Parcel Division and Assessment Surveys
Parcel Division Surveys for Tax Assessment purposes:
This is a type of Survey designed to meet the requirements and rules dictated by the local county assessors aimed at facilitating tax assessments mostly on multi-use properties. These have become a highly specialized type of surveys since in the densely populated urban areas such as Downtown Chicago and other evolving metropolitan areas find the need for this type of division a necessity and a viable alternative to a formal re-subdivision. Many times being the only alternative due to time constraints dictated by short lender’s deadlines and associated lending costs.
The survey plats essentially portray the legal lines only, including lots in the underlying subdivisions and public and vacated right-of ways. These survey plats are accompanied by usually lengthy metes and bounds legal descriptions of the parcels in terms of the underlying subdivisions and or re-subdivisions. The horizontal and vertical boundaries of these parcels are graphically shown on these plats for simplicity and contiguity on a floor by floor basis and the descriptions thereof define the extent of the intended various ownerships in three dimensional space. Subterranean and Air Right Parcels are also created for clarity and possible tax exemption as may be applicable via petition submission.
Most real property is conveyed in Fee using a legal description of a lot or a tract of land without any vertical limitations except for restrictions imposed by covenants contained in deeds such as mineral rights and light and air reservations, whereas, in this type of conveyance the Horizontal Boundaries of the property are defined and limited by the vertical planes passing through the perimeter of the geometrical figure defining said lot or tract or portions thereof and the Vertical Boundaries of the property are defined and limited by the horizontal, inclined or irregular planes passing through measured or assumed elevations related to either existing physical structures or otherwise assumed above a local or national datum.
The Survey plats are accompanied by the legal descriptions (usually in an Exhibit form due to the length of the metes and bounds legal descriptions) that not only describe the extent of the parcel by ownership, but, needs to follow local county rules and regulations limiting the description of each parcel to be contained within the existing PIN (Permanent Index Number) and or the subdivision boundaries and must also account for the balance of the land included in the PIN. These rules result in the creation of multiple descriptions for the proposed parcel(s) ownership for proper assessment which may span various subdivisions or PIN’s. over the entire property.