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Metes and bounds: how to read a land description

A metes and bounds description traces the edge of a tract as a series of calls, each with a direction and a distance, from a point of beginning around and back to it. You find it in the deed. A licensed land surveyor retraces it on the ground.

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Quick summary: This guide shows how to read a metes and bounds description, the kind of land description most rural deeds in North Carolina carry. It is for land buyers and owners who have a deed in hand and want to know what it says. The key takeaway: the description is a closed loop of calls from a point of beginning, and a licensed land surveyor turns it into lines on the ground.

What metes and bounds means

Metes and bounds is a way to describe land by tracing its boundary. “Metes” are the measured lines: a direction and a distance. “Bounds” are the things the lines run to or along, such as a stake, a creek, a road, or a neighbor’s line.

The description starts at a point of beginning. It then gives one call for each side of the tract, in order, until the last call returns to the start. A tract with six sides has six calls. A curved side has its own curve data.

The description identifies the land in the deed. The county GIS line is a tax map drawn from records like it. It is not the description itself.

The parts of a call

Each call carries up to four pieces of information: a direction, a distance, a monument, and an adjoiner. Here is a sample call, split into its parts.

Part Sample text What it tells you
Direction “North 45 degrees 30 minutes East” The line runs 45.5 degrees east of due north
Distance “210.00 feet” The length of the line
Monument “to an iron pipe” The marker at the end of the line
Adjoiner “with the line of the adjoining owner” The neighbor whose land the line follows

The point of beginning

The point of beginning is the corner where the description starts and ends. A good one is tied to something you can find: a road intersection, a recorded corner, or a survey control monument. A weak one names a tree or a stake that is long gone.

Bearings

A bearing gives direction as an angle from north or south, turned toward east or west. It never exceeds 90 degrees. “South 12 degrees West” means face south, then turn 12 degrees toward west. Some plats use an azimuth instead, a single angle from 0 to 360 degrees measured clockwise from north. State plat law accepts either.

Every bearing depends on which north it uses. The same statute requires a plat to say whether its north is true, magnetic, North Carolina grid, or taken from an old deed. For magnetic or old deed bearings, it also requires the date and source. Two deeds for the same line can show different bearings for that reason alone.

Distances

Modern descriptions give distances in feet and decimals. Older deeds use surveyor’s chain units. The federal tables set 1 chain at 66 feet, 4 rods, or 100 links, and 1 rod, pole, or perch at 16.5 feet. So “14 poles” is 231 feet.

Monuments and adjoiners

A monument is a physical marker at a corner. It can be artificial, such as an iron pipe or a concrete marker, or natural, such as a stream or a large rock. Under the surveying procedure rule, a surveyor places metal stakes or comparable markers at the corners of the property. The surveyor reports each monument as found or set. An adjoiner call ties your line to a neighbor’s deed, which a surveyor also reads.

How to plot a metes and bounds description

You plot a description by drawing each call in order and checking that the last line returns to the start. Use graph paper, a protractor, and a scale, or a free deed plotter.

  1. Find the point of beginning and any tie to a known point.
  2. Copy each call onto its own line: bearing, distance, monument.
  3. Convert old units to feet with the chain table.
  4. Draw the first call from the start, at its bearing and to scale.
  5. Draw each next call from the end of the one before it.
  6. Check whether the last call lands on the point of beginning.

A small gap at the end is common in old deeds. A large gap, a crossed line, or a missing call is a question for a surveyor. Licensed surveys must close within limits the boundary survey classes set. Urban land allows 1 foot of error per 10,000 feet of perimeter. Rural and farm land allows 1 foot per 5,000 feet.

Watch for: A description whose calls conflict with each other, such as a distance that stops short of the monument it names. Do not pick the call you prefer. A licensed land surveyor and a real estate attorney decide which call controls.

Where the description lives

The description lives in the deed, recorded at the register of deeds in the county where the land lies. Under state recording law, a conveyance protects the buyer against later purchasers only from its registration in that county.

Look for the paragraph that starts “BEGINNING at.” It often ends with a reference to a prior deed or a recorded plat. Follow those references back. An old description can carry a “less and except” clause that cuts out land sold earlier.

The tax card often shows a short legal description, such as a lot number or an acreage. That text supports billing. It does not replace the deed. See Title search for land: what it finds and who does it.

Lot and block: the other kind of description

A lot and block description identifies land by its number on a recorded plat, such as “Lot 7, Block B, as shown on the plat recorded in Plat Book 12, Page 34.” It is common in subdivisions.

The plat carries the metes and bounds instead. State plat law requires a subdivision plat to show the bearings and distances of every street and lot, with enough data to close the whole perimeter. A county that indexes deeds by parcel identifier number also records the block and lot in each index entry. To read the plat itself, see Plat map: what it is and how to read one.

What a North Carolina survey plat must show

A recorded survey plat in North Carolina must show the data you need to retrace each line. G.S. 47-30 requires these items, among others.

  • Title block. The property designation, the owner’s name for indexing, the location, the survey dates, the scale, and the surveyor.
  • Certificate. The deed and plat sources for the boundary, the ratio of precision, and the surveyor’s seal and signature.
  • North arrow. The north reference, with its date and source when it is magnetic or from an old deed.
  • Every line. The azimuth or course and distance of every property line surveyed.
  • Corners. Every corner marked by a monument or natural object.
  • Coordinates. One or more corners labeled with coordinates on a published datum or the state grid. When no state or federal control monument lies within 2,000 feet, ties to other landmarks may stand in.

The grid is the North Carolina Coordinate System, the state’s official survey base. A corner tied to it can be found again even after every stake is gone.

Take action: Send the parcel number or the deed book and page, and get the record read in a fixed order with the open questions named. Start with One parcel. Everything the record says, in order.

Who confirms what a description means

A licensed land surveyor confirms where a description falls on the ground. State law defines retracing a property line as the practice of land surveying. The surveyor reads your deed and the neighbors’ deeds, finds the monuments, and measures. See How to find property lines. For a commercial purchase, see ALTA survey vs boundary survey: what each one shows.

A real estate attorney confirms what the description conveys: whether the chain of title supports it, and what an exception or a gap means. The county GIS map answers neither question. We read the deed, the plat, and the county record against each other for Acreage that holds up after the survey, and we flag the places where they disagree.

Key recap

  • A metes and bounds description traces a tract’s boundary as calls from a point of beginning, around, and back to it.
  • Each call has a bearing, a distance, and often a monument or an adjoiner. Old deeds use chains and poles, at 66 feet and 16.5 feet.
  • Bearings depend on which north they use. North Carolina plats must state it.
  • Lot and block descriptions point to a recorded plat, and the plat carries the bearings and distances.
  • A licensed land surveyor retraces the description on the ground. A real estate attorney confirms what it conveys.

Questions

What does metes and bounds mean?

Metes are the measured lines of a boundary, each a direction and a distance. Bounds are the markers and features the lines run to, such as stakes, streams, roads, and neighbors’ lines. Together they trace the edge of a tract.

How do you read a metes and bounds description?

Start at the point of beginning and read each call in order. Each call gives a bearing, such as “North 45 degrees East,” a distance, and often a monument at its end. The last call should return to the point of beginning.

Look in the most recent deed, recorded at the register of deeds in the county where the land lies. The tax card shows a short version for billing. The deed may also point to a recorded plat that carries the full bearings and distances.

Is a metes and bounds description the same as a survey?

No. The description is text in a deed, and it may be decades old. A survey is a licensed land surveyor’s current measurement of those lines on the ground, with monuments found or set.

References

Primary sources cited on this page, in APA style.

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