Illinois legal descriptions and the Plat Act

The address-only contract exhibit

Scenario: A listing identifies a rural property only as 418 County Road 7. The seller owns two adjacent tracts under separate legal descriptions and PINs.

1. The address may point to a building on either or both tracts.
2. It does not state the record boundaries of the land being conveyed.
3. Separate PINs warn that multiple tax parcels may be involved, but the PINs still do not replace the descriptions.
4. The title and survey records must identify the intended tract or tracts.
5. The broker should not invent a boundary from the driveway or fence.

Answer: The address is insufficient to define the conveyance. Obtain and compare the legal descriptions and refer boundary uncertainty to the title and survey professionals.

Recognizing lot and block

Scenario: A deed describes Lot 12 in Block 3 of Prairie View Subdivision according to the plat recorded in the county recorder's office as Document 2024-018600.

1. The description names a specific lot and block.
2. It names the subdivision.
3. It incorporates a recorded plat through a document reference.
4. The plat supplies the mapped dimensions, streets, easements, and notes.
5. No sequence of perimeter bearings is needed in the deed excerpt to recognize the method.

Answer: This is a lot-and-block description based on a recorded subdivision plat.

The point before the point

Scenario: A description says to commence at a section corner, travel 600 feet to the point of beginning, and then follows four boundary calls back to that point.

1. The section corner is the known reference control.
2. The first 600-foot call locates the parcel from that control.
3. The parcel boundary begins only at the expressly named point of beginning.
4. The four later calls describe the perimeter.
5. The final call should close at the point of beginning.

Answer: The section corner is the point of commencement reference; the later named point is the point of beginning for the parcel.

Six-acre parcels with a new access road

Scenario: An owner divides a tract into four parcels of six acres each and creates a new private access road serving all four parcels. The owner claims the five-acre exception.

1. Every parcel exceeds five acres.
2. The Section 1(b)(1) exception also requires that the division involve no new streets or easements of access.
3. The new access road defeats that condition.
4. The owner must follow the applicable plat and local approval requirements.
5. The broker should not advertise the lots as lawfully divided based on acreage alone.

Answer: The state five-acre exception does not apply because the division creates new access.

Trying the one-lot exception twice

Scenario: In 2025, an owner used a professional survey and Section 1(b)(9) to sell one two-acre lot from a larger tract. In 2026, the owner proposes another two-acre sale and cites the same exception.

1. The statute creates a limited exception for one small lot from the larger tract.
2. It expressly excludes subsequent lots from that same historical tract.
3. A second surveyed lot does not reset the exception.
4. The new division must satisfy the ordinary Plat Act and applicable local requirements.
5. The relevant larger-tract configuration is measured under the statute's October 1, 1973 reference.

Answer: The owner cannot reuse the single-lot exception for the second small parcel.

Vacating after lot sales

Scenario: A developer records a subdivision, sells three lots, and later signs a unilateral document declaring the entire plat vacated. The other lot owners do not join.

1. Section 6 permits the sole owner to vacate before any lot is sold, subject to the required process.
2. Once lots have been sold, all lot owners must join in the vacation writing.
3. Governmental and utility approvals and reservations may also be necessary.
4. The instrument must be acknowledged and recorded in the statutory manner.
5. The developer's unilateral declaration cannot erase the other owners' recorded framework.

Answer: The attempted vacation is insufficient because sold-lot owners did not join and the statutory process was not completed.

1. Which item most reliably defines the boundaries of land conveyed by an Illinois deed?

1. The postal address
2. The real estate agent's listing map
3. The legal description
4. The seller's utility account number

2. A description identifies Lot 8, Block 2, in a named subdivision according to a recorded plat. Which method is used?

1. Metes and bounds
2. Lot and block
3. Rectangular survey only
4. Street-address method

3. Which division fits the state Plat Act exception in Section 1(b)(1)?

1. Three six-acre parcels with a new access easement
2. Three five-acre parcels with no new street or access easement
3. Four two-acre parcels with no survey
4. Two four-acre parcels with a new road

4. An owner already sold one surveyed lot under five acres from a larger tract using Section 1(b)(9). What is true of a later small-lot sale from that tract?

1. It automatically uses the same exception
2. It is exempt if the buyer pays cash
3. The single-lot exception does not apply to the later lot
4. It needs only a new street address

5. Who must join an Illinois plat vacation after lots in the subdivision have been sold?

1. Only the original developer
2. Only the county recorder
3. All owners of lots in the plat
4. Only owners next to a public street