On November 16, 2006, the Washington Court of Appeals, Division III, reviewed a dispute over a trust property and trust administration that raised the issue of the enforceability of a real estate purchase and sale agreement (REPSA) despite the absence of a legal description in either the offer or acceptance. The court affirmed that “in Washington an agreement to sell real estate must include an adequate description of the property as required by the statute of frauds.” Bartlett v. Betlach

When preparing a REPSA, estate agents and FSBO sellers often do not have access to a full legal description. Occasionally I am asked what kind of a description is minimally acceptable to satisfy the statute of frauds. Reliance on partial legal descriptions, available from many public sources and on the Internet, and street addresses will not do. The Washington State Supreme Court has “consistently [held] that, in order to comply with the statute of frauds, a contract or deed for the conveyance of land must contain a description of the land sufficiently definite to locate it without recourse to oral testimony, or else it must contain a reference to another instrument which does contain a sufficient description.” Bingham v. Sherfey

The Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) Form 21, Residential Purchase and Sale Agreement, provides for the input of a property street address, along with the city, county, state and tax parcel number. This agreement and form of description is sufficient, so long as the correct and complete tax parcel number is included. The tax parcel number is a adequate reference to another instrument (the recorded deed) which does contain a sufficient description to satisfy the Bingham requirement.

When preparing a REPSA for a commercial or investment sale I prefer to use a full legal description. Prior to use I personally and independently verify its accuracy as true and correct. I believe that this practice is preferable to reliance on a street address and tax parcel number. When representing residential buyers or sellers using a Form 21 I will use the street address along with the tax parcel number but prefer adding that actual legal description, attaching it as an addendum to the agreement, when it is available.

A lease or other encumbrance affecting title to real property requires a full legal description to be legally enforceable. In these cases reliance on a address and tax parcel number will not satisfy the statute of frauds for legal sufficiency.