Plat
A plat is a drawing of land that Virginia's planning statutes define as the schematic representation of land divided or to be divided. In a land sale the word covers both an approved subdivision plat recorded with the clerk and a surveyor's boundary survey plat.
Land divided or to be divided, and the surveyor's plat of lines already there
Virginia's planning statutes give the word a definition short enough to memorize. Every version of Va. Code 15.2-2201 served on September 13, 2026, including the versions that take effect in 2027 and 2031, reads the same way:
"Plat" or "plat of subdivision" means the schematic representation of land divided or to be divided
Va. Code 15.2-2201
The words "to be divided" matter: the definition reaches a drawing made before the division happens, not only a picture of lots that already exist. But the same word also names a second drawing, one that records lines rather than laying out lots. When a surveyor retraces the lines of a tract that already exists, the result is a boundary survey plat, and a land file may hold either kind.
Which of the two is in a particular file, and what each can and cannot do for a sale, is the subject of what a plat is and what yours can tell a buyer.
Preliminary, then final, and the clerk records only an approved plat
A subdivision plat also goes by the stage of review it has reached.
Carroll County's posted ordinance has the subdivider apply for approval of a preliminary plat whenever a subdivision is proposed, and it says preliminary approval does not guarantee approval of the final plat. Under Va. Code 15.2-2254, no plat of a subdivision may be recorded until the locality's designated agent has approved it, and no clerk may file or record one that has not been approved.
The county's Land Use and Planning office also says any division of a lot or parcel of land is considered a subdivision, which is how the local subdivision ordinance reaches even a single split. The approval steps themselves are laid out in how to subdivide land in Virginia.
A drawing that points back to the deeds behind it
Either kind of plat carries references that lead out of the drawing and into the deed books.
The subdivision plat's certificate, required by Va. Code 15.2-2262, sets out the owner's source of title and the place of record of the last instrument in the chain of title. A boundary survey plat must show the owner of record with recording references and the adjoining owners of record with theirs. Once recorded, a plat itself may sit in a separate plat book, which Va. Code 17.1-236 leaves to the clerk's discretion.
Followed in order, those references lead from the drawing back to the owner's deed and out to the neighbors' deeds, and the Land 101 guide to plats and GPINs follows them further, alongside the parcel number and the county map.
Have a recorded plat for land you own, and a sale in mind?
Send the plat book and page, or a photo of the plat itself, and Lowell will look at what the drawing shows a buyer and what it leaves open. No cost, no obligation.
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Questions about this term
Can a plat show lots that do not exist yet?
Yes. Virginia's planning statutes define a plat as the schematic representation of land divided or to be divided, so a subdivision plat lays out lots before any of them is conveyed. Under Va. Code 15.2-2254, land of a subdivision may not be sold or transferred before its plat is approved and recorded, unless the subdivision was lawfully created before the ordinance, though the statute does not prevent recording the instrument of transfer or passing title between the parties.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Va. Code 15.2-2201: definitions, including plat or plat of subdivision Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 15.2-2262: who prepares a subdivision plat and the certificate of title Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 15.2-2254: approval and recordation of subdivision plats Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 17.1-236: the plat book Code of Virginia
- 18VAC10-20-370: minimum standards and procedures for land boundary surveying practice Virginia Administrative Code
- Land Use and Planning Carroll County, Virginia
- Subdivision Ordinance, April 14, 2014 (preliminary and final plats) Carroll County, Virginia