I thought I would do a quick tutorial on how to get a legal description on a property. It’s pretty easy and best of all it doesn’t cost anything. This tutorial is geared towards people living in Edmonton, but your municipality may have a searchable database for property taxes that should serve the same purpose.
You can always contact a registry agent if you want information on a property or a real estate agent may be able to help you out as well. Here is a list of registry agents in Alberta if you need assistance. If you need information on Edmonton properties, please contact me here and I can help you out.
If you want to do your own checking, this is how you do it.
• First, you need the address of the property. Let’s take City Hall in Edmonton for an example at 1 Sir Winston Churchill Square NW.
• Navigate to: http://maps.edmonton.ca/
• Step 1 – Click on “Address Lookup”
• Step 2 – Enter the address in the fields on the left hand side of the site. The house number and the street name are usually sufficient, but don’t forget the unit number if the property is a suite or apartment. Click “Find Address” and the map should display the property
• Step 3 – Get the legal description of the property
Now you can see at the bottom centre: the lot, block and plan number of the property. In this case it’s Plan: ‘4390NY’ and Block ‘C’ (no lot number in this case because the building occupies the entire lot). If all you need is the legal description, then you’re done. If you wanted to know the title number or LINC number, you have another website to visit. (Click here for my next tutorial How To Find a Property’s LINC Number of Title Number) to learn how to find the LINC number or land title number using the legal description)
See? Edmonton real estate searches are that easy!
Please comment below if you’ve found this tutorial helpful or you have any suggestions or questions.
Fantastic tutorial and very easy to understand!
Great tutorial, I got exactly what I needed in a short period of time. No tears, no lengthy stays on hold with the city. You are a genius. Thanks.
Thanks, Jodi! I’m glad I could help :)
Yep…real good job explaining everything. And the comments about not having to wait on hold with the City also very valid.
Now…as a suggestion…might be prudent to update the graphics as the website has changed quite a bit. Fundamentally it is still pretty easy to figure out…but some people get confused easily.
Like I said however, great job!
Thanks Dyrek. I haven’t looked at those screenshots in a while. You’re right, the City of Edmonton site has changed quite a bit! I’ll have to update that tutorial.
I have a question, actually, it’s more then one. Can anyone search anyone? For example: Could I search my neighbours land title? Or can just anyone look up my land title?
Hi Carmen,
Yes. It is public knowledge who owns a property. So you can search your neighbour’s and your neighbour can search yours. You have to pay $10 for each search, so it’s not likely anyone will check a bunch of land titles, but it is allowed.