BILL REQ. #:  S-4360.1 

Read first time 01/17/08.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to identification of real property; amending RCW 64.04.010; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that the practices of Washington's county assessors have modernized so that real property is identified by tax parcel number. The legislature intends to clarify existing law that for purchase agreements of undivided tax parcels, the assessor's tax parcel number and county location may be used instead of a legal description.

Sec. 2   RCW 64.04.010 and 1929 c 33 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     Every conveyance of real estate, or any interest therein, and every contract creating or evidencing any encumbrance upon real estate, shall be by deed: PROVIDED, That:
     (1) When real estate, or any interest therein, is held in trust, the terms and conditions of which trust are of record, and the instrument creating such trust authorizes the issuance of certificates or written evidence of any interest in said real estate under said trust, and authorizes the transfer of such certificates or evidence of interest by assignment by the holder thereof by a simple writing or by endorsement on the back of such certificate or evidence of interest or delivery thereof to the vendee, such transfer shall be valid, and all such assignments or transfers hereby authorized and heretofore made in accordance with the provisions of this section are hereby declared to be legal and valid; and
     (2) An executory contract need not contain a complete legal description of the real estate, if the subject of the contract is one or more undivided tax parcels and the contract includes the name of the county and the assessor's tax parcel identification number or numbers.