Surveyor Information

Code of Iowa

354.4 Divisions Requiring a Plat of Survey or Acquisition Plat

One: The grantor of land which has been divided using a metes and bounds description shall have a plat of survey made of the division, except as provided for in subsection 3. The grantor or the surveyor shall contact the county auditor who, for the purpose of assessment and taxation, shall review the division to determine whether the survey shall include only the parcel being conveyed or both the parcel being conveyed and the remaining parcel. The plat of survey shall be prepared in compliance with chapter 355 and shall be recorded. The plat shall be clearly marked by the surveyor as a plat of survey and shall include the following information for each parcel included in the survey:

a. A parcel letter or number designation approved by the auditor.

b. The names of the proprietors. An accurate description of each parcel.

c. The total acreage of each parcel.

d. The acreage of any portion lying within a public right-of-way.

Two: The auditor shall note a permanent real estate index number upon each parcel shown on a plat of survey according to section 441.29 for real estate tax administration purposes. The surveyor shall not assign parcel letters or prepare a metes and bounds description for any parcel shown on a plat of survey unless the parcel was surveyed by the surveyor in compliance with chapter 355. Parcels within a plat of survey prepared pursuant to this section are subject to the regulations and ordinances of the governing body.

Three: When land or rights in land are divided for right-of-way purposes by an agency of the government or other persons having the power of eminent domain and the description of the land or rights acquired is a metes and bounds description then an acquisition plat shall be made and attached to the description when the acquisition instrument is recorded. Acquisition plats shall be clearly marked as an acquisition plat and shall conform to the following:

a. Acquisition plats shall not be required to conform to the provisions of chapter 355.

b. The information shown on the plat shall be developed from instruments of record together with information developed by field measurements. The unadjusted error of field measurements shall not be greater than one in five thousand.

c. The plat shall be signed and dated by a surveyor, bear the surveyor’s Iowa registration number and legible seal, and shall show a north arrow and bar scale.

d. The original drawing shall remain the property of the surveyor or the surveyor’s agency and shall not be less than eight and one-half by eleven inches in size.

e. If the right-of-way on an acquisition plat is a portion of lots within an official plat, reference shall be made to both the lots and plat name. If the right-of-way acquisition plat is not within an official plat, reference shall be made to the government lot or quarter-quarter section and to the section, township, range, and county.

f. The plat shall indicate whether the monuments shown are existing monuments or monuments to be established. Monuments shall be established as necessary to construct or maintain the right-of-way project.

g. The acquisition plat shall identify the project for which the right-of-way was acquired and a parcel designation shall be assigned to each right-of-way parcel.

Four: The acreage shown for each parcel included in a plat of survey or acquisition plat shall be to the nearest one-hundredth acre. If a parcel described as part of the United States public land survey system and not entirely within an official plat, lies within more than one forty-acre aliquot part of a section, the acreage shall be shown only for assessment and taxation purposes for each portion of the parcel that lies within each forty-acre aliquot part. The surveyor shall not be required to use reasonable assumptions in determining its approximate location for assessment and taxation purposes.

Five: Governmental agencies shall not be required to survey a remaining parcel when land is divided for right-of-way purposes and shall not be required to contact the auditor for approval of parcel designations shown on an acquisition plat.