Legal Descriptions

Legal Descriptions — Texas Real Estate ## Overview A valid deed requires a legal description sufficient to identify the property with certainty. A street address does not qualify. Texas uses three methods of legal description. --- ## Method 1: Metes and Bounds The oldest system, used for irregular tracts and older Texas surveys (especially in East Texas and original Spanish land grants). Structure: 1. Start at the Point of Beginning (POB) — a fixed, identifiable monument 2. Describe each boundary line by direction (bearing) and distance 3. Return to the POB (the description must "close") Bearings: Written as N or S + degrees + E or W (e.g., "N 45° 30' E, 150 feet"). The bearing starts from North or South and rotates toward East or West. Monuments: Can be natural (trees, rivers) or artificial (iron pins, concrete markers). In Texas surveys, original monuments set by the original surveyor typically control. Republic of Texas Land Grants: Many Texas properties date to Spanish or Republic-era grants. These use metes and bounds with varas (a Spanish unit = approximately 33⅓ inches). The Texas exam may test vara conversions: 1 vara ≈ 2.78 feet; 5,645.4 square varas = 1 acre. --- ## Method 2: Rectangular Survey System (Government Survey) Texas is unusual: most of its land was NOT surveyed under the federal Public Land Survey System because Texas retained its public lands upon statehood (1845). However, the rectangular survey system is still tested as general knowledge for the national portion of the exam. ### Key Units | Unit | Size | |---|---| | Township | 6 miles × 6 miles (36 square miles) | | Section | 1 mile × 1 mile…