Property Descriptions, Subdivision Planning Maps, Record Plats, and Field Note Records
Property descriptions, plats, and field notes
This domain tests how Florida boundaries are described, depicted, approved, and recorded. A property description must be definite enough to locate the parcel; a record plat must satisfy Chapter 177 and local approval; field notes must preserve the evidence behind the survey. A description that relies only on area is weak because area is the lowest-ranking call.
Core rules
- Description construction follows the evidence hierarchy: natural monuments, artificial monuments, courses and distances, then area. A deed to 'Lot 5, Block 2, according to the plat' incorporates the plat, including bearings, distances, and monuments.
- A record plat must be prepared by a Florida-licensed surveyor and mapper, signed and sealed, show the boundary, lots, blocks, easements, dedications, monuments, and surveyor's certificate; it must be approved by the governing body before recording.
- Field notes and corner records should identify the date, surveyor, equipment, basis of bearings, ties, and any discrepancies. They are the audit trail for the boundary decision.
- Subdivision planning maps are review documents; the record plat is the instrument that creates and conveys lots once approved and recorded.
Worked example
A deed describes a parcel as 'the west 100 feet of Lot 7, Block 3, according to the official plat.' The plat shows Lot 7 as 150 feet wide with a concrete monument at its southwest corner and an iron pipe at its southeast corner. The measured width between monuments is 148.5 feet. The west 100 feet is measured from the controlling west monument along the south line, not from a scaled plat distance; the east remainder is 48.5 feet as monumented. If the deed instead called to a natural monument such as a creek, the creek would control over the 100-foot distance.
Traps
Do not record a plat without the governing body's approval; approval and recording are separate acts. Do not omit the seal or certificate. Do not treat an unrecorded planning map as a conveyance. Do not ignore the plat's basis of bearings or monument notes when writing a description.