§ 57-02-39 — Irregularities of land to be platted into lots if required

If any tract or lot of land is divided into irregular shapes which can be described only by
metes and bounds, or if any addition or subdivision which already has been platted into blocks
and lots and subsequently sold into parts of blocks or lots which can be described only by metes
and bounds, or if the courses, distances, and sizes of each lot or fractional lot are not given or
marked upon the plat so that the precise location of each lot and fractional lot can be
ascertained accurately, surveyed, or laid out, the owner of such tract or tracts, upon the request
of the county auditor, shall have such land platted or replatted, as the case may be, into lots or
blocks according to deeds on record. If such plat cannot be made without an actual survey of
the land, the same must be surveyed and platted and the plat thereof recorded. If the owners of
any such tract refuse or neglect to cause such plat and survey, when necessary, to be made
and recorded within thirty days after such request, the county surveyor, or some other
competent surveyor, upon the request of the county auditor, shall make out such plat from the
records of the recorder if practicable, but if it cannot be made from such records, then the
surveyor shall make the necessary survey and plat thereof, and the county auditor shall have
the same recorded, but no such plat may be recorded until approved by the city engineer of the
city affected thereby, and if there is no city engineer, then by the county surveyor. A certificate of
the approval of such plat must be made by the officer making the same endorsed on the plat or
map. Such certificate also must be recorded and forms a part of the record. When such plat has
been duly certified and recorded, any description of the property in accordance with the number
and description set forth in such plat must be deemed a good and valid description of the lots or
parcels of land so described. No such plat or description may bear the name or number which
already has been applied to any plat or description previously made and recorded as a part of
any such city. When the owner of such land fails to comply with the provisions of this section,
the cost of surveying, platting, and recording must be paid by the county, upon allowance by the
board of county commissioners, and the amount thereof must be added to the taxes upon such
tracts or lots the ensuing year. Such taxes, when collected, must be credited to the county
general fund. The surveyor making such survey or plat is entitled to receive for services in
making the same the compensation allowed by law for doing other county surveying or platting,
and such fees become a legal charge upon such tracts of land.