What to Know Regarding the Legal Description of Property in Minnesota

Overview of a Legal Description of Property

As a general rule, a legal description cannot be an address. Legal descriptions are designed to locate and describe a property by physical boundaries. Addresses are just a sort of pointer directing someone to a location. Addresses may convey where a property is located in the world, but they tell nothing about the property itself.
Sometimes an address can be incorporated into the legal description as a reference point. For example, if a property has more than one parcel, a description may refer to the address of one of the parcels. However, a real estate professional should not assume the address or another real life description of a specific location is the legal description. The legal description is a technical description set out in legalese that can be unrecognizable in layman’s language. In the United States, it provides the only location with certainty.
For a description to be a legal description, it must:

Describe the parcel to the extent that there is a question of where it or they begin or end in relation to another contemporaneous and known land description;
Name the person to whom title to the property is subject; and
Name the property which the subject parcel forms part. This usually means that the legal description must include the address , or some other description of the property, such as the county, city, or even township. In Minnesota, this requirement emerges primarily from the cases of Insurance Company of North America v. West Area Ltd. (1998) and Durfee v. State Bank of Glencoe (2000).

In addition, a legal description of real property may also include:

The rental period;
The right of renewal, if in force;
The landlord’s name and address, if available;
The fact that the lease is an assignment, if it is; and
The signature of the party in possession (either the tenant or the landlord), if necessary; otherwise this element may refer to legal authority, custom, and practice, or may be omitted altogether.

Often in residential transactions papers, a legal description will look something like this: Lot 1, Block 11, Flying Horse Subdivision, Penn Township, Hennepin County, State of Minnesota, according to the recorded plat thereof.
Ultimately, the United States Postal Service rules prohibit citing an address in a legal description. That is, although stating in the legal description an address in Street Name, City, State, Zip, and County may give a clear idea of a property’s location to the reader, it would leave the property uncertain in relation to the title of the legal description.

Types of Legal Descriptions in MN

Types of legal descriptions in MN are as follows:
Metes and Bounds. The most common description of real property in Minnesota is referred to as a "metes and bounds" description. A metes and bounds description refers to a string of text that describes the property by reference to landmarks and direction. This text is typically read using something like a compass to locate the boundaries for the property. Metes and bounds descriptions may refer to concrete characteristics, such as the property line running "along the fence" or "along the bank of the pond". Alternatively, it may refer to an unknown reference point, the location of which you may not be able to determine until you locate the property. For example, the description may refer to property beginning from a "pocket at the bent tree" or "point of rock", where you must first locate the "bent tree" or "rock" to locate the property. Unfortunately, these references do not give you an exact location for the property, which can be problematic when researching the history of the property – i.e. you cannot just Google your land’s coordinates and determine the description, because you won’t know what the coordinates are, until you locate the boundaries of the property. However, a physical survey or registered land surveyor (a "RLS") can show the property line in concrete terms with physical markers on the land itself.
Government Surveys. The second most common designation for land will be a government survey, or a subdivision of the entire purported parcel you are interested in. Think of the government survey as essentially a paper map that shows the entire land in numbered parcels. Each subdivision will have an individually numbered "section" that designates a fixed area of land, commonly with dimensions of a mile square. The legal description will be something like, "The North ½ of Section 5, Township 20 North, Range 20 East" or "Lot 13, Block 2 of Lakeview Meadows Eight". "Sections" are part of a government survey and commonly are a mile square. "Townships" refer to the general area of the land. "Ranges" refer to the description of where the land is located. For example, Range 20 East, is the range of land located 20 miles east of the town center of the specific township you are in (based off of the original town site). The town center is typically and originally based off of the settlement of the town.
Lot and block geographic references refer to a subdivision that has been platted and recorded with the county you are located within. These subdivisions will list the individual lots within the subdivision and their coordinates. For example, "a strip of land commencing 109.4 feet due south of the southwest corner of Lot 2, Block 3 of Jordonale 3rd". In this case, a survey would also be helpful to you.

How to Read and Interpret a Legal Description

Every Minnesota legal description follows the same pattern: It provides the "title" of a piece of property in chronological order. Once you know the form, deciphering a legal description on a deed, mortgage, or other property record is relatively easy.
Section 1: Land Description
A legal description begins with the location of the property within the township and range grid system. You’ll typically see the abbreviation "T__N" and the abbreviation "R__W," abbreviated from "Township" and "Range." The letter "T" indicates township lines that run west-east, while "R" indicates range lines that run north-south. These letters are followed by numbers that denote the specific township and range of the property. For example, "T115N R25W" means that the property is in Township 115 North of the base line and parallel to the principal meridian, and Range 25 West of the principal meridian and parallel to the base line.
Section 2: Quarter of the Quarter
This is the portion of the section in which the land is located. The abbreviation "SE" for "southeast" also appears as "S.E." "SW" for "southwest" also appears as "S.W." The same is true for the abbreviation "NW" for "northwest" and "NE" for "northeast."
Section 3: The Section Number
This is the "biggest" component of the township and range section. The section number always consists of a digit from 1 to 36.
Section 4: The Township
This is the middle number in the grid system of a legal description.
Quotes
Some legal descriptions include quotes.
A description that reads "S1/2 NW1/4" means, in other words, "the south half of the north-west quarter of the section." Such "breakdowns" or "quarterings" of sections are fairly common in legal descriptions.
Finally, a legal description of "S1/2" means "the south half of the section." "N1/2" means "the north half of the section."
Most legal descriptions in Minnesota run from the point of origin or the northwest corner of the range section.

Significance of an Accurate Legal Description

Accurate legal descriptions are vital for property ownership and clear title in Minnesota. They serve as a precise way to identify the property from the rest of the surrounding land, offering a clear demarcation of the extent of that property. Caveats to this principle arise when adjacent properties have overlapping legal descriptions, or even when more than one property is identified in a single deed. In such cases, these overlapping or multiple descriptions may leave room for interpretation, which can then lead to protracted disputes as neighboring property owners grapple for even minor encroachments. The issue is further compounded in scenarios where adverse possession claims are made, and the overlapping description is relied upon as the basis for that claim. This may also complicate title insurance issues. Inaccurate, ambiguous legal descriptions can therefore adversely affect all property transactions in Minnesota. While courts in Minnesota have gone to great lengths to seek out the true intent of the parties, those involved should nevertheless insist upon a legal description that is unambiguous and precise. A clear legal description in a deed will go a long way in protecting your legal interests.

How Do You Obtain a Legal Description of Your Property?

Obtaining a legal description of your property is typically not a significant undertaking. Many professionals seen as a matter of course in real estate transactions will provide you with it upon request. For example, at some point before your closing, your real estate agent will have provided it to you so that you may review Surveys and Title examination. These are commonly referred to as Title Insurance Surveys and show a graphic depiction of your property (its legal description and boundaries so to speak) . They do not provide information about your neighbors. Those surveys must be obtained independently of your Title company. Deeds typically also contain or incorporate by reference a legal description of your property. The plat book for your county should also contain a copy. Finally, you can directly obtain City and/or County Certificates of Survey that contain the legal description and a graphic depiction of your property.

Problems with Common MN Property Descriptions

Legal descriptions of property aren’t as simple as you would hope. It is extremely important to ensure that you and the seller are completely clear on the description of your new home.
For starters, you need to make sure the legal description for the home you’re buying matches what’s being represented to you by the seller. If there are any discrepancies, they need to be cleared up before you close on the purchase, or you could find yourself in dispute after closing.
In some cases it may be that you are not being sold what you think you are. Or there could be a discrepancy with the legal description itself, with an error in the county database or in the deed recorded with the county clerk. For instance, a recording could list only part of a lot or block of the property being conveyed. In that case, the legal description would need to be amended to remedy the mistake. If the county has misspelled the name of the property owner, this too needs to be amended.
Small-scale surveys are based on estimates, which means that your property may not match the map. These surveys aren’t licensed, and they don’t require a license to use—unlike official surveys. So it’s important to know what you’re getting into when relying on one.
Sometimes these surveys will be outdated and do not reflect current information. An example of this is a survey map that shows a fence that’s been standing for 30 years but doesn’t account for a new road that was built right through the property. You already own the property where the fence is, as evidenced by deed. But if a survey is used to pin down exact measurements for the property, it could put you in a very confusing position.
The problem has to be resolved before closing, or it can turn into an all-out dispute. This is why it’s best to ask questions up front to find out if surveys are being relied on. A licensed surveyor is much more useful than an unofficial one, as the maps they generate are based on facts instead of estimates.
Professional land surveyors have had to pass a licensing test in order to practice in the field, and their maps are guaranteed to be accurate—or the land surveyor is required to remedy any inaccuracies. Hillside Land Surveying notes that surveys and professional opinions are analyzed as scientific data and not as mere opinions, so your case is stronger if the map was created by a licensed professional.
In Minnesota, survey costs will vary based on what they’re looking at. If you need to be sure of a parcel’s boundary lines, you can get a metes and bounds survey. They adhere to the legal definition of metes and bounds, which is a real estate boundary system.

Other Resources for Further Assistance

Beyond the web resources provided above, legal assistance and the information shared by a professional are an obvious choice to help in your understanding of a legal description. There are many professional services across Minnesota that can help you dissect the description of a piece of property and further explain what those terms mean. Government offices can be of assistance as well , to understand the terminology and speak the same language as they lead you through the purchase or sale process. A land surveyor can also be a good technical resource if a definitive answer is needed. The county land surveying office in the county where the subject property is located should have survey documents on record and may be a good resource to aid in the search for a legal description or for providing legal descriptions related to that specific county. The Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors (MSPS) website also has resources to assist citizens in navigating the legal description of property.
If you’re a visual learner, there are plenty of video tutorials available on YouTube to provide you with a visual guide.