Legal Description

• 1). Learn the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). To find the physical or mailing address for a lot or piece of land, you will first need to locate the lot on a county plat map or other map (i.e., USGS 7.5' quadrangle) on which the legal description can be found. The PLSS is a standardized method for subdividing and describing any location within the United States.
  
  
• 2). Locate township and range. Most U.S. states' land is subdivided into squares that are 36 square miles in area (called a township). The squares are designated by township (north/south) and range (east/west) numbers. The top of a page on a county plat map usually gives its township and range designation.
  
  
• 3). Find the section number and the location within the section. Each square mile within a township is called a section, and sections are numbered from 1 to 36. Sections are further subdivided into quarters (160 acres), sixteenths (40 acres), thirty-seconds (10 acres), and so on. The quarters are expressed by direction (NW, NE, SW, SE). Thus a lot might be located in the NW quarter of the SW quarter of the NE quarter within its section.
  
  
• 4). Record the legal description. A legal description would include a township number, a range number, a section number, and the quarter (or eighth, sixteenth, thirty-second, or sixty-fourth, depending on lot size) of the section. For example, the legal description for a hypothetical lot might read: "NE quarter of the NW quarter of the NW quarter of the SW quarter of Section 12, Township 50 North, Range 31 West." The quarter sections are the hardest to figure out, and a ruler may help to subdivide the section into quarters (and quarters of quarters).
  
  

County Records

• 1). Take the legal description to the county (township or borough) courthouse. If the legal description is too confusing to figure out, simply take the plat map (or other map showing Section, Township and Range) to the courthouse.
  
  
• 2). Find the deed office or public records office. County offices vary, but every county will have an office that houses public records such as deeds and property tax records.
  
  
• 3). Ask for assistance from the staff in charge of public records. Using the legal description, the address of the lot or piece of land in question can typically be found either in deed or property tax records. If the lot is in a town or city, and you know the subdivision name and lot number, the address can also be found within the public records.