Chapter 2. Legal Description Of Lands For Assessment Purposes of California Revenue And Taxation Code >> Division 1. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 2.

Land shall be legally described for tax purposes pursuant to this chapter.

If surveyed under the authority of the United States, land may be described by township, range, section, and fractional section, with its acreage.

If held under Spanish grant, land may be described by the exterior boundaries of the grants, or by the name of the grants, and the divisions, subdivisions, and acreage claimed.

City lots may be described by naming the city and giving the number of the lot and block, according to the system of numbering in the city.

When a map has been adopted as an official map under Division 3 (commencing with Section 66499.50) of Title 7 of the Government Code, land may be described by numbers or letters as shown on the official map.

Whenever a map, other than an official map, has been furnished by the owner, claimant, or user of land, and it contains sufficient information clearly to identify the land, and it is properly identified by and filed with the assessor or the board, the land may be described by reference to this map.

Where any county or county officer possesses a complete, accurate map of any land in the county, or whenever such a complete, accurate map has been made in compliance with Sections 27556 to 27560, inclusive, of the Government Code, the assessor may number or letter the parcels in a manner approved by the board of supervisors. The assessor may renumber or reletter the parcels or prepare new map pages for any portion of such map to show combinations or divisions of parcels in a manner approved by the board of supervisors, so long as an inspection of such map will readiliy disclose precisely what land is covered by any particular parcel number or letter in the current or any prior fiscal year. This map or copy shall at all times be publicly displayed in the office of the assessor. Land may be described by a reference to this map except that land shall not be described in any deed or conveyance by a reference to any such map unless such map has been filed for record in the office of the county recorder of the county in which such land is located. All such maps in the possession of county assessors on August 27, 1937, and used for assessment purposes only, are deemed to have been numbered or lettered and approved properly.

The board of supervisors of any county may enact, by a majority vote of its membership, an ordinance, resolution, or board order that requires any party that records a digital subdivision map with the county recorder to also file a duplicate digital copy of that map with the county assessor.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the assessor shall not assign any parcel numbers or prepare a separate assessment or separate valuation to divide any existing residential structure into a subdivision, as defined in Section 66424 of the Government Code, until a subdivision final map or parcel map, as described in Sections 66434 and 66445, respectively, of the Government Code has been recorded as required by law. If the requirement for a parcel map is waived pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 66428 of the Government Code, then the assessor shall not assign any parcel numbers or prepare a separate assessment or separate valuation, unless the applicant provides a copy of the finding made by the legislative body or advisory agency, as required by that subdivision.

Land may be described by metes and bounds, or other description sufficient to identify it, giving the locality and an estimate of the number of acres.