7. Description the most difficult part of the con seller has in mind the property he owns and wishes to sell. The purchaser has in mind the property he expects to get. The contract should be drawn so that the seller is obliged to convey just what lie owns and no more, and so that the purchaser will get what it was his true intention to buy. No general rule can be laid down. The description taken from the last deed, or from the seller's policy of title insur ance, if he has one, is the best to follow. How widely the conditions to be described may vary can be seen by means of a few illustrations.
8. Vacant lot may be involved in describing a vacant lot can be seen most conven iently by considering the diagram which follows : This shows a vacant lot on Second Street west of Avenue B. A sufficient description would be. "Lot on the southerly side of Second Street, 125 feet west erly side of Avenue B, being 25 feet in width front and rear by one hundred feet in depth on both sides: the side lines being parallel with Avenue B." The lot may also be described at length. This is custom ary in the preparation of a deed.
The lot may be shown on a map of a tract of land. If so, it may be described by the lot and block number shown on such maps, as "lot 110, Block 5, Map of lots of D Estate, filed in the office of the Clerk of New York County." If the purchaser desires, the prop erty can be described both by reference to the map and by dimensions. The seller must be sure in this case that the map descriptions are correct or he should add the words "more or less" to the dimensions. Care ful purchasers, however, may not want to take a de scription qualified by the words "more or less" unless it is stipulated that the dimensions are not less than a certain quantity.
9. Description of improved property.—When a person buys improved property he expects to get three things: the land, the structures on the land and a good right to maintain such structures permanently. When the building is in the center of the plot, or well away from the side lines as in the case of a detached suburban dwelling, no difficulty of description is pre sented. The description which fits the lot is all that is necessary. In describing city property, where buildings are contiguous to each other, problems arise from the fact that the lines of the building may not coincide exactly with those of the lot. The building on the lot to be sold may encroach on a neighboring lot, or the lot itself may be encroached upon by ad joining buildings. Before closing a purchase it is a wise precaution to have a surveyor's sketch to see that the buildings are wholly on the land being conveyed. It is a maxim of the law that, "he who owns the soil owns from the center of the earth to the sky." There
are, of course, exceptions to this.
(a) When a building and lot exactly coincide, the lot can be described by a street number as "Being in the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York, known as 105 Second Street." If the purchaser de sires, this description may be amplified by a descrip tion of the lot by dimensions. Both descriptions mean the same thing, and both can be given, or one or the other can be omitted.
(h) An adjoining building may encroach on the lot to be sold, say, for example, two inches. The seller, it is assumed, owns a house known as 105 Second Street and he owns a lot 25 feet wide, but his neighbor by encroaching, prevents him from using two inches of his property. In this case the property would be de scribed by street number only, and the purchaser would get the house he has in mind. If he desires to be assured of the dimensions of the lot they can be inserted in the contract in one of three ways.
1. Plot on the southerly side of Second Street, 24 ft. 10 inches wide, 125 ft. 2 inches westerly from the westerly side of Avenue B, etc.
2. Plot on the southerly side of Second Street, 25 ft. wide, more or less, about 125 ft. westerly from the westerly side of Avenue B, etc.
3. Plot on the southerly side of Second Street, 25 feet wide, 125 feet westerly from the westerly side of Avenue B, etc., subject, however, to encroachment of two inches on said premises by building adjoining on the east side. The street number and, indeed, any other particulars can, of course, be stated in addition to any of these descriptions.
4. Lot No. according to register. Plan No.
in the City of Toronto.
(c) The building may encroach on an adjoining lot and it may be assumed again that the encroachment is two inches. In this case there is a building 25 feet 2 inches wide on a lot 23 feet wide. The plot 23 feet wide can be described as you would the vacant lot, letting it follow as a matter of inference and of law that you have a right to maintain the build ing in its present position encroaching on your neigh bor. It would not be well to describe it by street number, or by street number and dimensions of plot, unless in so doing you added a qualification that your house encroached on your neighbor's lot, but that you conveyed a good right to maintain it there. There are cases where the owner of a building has not a legal right to maintain his building encroaching on his neighbor's lot, and in such cases he must state that his sale is subject to the encroachment. If he does not do this, when the time comes to deliver the deed the purchaser may reject the title on the ground that the title is unmarketable.