Translate
Land use recorded documents
Information about recorded land use documents at the King County Archives.
Plats
What is a plat?
A plat is a map of a developer's proposal, subject to King County approval, for subdividing a large piece of property into parcels, blocks, lots, streets, etc. A plat may or may not actually be built as mapped, proposed, and approved. If the property was never part of a developer's plat, the parcel's legal description will identify it in relation to its section-township-range coordinates.
A map or chart of a lot, subdivision or community drawn by a surveyor and showing boundary lines, improvements on the land, and sometimes easements and buildings. A "condominium plat" refers to a different kind of document: the survey plan and map of a specific condominium.
What are unrecorded plats?
Some plats were never recorded, and the King County Department of Assessments maintains these records. Please contact King County Archives for assistance in identifying and accessing unrecorded plat maps.
How do I find plats?
The legal description on a deed or on the King County Assessor's Office Parcel Viewer record for a property will include:
- The name of the plat; and
- The volume and page number where the plat was originally recorded.
All King County recorded plat are digitized and available on the King County Recorder's Office online platform Landmark. To search for and view a plat on Landmark:
- Choose the Book and Page icon.
- In the Book Type dropdown, select the Plat option.
- If the plat is for a Condominium or Planned Unit Development, select that option in the Book Type dropdown instead of Plat.
- Enter book (volume) and page number. The deed usually references the plat book and page numbers.
- Then click Submit.
Clicking on a specific record in the search results list will open a watermarked version that you download and print. You may also purchase an unwatermarked copy on Landmark.
Additional plat resources
To see a current map outline of a property with its boundaries marked and dimensions noted, search the King County Assessor's Office eMap site.
- Enter the parcel number and click Submit.
This map is also linked from the "Property Detail" page of the Parcel Viewer record for a given property.
If you need to accurately measure these dimensions against the actual property, or to determine where the property line is on the ground, it is usually necessary to hire a licensed surveyor.
Short plats
What is a short plat?
Short plats are a simplified way of subdividing property. The main condition placed on short plats is that no more than four new properties can be made out of any one parcel. Short plats were not officially recorded until 1972, when King County adopted its first short subdivision code. Washington State did not require the recording of short plats until 1974 with the adoption of RCW 58.17. However, tax assessment records may show evidence of short-platting for years prior to 1972. More information about plat records is available on the Historical Building, Property, and Land Use research guide.
Short plats prior to 1961
Information relating to the division of a property into 2-4 parcels between 1937 and 1972 can sometimes be found on the King County Assessor's property record cards, held at Puget Sound Regional Archives and accessed by tax parcel number.
Short plats, 1961-1982
King County Permitting Division hold microfilmed short plat records from 1961 to 1982 for properties within unincorporated King County. Contact the Permitting Division directly for access.
Original short plats from incorporated areas may be held by the corresponding municipalities.
Short plats after 1972
Beginning in September 1972, short plats were recorded with the King County Recorder's Office, and they are filed and indexed by the recording number. They were also given a short plat number.
How do I find short plats?
Short plats recorded from 1976 to the present are indexed on the King County Recorder's Office online portal Landmark.
- Choose the Document icon.
- In the Document Type field, click the Select button.
- Checkmark Short Plat and Short Plat - Map, then click the Select button.
- You can refine your search by date, but that may limit the search results too much.
- Then click Submit.
You can organize the search results list by clicking on the column headings. That will sort them by the specific heading.
You can click on the specific record in the search results. If the short plat was recorded after July 31, 1991, you will see a watermarked version of it that you download and print. If you want to purchase an unwatermarked copy, you may do so on Landmark.
If the short plat was recorded before August 1, 1991, it isn't digitized so you can't view it on Landmark, but you can order a copy from the Archives. Make a note of the Instrument (Recording) number, then fill out our Recorded Property Documents online form and include that number.
The easiest method for searching for a short plat is by entering the recording number. The abbreviated legal description found on the King County Assessor's Office Parcel Viewer record often contains the short plat number and / or the recording number. The quarter-section map on the eMap site often provides the short plat or recording number as well.
Additional short plat resources
Maps and drawings of county engineering projects associated with plat developments in unincorporated or formerly-unincorporated King County can frequently be found on the King County Roads Service Map Vault site. Engineering projects for a specific short plat may often be found by entering one of the following into the PROJECT / MAP NAME field.
- Short Plat No [number]
- Short Plat No S[number]
- [Last name of owner, developer, or name of development] Short Plat
Surveys
What is a survey?
A survey is a graphical representation (map or diagram) of an accurate measurement taken of horizontal distances, elevations, directions and angles on the earth's surface, used to locate real property boundaries, describe construction layout, determine the platting and layout of subdivisions of lands, establish the dimensions and positions of structures on a lot, establish the siting and boundaries of a condominium, etc.
How do I find surveys prior to 1973?
There is no repository of private surveys prior to 1973, but King County Archives holds a few private surveys from the early 20th century.
A historical right-of-way document or survey may exist for a property that was impacted by a county road or other county project. For this kind of survey, check the King County Road Services Map Vault or contact the Road Services Division Map and Records Center.
How do I find surveys after 1973?
The King County Recorder’s Office began recording private property surveys in 1973. All recorded surveys from 1973 to the present are available on the online portal Landmark.
How do I search for surveys?
There are different ways to search for a survey. The simplest is via the King County Assessor's Office Parcel Viewer site.
- Search for a parcel by entering an address, parcel number, or street intersection.
- Once the parcel information is displayed, showing owner information and property data, click Property Report at the bottom of the parcel summary window.
- When the property report opens in a new window, note the legal description of the property and return to the Parcel Viewer search window.
- In Parcel Viewer, click Districts Report at the bottom of the parcel summary window.
- When the districts report opens in a new window, scroll to the bottom and click Scanned images of surveys and other map documents. It will return a list of results from the Recorder's Office. The results are not just for the property in Parcel Viewer, but rather for all properties in that quarter-section.
- Check the list against the legal description from the property report to see if a survey was ever recorded for the property. There may be several pages of results.
You can also search for a recorded survey on Landmark.
- Choose the Document icon.
- Next to the Document Type field, click the Selectbutton.
- Checkmark Survey, then click Select.
- You can refine your search by date, but that may limit the search results too much.
- Then click Submit.
- You can organize the search results list by clicking on the column headings. That will sort them by the specific heading.
You can click on the specific record in the search results. If the survey was recorded after July 31, 1991, you will see a watermarked version of it that you download and print. If you want to purchase an unwatermarked copy, you may do so on Landmark.
If the survey was recorded before August 1, 1991, it isn't digitized so you can't view it on Landmark, but you can order a copy from the Archives. Make a note of the Instrument (Recording) number, then fill out our Recorded Property Documents online form and include that number.
Additional survey resources
The outline dimensions of a property can be determined through quarter-section maps available on the Assessor's Office eMap Search.
- Enter the parcel number, then click Submit.
This map is also linked to the Property Detail report for the property that's available on Parcel Viewer.
If you need to accurately measure these dimensions against the actual property, or to determine where the property line is on the ground, it is usually necessary to hire a licensed surveyor.
Public Land Survey System
The Public Land Survey System was established by the U.S. Continental Congress in 1785, under the Articles of Confederation. It covers the entire United States except for the original 13 states, and is still used today to specify locations in legal descriptions.
How does the system work?
- Land is surveyed and divided into areas called townships. Townships are for the most part 36 square miles, or 6 miles square.
- Each township is broken down into 36 sections; each section is usually 640 acres.
- Sections in each township are numbered consecutively beginning with number 1 in the northeast corner of the township, and counting right to left then left to right and so on weaving back and forth through the sections of the township, and ending with number 36 in the southeast corner. This numbering allows each section to remain connected to the sections that precede and follow it.
- Property descriptions may further specify half-, quarter-, or smaller sections.
In Oregon and Washington, townships and ranges are referenced to the north-south Willamette Meridian (the vertical line where the survey began) and the east-west Willamette Base Line (the horizontal line where the survey began).
The two lines cross on the Willamette Stone west of Portland, Oregon. Townships (normally 6 miles by 6 miles) are numbered starting with Township 1 North (of the base line) to the Canadian border and Township 1 South to the California border. Ranges are numbered west from the Willamette Meridian to the Pacific Ocean and east to the Idaho border.