Why legal descriptions matter, and lot and block
A deed has to identify the land it conveys so precisely that a surveyor could walk out and find every boundary. A street address cannot do that.
Why an address is not enough
A street address tells the mail carrier where the front door is. It says nothing about where the property lines run. Addresses also change: streets get renamed, cities renumber houses, and vacant land often has no address at all. If two neighbors disagree about where one lot ends and the next begins, "123 Palm Street" settles nothing.
A legal description identifies the exact land, by reference to measurements, a government survey grid, or a recorded map. It is what goes in the deed, the mortgage, and the title insurance policy. Sales associates should copy legal descriptions from the deed or title work, never write their own, because a single wrong word can describe a different parcel.
Three methods
| Method | What it uses | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Metes and bounds | A point of beginning, then directions and distances around the boundary | Irregular tracts and parcels that are not on a plat |
| Rectangular (government) survey | A grid of townships and sections measured from a principal meridian and base line | Large or rural tracts, and as the base for describing the location of everything else |
| Lot and block (recorded plat) | A lot and block number on a subdivision map recorded in the county records | Subdivision lots |
The methods are often combined. A plat's outer boundary is usually tied to the government survey, and a metes and bounds description often starts from a section corner.
Lot and block: the recorded plat
When a developer divides land into lots, a surveyor draws a plat. Florida law defines a plat as a map that is a complete, exact representation of the subdivision (Fla. Stat. 177.031(14)). Key terms from the same section:
- Lot: the least fractional part of subdivided land, with fixed boundaries and an assigned number, letter, or name (177.031(11)).
- Block: a group of lots within well-defined, fixed boundaries, usually surrounded by streets or other physical barriers, with its own number, letter, or name (177.031(2)).
- Subdivision: dividing land into three or more lots, parcels, tracts, blocks, or other divisions, including new streets (177.031(18)).
On the plat, lots are numbered progressively, or progressively within each block (177.091(18)). Permanent reference monuments (P.R.M.s) must be set at each corner or change in direction on the plat's boundary (177.091(7)).
Recording makes it work
Once approved, the plat is recorded by the circuit court clerk or other recording officer, who keeps the recorded plats in books sized so they will not be folded (Fla. Stat. 177.111). After that, a deed can describe land simply by pointing to the plat, for example:
Lot 14, Block C, Palmetto Shores, according to the plat recorded in Plat Book 12, Page 40, of the public records of the county.
That short description works because all the measurements are already on the recorded plat. Anyone can pull the plat and see the lot's exact dimensions, the streets around it, and the monuments that mark it. Without the recording reference, the lot number alone would be meaningless.
Exam tips
- A street address is never a legal description.
- Lot and block descriptions depend on a recorded plat.
- Metes and bounds describes a boundary by walking it; the rectangular survey describes land by its place in a grid.