Air rights and subsurface rights are described under which type of land description?

• A. Horizontal Land Descriptions
• B. Surface Descriptions
• C. Vertical Land Descriptions
• D. Metes and Bounds

Answer: (C)

Air rights and subsurface rights are part of ownership in the vertical dimension, so they’re described using a vertical land description. This framework specifies how far ownership extends upward into the air and downward beneath the surface, which is exactly what these rights define—how high above and how deep below the surface the property rights reach.

Horizontal land descriptions or surface descriptions focus on the surface footprint on the earth, outlining the boundary lines on the ground, while metes and bounds is one method for describing surface boundaries using measurements and directions. None of those specifically address how high or deep the ownership extends, which is why they aren’t the appropriate framework for air and subsurface rights.