H. B. 4166
(By Delegates Palumbo, Staton, Kominar,
Amores, Craig and Webster)
[Introduced January 29, 2004; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §36-3-5a of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to excepting the description
requirements in deeds for easements and rights-of-way for
mineral leases.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §36-3-5a of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. FORM AND EFFECT OF DEEDS AND CONTRACTS.
§36-3-5a. Easement and right-of-way; description of property;
exception for certain public utility facilities and
mineral leases.
(a) Any deed or instrument that initially grants or reserves
an easement or right-of-way shall describe the easement or
right-of-way by metes and bounds, or by specification of the
centerline of the easement or right-of-way, or by station and offset, or by reference to an attached drawing or plat which may
not require a survey, or instrument based on the use of the global
positioning system which may not require a survey, or by source of
title and reference to the most recent deed sufficient to
reasonably identify and locate the easement or right-of-way on the
property: Provided, That the easement or right-of-way is not
invalid because of the failure of the easement or right-of-way to
meet the requirements of this subsection.
(b) This section does not apply to the construction of a
service extension from a main distribution system of a public
utility when such service extension is located entirely on, below,
or above the property to which the utility service is to be
provided; nor does it apply to easements or rights-of-way granted
in oil and gas or other mineral leases.
(c) The clerk of the county commission of any county in which
an easement or right-of-way is recorded pursuant to this section
shall only accept for recordation any document that complies with
this section and that otherwise complies with the requirements of
article one, chapter thirty-nine of this code, without need for a
survey or certification under section twelve, article thirteen-a,
chapter thirty of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the description
requirements in deeds for easements and rights-of-way for mineral
leases.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.