably give her the street address of your property so that she can plug it into her GPS and be on her way. A street address is used for convenience. It’s how people can quickly find your house and it’s how the mailman knows where to deliver packages, but it’s not a very precise identifier.
Think of it this way. When you’re building a house, precision matters. If a builder is off by a half inch, it can lead to major problems and setbacks. It is incredibly important that all measurements are precise so that everything is built correctly. That same sentiment is true when defining a property description when outlining the description in a property’s title. An adequate property description will use formal, legally recognized terms that allows a surveyor or property owner to clearly identify the exact boundaries of the property without ambiguity.
Your aunt doesn’t need to know exactly where your property begins or your property ends, and she will likely have no problem finding your place if given your street address. The same cannot be said if you are buying or selling the property. All involved parties will want to know exactly where one property ends and another begins. Don’t just assume that a fence line is an accurate boundary marker, because it’s possible that it was placed incorrectly. A well-written property deception that has been assessed and verified will ensure boundaries are clearly marked.
Street addresses can change, they can be duplicated or they can be hard to find because they are part of a new construction project. Because of this, it’s unwise to assume a street address is a valid legal description of a property. Formal documents like deeds, mortgages and claims of liens should all use official property descriptions.
You probably don’t have much familiarity with the public land survey system and the formation of an accurate property description, but we do. If you need to know exactly where a property is located or ensure this information is accurately portrayed on key legal documents, let the team at Commercial Partners assist. A street address is good enough for Aunt Patty, but it won’t fly on a commercial deed. Let us handle this technical aspect of commercial real estate so you don’t run into any surprises down the road.
For more information about property descriptions, reach out to the team at Commercial Partners today at (612) 337-2470.