A legal description of property is the written identification of land used in documents such as deeds. It identifies the land through recorded map references, survey-system references, or boundary descriptions. A street address helps you find a place; a legal description identifies the land the document concerns.
For an investor checking a lead, the practical question is whether the deed covers the property you're researching. Start with the complete recorded document. A short description copied from a parcel search can leave you with only part of the answer.
This glossary entry sits inside our guide to public records for real estate. Use it when a deed, assessor record, and listing seem to describe the same property in three different languages.
Legal description vs street address vs APN
These identifiers serve different jobs. Keep each in its own field when you research a property.
| Identifier | What it identifies | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Street address | The site's familiar location | Start an address search and check that you've found the intended place |
| APN (Assessor's Parcel Number) | The assessor's tax parcel record | Connect the property to county assessment records; retain the county name with it |
| Legal description | The land described in the instrument | Read the deed's full description and any referenced exhibits or maps |
| Recording number | A particular recorded document | Retrieve the exact deed, plat, or other instrument |
King County Archives expressly distinguishes a legal description from a street address, and a recording number from a tax parcel number. If you search the recorder with the number printed across the top of a deed, you're looking for that document.
Our APN explainer covers parcel identifiers in more detail. For this task, use the APN to help locate records, then inspect the description inside the deed.
Three common forms of legal description
The Bureau of Land Management's land-description specifications explain these three forms. They are federal drafting guidance; state requirements for a private conveyance still need separate review.
Lot and block
A lot-and-block description identifies a lot, a block when applicable, the subdivision or plat, and its recording reference. The recorded map supplies the context. Some subdivisions have no block numbers, so a missing block alone does not establish an error.
Metes and bounds
A metes-and-bounds description describes a boundary using directions, distances, and identifying features or monuments. Look for the point of beginning and the sequence of boundary calls. The word “thence” means the description continues from one point to the next.
Government survey or rectangular survey
A Public Land Survey System description uses a principal meridian, state, township, range, section, and the relevant lots or section divisions. “NW 1/4” means northwest quarter. That fragment needs the surrounding references to identify land. This system does not cover every part of the country.
A synthetic example: what the shorthand leaves out
Teaching example only. Every identifier below is fictional or a placeholder. This is deliberately incomplete and cannot be used as a conveyance description or deed form.
Suppose your research notes contain:
- Address:
[fictional street address] - Assessor identifier:
[fictional county parcel ID] - Short description:
LOT 7 BLK 2 EXAMPLE PARK - Deed instruction:
See attached Exhibit A
The next useful action is to open Exhibit A. Then find the plat it references. Don't turn the short description into a longer sentence and assume you've recovered the missing text.
For a second reading exercise, imagine the exhibit contains the words “except the west 10 feet.” Highlight that phrase for review. Your notes should preserve the exception and its context instead of reducing everything to “Lot 7.” A tidy spreadsheet is little help if it drops the part you needed to investigate.
Where to find the full legal description
Use this five-step document check before copying text into your research file. The goal is to retrieve and compare records. Preparing a new deed is a separate task.
1. Start with the county parcel record
Search the assessor by address and save the owner name, APN, and available deed references. Label any description copied from that screen with its source. King County's parcel-layer documentation identifies its legaldesc field as abbreviated when available. A field labeled “legal description” can therefore be a summary.
2. Find the recorded conveyance deed
Search the recorder using the owner name, recording number, or available parcel search. Check the document type and parties before treating a result as the deed you need. Our guide to finding recorded deeds explains the access options.
Search coverage matters. King County's recorder instructions say its parcel-ID search retrieves documents from 1997 onward. Most document images from August 1, 1991 onward are online. Older records can require a different search or an archives request. If the parcel search comes back empty, try a name or recording-number search.
3. Open every page and referenced exhibit
Read the document image beyond the index entry and first page. Follow “Exhibit A,” continuation-page instructions, and references to other recorded documents. If an exhibit is missing from your download, request the complete recording before relying on the text. Save the recording number alongside the file so someone else can retrieve it.
4. Retrieve the referenced plat or survey
Use the map's recording number or book-and-page reference. King County Archives explains that recorded plats are digitized in Landmark; its research guide also describes finding surveys through the parcel viewer's Districts Report. Keep the map with the deed rather than substituting a screenshot from a county GIS parcel map.
5. Record discrepancies for professional review
Compare the deed, complete exhibit, and referenced map. Note differences in lot identifiers, exceptions, or the land included. Keep each document's wording intact. For ownership and recorded-claim research, continue with the title-search guide. Ask the title professional or attorney handling the transaction to resolve document questions; bring boundary-location questions to a licensed surveyor.
Washington's abbreviated-description rule
Washington has an explicit first-page recording rule. RCW 65.04.045(1)(f) calls for an abbreviated description using lot, block, and plat, or section, township, range, and quarter/quarter section. It also calls for a reference to the page containing the full description, if applicable.
Subsection (1)(g) separately requires the assessor's tax parcel or account number. Both requirements apply.
That explains why the first page may look much shorter than an attached exhibit. Follow the page reference. This Washington recording rule does not establish what another state requires or whether a particular deed adequately describes the land.
A recorded plat and a boundary survey answer different questions
A recorded plat gives you the map referenced by a lot description. Finding it does not tell you whether today's fence, shed, or driveway sits within the boundary.
The New York State Education Department's surveying guidance identifies boundary surveys as a way to check structures against the property described in a deed and investigate encroachments. It also directs people with unresolved boundary disagreements toward legal help. Those are useful distinctions; local licensing and filing requirements depend on the state.
When requesting a survey, explain the actual question: locating corners, checking an addition, or investigating a disputed line. Ask what work and deliverables the engagement includes. Reading a description is useful preparation for that conversation.
Frequently asked questions
Can I find a legal description using only an address?
Start with an assessor address search to find the parcel record and owner. Then use those details to search recorded deeds. The recorder may offer different search fields from the assessor.
Is the description on my assessor page complete?
Check the county's documentation. King County labels its parcel-layer description as abbreviated. For full text, retrieve the deed and follow its exhibit and document references.
What if the deed says “See Exhibit A” but I don't have it?
Request the complete recorded document using its recording number. Flag the missing exhibit in your notes. Avoid filling the gap with an assessor summary or another property's wording.
Do I need a new survey just to read a deed?
You can retrieve and read recorded documents yourself. Locating boundaries on the ground or checking encroachments calls for a different scope of work. Discuss that scope with a surveyor licensed where the property is located.
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