Untitled Document

Real Estate Purchase and Sale Agreements (REPSA’s) are contracts to convey title to real property and thus must comply with the Statute of Frauds (RCW 19.36.010: RCW 64.04.010 and 020). This statute requires, among other things, that contracts for the purchase or sale of real property must be in writing to be enforceable. That means that all the essential elements of the contract must be written down, including the legal description.

Recently, I have reviewed a number of REPSA’s that have contained inadequate or incomplete legal descriptions. Don‘t let this happen to you.Lack of a valid or complete legal description can make your contract void, and thus unenforceable.

Most of the forms in use locally state something like “the parties authorize the Selling Agent or Closing Office to insert a correct legal description over their signature.” People get busy and forget to correct this crucial paragraph until it is too late. Typically, the real estate agent, understandably eager to get the parties’ signatures on the REPSA, fills in the legal description with whatever information is at hand. Sometimes that is just the street address, sometimes a tax parcel number, sometimes it is a partial lot and block description. Once filled in with this incomplete information, the REPSA sits in the agent’s file until closing, it is often too late to fix the flawed legal, and the document the agent worked hard to complete, and the sale it represents, just evaporated.

Use just the tax parcel number. Or even worse, forget to identify which county’s parcel number you are using.
Use the street address alone. Or worse yet, use just the number and the street name, leaving off identifiers like Street, Avenue, City, County or compass direction (NW, SE, etc), or State.
Use an incomplete legal like: “Lot 1, Block 2, Smith and Jones Addition.” Addition to what? What city? What county?What state?What volume or page number?
Refer to just the city and township such as the “property located in Township 27, southeast of Mt. Vernon, owned by John Q. Public.” A recent Court of Appeals case ruled this legal is insufficient to create a binding contract.
Refer to plats that have not been fully created yet. In at least one reported case, the Court noted that the anticipated plat boundaries, and those actually approved were different, thus invalidating the legal for purposes of the contract.

a. Use the complete legal description, including volume and page numbers, as well as a reference to county and state.

Attach a photocopied sheet – preferably initialed and dated by the parties – as an Exhibit to REPSA. This is particularly helpful for long or complex legals.
Double check the legals with the Title Company. This can help you spot errors early, prior to any other problems arising.
If possible, include a complete street address and tax parcel number with the legal description. Simply add “also known as 1234 Jones Avenue SE, Thurston County, Olympia, Washington State, and also known as Thurston County Tax Parcel Number 987654321, Washington State.” The easier it is to find the property, the better off you are.
If you don’t have a legal with you when you complete the REPSA, develop a calendar or reminder system so that you fill in the missing information as soon as possible.
Remember, a legal description is required under the new Seller’s Disclosure Law. Make sure your REPSA legal description and the Disclosure form legal description match.Failure to pick up obvious discrepancies might be construed as agent negligence.

Should you find yourself in problems with legal descriptions, these are some rules that can help, but don’t gamble on it – the stakes are too high. As an old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” A little homework on your legal descriptions will help eliminate a potential source of problems.

This article contains information of general interest, and is not intended to be, nor should it be relied upon as a substitute for specific legal advice.