Lot (real estate)

In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner(s). A lot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property (meaning practically the same thing) in other countries. Possible owner(s) of a lot can be one or more person(s) or another legal entity, such as a company/corporation, organization, government, or trust. A common form of ownership of a lot is called fee simple in some countries.

A lot may also be defined as a small area of land that is empty except for pavement or similar improvement. An example would be a parking lot. This article covers lots as parcels of land meant to be owned as units by an owner(s).

Like most other types of real estate, lots owned by private parties are subject to a periodic real estate tax payable by the owners to local governments such as a county or municipality. These real estate taxes are based on the assessed value of the real property; additional taxes usually apply to transfer of ownership and property sales. Other fees by government are possible for improvements such as curbs and sidewalks or an impact fee for building a house on a vacant lot.

A lot has defined boundaries (or borders) which are documented somewhere, but the boundaries need not be shown on the land itself. Most lots are small enough to be mapped as if they are flat, in spite of the curvature of the earth. A characteristic of the size of a lot is its area. The area is typically determined as if the land is flat and level, although the terrain of the lot may not be flat, i. e, the lot may be hilly. The contour surface area of the land is changeable and may be too complicated for determining a lot's area.

Lots can come in various sizes and shapes. To be considered a single lot, the land described as the "lot" must be contiguous. Two separate parcels are considered two lots, not one. Often a lot is sized for a single house or other building. Many lots are rectangular in shape, although other shapes are possible as long as the boundaries are well-defined. Methods of determining or documenting the boundaries of lots include metes and bounds, quadrant method, and use of a plat diagram. Use of the metes and bounds method may be compared to drawing a polygon. Metes are points which are like the vertices (corners) of a polygon. Bounds are line segments between two adjacent metes. Bounds are usually straight lines, but can be curved as long as they are clearly defined.

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