Record Lots

In most case scenarios, a piece of property must be a Record Lot before a building permit will be issued for that site in the District of Columbia, and all proposed Record Lots are carefully reviewed by Zoning Administration officials for compliance with the city’s Zoning Ordinances. Other agencies that review new record lots besides OS are Office of Zoning, Office of Planning, the Dept. of Public Works, Historic Preservation, and DDOT. Record lots are defined only when requested by property owners, normally when they are seeking a building permit. Record lots are recorded in Plat Books and Subdivision Books in the Office of the Surveyor. These documents are bound volumes of historical representations of the locations of property lines, and they include record dimensions, though typically no bearings of lines. These lots are located within squares, which usually correspond to one or two city blocks. Certain record lots can also be classified as “of-lots”. An "Of-Lot" is the D.C. Surveyor’s Office term for describing “Remaining/Part of Original Lot X” In the record lots (ply) layer, if a domain value of 1 exist in the “OF_LOT” field, the original lot was modified and should have a corresponding Subdivision. All “of-lots” will also have a tax lot overlaying them since it is a piece or remainder of an original Record Lot.