A metes and bounds description must ultimately do what to be valid?
Correct Answer
B) Close — return to the point of beginning
Why this is correct: A valid metes and bounds description must form a closed polygon by returning to the point of beginning. Failure to close means the boundaries are not defined. Why the other choices are wrong: 'Reference a section, township and range' is wrong; that describes the rectangular survey system, not metes and bounds. 'List the names of adjoining owners' is wrong; while sometimes included, it is not a validity requirement. 'State the acreage to two decimals' is wrong; acreage is a calculation, not a requirement for validity. Exam tip: If it doesn't close, it's not a complete legal description.
Why This Is the Correct Answer
Returning to the point of beginning is what closes the figure and makes the described area determinate. Without closure there is no enclosed parcel, only a broken line, and no acreage can be computed from it. That is why closure is the structural requirement of a metes and bounds description rather than a stylistic convention. Everything else in such a description, including monuments, bearings, and distances, serves the goal of getting back to where the description started.
Why the Other Options Are Wrong
Option A: Reference a section, township and range
Township, range, and section notation belongs to the rectangular survey system, which is a different and largely alternative method of describing land. A metes and bounds description may reference a section corner as a convenient starting monument, but it is not required to and many do not, particularly in the original colonial states where the rectangular system was never laid out. Requiring the reference would invalidate most metes and bounds descriptions in the eastern United States.
Option C: List the names of adjoining owners
Adjoining owners' names appear in many older descriptions as helpful context, but ownership changes constantly while boundaries do not, which is precisely why names cannot be a validity requirement. A description resting on who owned the neighboring land in 1912 would become unusable within a generation. Names are evidence of intent, not a structural element.
Option D: State the acreage to two decimals
Stated acreage is computed from the traverse rather than defining it, and in the hierarchy of calls area ranks last, below monuments and below courses and distances. A description with no acreage stated is perfectly valid, and one with erroneous acreage is still valid as to its boundaries. Requiring two decimals adds a precision standard that no such rule imposes.
Walk the Fence and Come Home
Read a metes and bounds description as a set of walking directions around a field. If the directions do not bring you back to the gate you started from, you cannot say what land was described. Come home or there is no parcel.
How to use: For any validity question about a metes and bounds description, answer closure. Reserve section-township-range for rectangular survey items and lot and block for platted subdivision items.
Exam Tip
Acreage sits at the bottom of the hierarchy of calls. When a description's stated area conflicts with its monuments or measured courses, the area yields, which is why it can never be a validity requirement.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- -Assuming every legal description must tie to the rectangular survey system
- -Treating stated acreage as controlling over monuments and courses
- -Computing value from deed acreage without reconciling it to a survey
Concept Deep Dive
Analysis
A metes and bounds description works by starting at a defined point of beginning and reciting a sequence of calls that traces the perimeter of the parcel, each call giving a direction and a distance or naming a monument to follow. For the description to define an area at all, that sequence must eventually return to the point of beginning, enclosing a polygon. Surveyors call this closure, and they test it by summing the north-south and east-west components of every call to see whether the traverse returns to its origin within an acceptable tolerance. A description that fails to close leaves a gap, so the boundary is ambiguous and the parcel's extent cannot be determined from the document. Closure errors are one of the standard title problems an appraiser may encounter, and they are typically resolved by a new survey, a boundary line agreement, or a corrective deed.
Background Knowledge
You need the components of a metes and bounds description, point of beginning, courses, distances, and monuments, and the concept of closure tested by a traverse. You should also know the three legal description systems and the hierarchy of calls that resolves internal conflicts.
Real-World Application
An appraiser reviewing title work sees the surveyor's note that the deed traverse fails to close by eleven feet. She flags the discrepancy, relies on the current survey rather than the deed for parcel size, and discloses in the report that her area figure comes from the survey.
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