The seller hands you a title commitment. It looks clean. Twenty exceptions listed in Schedule B, all of them written in flat legal language, none of them showing you where anything sits on the ground. An ALTA title survey is how a buyer turns that stack of paper into a picture. It puts every recorded exception onto a drawing of the actual parcel.

That is the whole reason buyers ask for one. The title work says what is recorded. The survey says where it lands.

The Title Commitment Only Tells Half the Story

A title commitment lists easements, restrictions and rights that touch the property. It does not say the utility easement runs straight through your building pad. It does not say the access easement is the only way in.

Buyers get burned by that gap all the time. They read an exception, decide it sounds routine and move on. Then design starts, and the routine easement is sitting under the loading dock.

There is a second gap too. Title work only shows what is in the public record. It cannot show a fence in the wrong place, a driveway that spills over the line or a neighbor’s structure sitting on your dirt. Those things exist on the ground, so only a field survey finds them.

Why Buyers Drive the Request Instead of Sellers

Sellers have no reason to want this. A survey can only reveal problems that lower their price. So the request almost always comes from the buy side, and that shapes how the whole thing works.

The certification names who can rely on it

An ALTA survey carries a certification block. That block lists the specific parties who can rely on the drawing. Buyer, lender, title company, sometimes a partner or a tenant.

If your name is not in that block, the survey is a nice picture and nothing more. You have no claim against the surveyor if it’s wrong. Buyers request their own survey, or at minimum get added to the certification, because reliance is the entire value.

Table A items are the buyer’s choice

The ALTA/NSPS standards include a menu of optional items called Table A. The base survey is fixed, but Table A is where you decide what else gets picked up.

Zoning setbacks. Building height. Parking counts. Utility locations from field markings. Flood zone classification. Each one costs a bit more and each one answers a question you would otherwise guess at.

Buyers pick Table A items based on what they plan to build. A developer doing a ground-up project wants setbacks and utilities. A buyer of an existing building often wants parking counts and encroachment detail. Ordering a bare survey with no Table A items is a common mistake and it wastes most of the trip.

An Old Survey Is Not the Same Thing

Sellers love to offer the survey from the last closing. Take it, read it and then order your own anyway.

Two problems. The certification names people from the old deal, not you. And the site has changed since then, because sites always change.

That said, an old survey is genuinely useful as background. Hand it to your surveyor. It speeds up the research and it can flag things worth a closer look.

How the Survey Changes the Negotiation

Findings move money. A discovered encroachment gives you a reason to ask for a price cut, an escrow holdback or a fix before closing. A buildable area smaller than advertised changes what the deal is even worth.

The title company reads the survey too. Clean survey findings let them delete or narrow certain Schedule B exceptions and issue survey coverage in the policy. That coverage is real protection and you don’t get it without the survey.

Then there’s walking away. Not every finding is fixable, and a survey that kills a bad deal during diligence has saved you far more than it cost.

When to Order It

Order it early in your diligence window, not late. The survey needs the title commitment first, because the surveyor plots those recorded exceptions onto the drawing.

Sequence looks like this. Get the title commitment and all the underlying documents. Send them to the surveyor with your Table A list and your certification language. Field work follows, then the draft, then your review.

Build in review time. Draft surveys have errors, and the certification block gets names wrong more often than you would expect. Check it before closing, because after closing nobody hurries to fix your paperwork.

Rush jobs cost more and miss things. A survey squeezed into the last week of diligence is a survey nobody actually reads.

What Skipping It Costs

Some buyers skip the survey on small deals to save a few thousand dollars. Sometimes that works out. Sometimes it costs six figures.

The failure mode is always the same. A problem exists on the ground, nobody looks, and the buyer inherits it at closing. Then the fix comes out of your budget instead of the seller’s price.

Cash buyers are the most exposed group here, because no lender is forcing the issue. If you’re buying without financing, nobody else is protecting you. That is exactly when you should order the survey yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who pays for an ALTA title survey?

The buyer usually pays, since the buyer is the party who needs it. Some purchase agreements split the cost or make the seller pay if the deal falls through for survey reasons. On competitive deals, sellers occasionally cover it to keep the process moving. Negotiate it in the contract rather than assuming.

Can I use the seller’s existing ALTA survey?

Only if the surveyor adds you to the certification and updates the field work. The old certification names parties from a previous transaction, and you cannot rely on a document that does not name you. An update is often cheaper than a new survey, so ask about that option. Give your surveyor the old drawing either way, because it helps.

How long does an ALTA title survey take?

Three to six weeks is common, and the clock starts when the surveyor gets the title commitment and the underlying documents. Property size, record complexity and field access all affect the timeline. Rush work is possible but it costs more and raises the odds of an error. Order early enough that a delay does not break your diligence deadline.

What are Table A items and do I need them?

Table A is the optional menu in the ALTA/NSPS standards, and each item adds specific information to the survey. Common picks include zoning setbacks, utility locations, parking counts and flood zone classification. You choose them based on what you plan to do with the property. Skipping Table A entirely leaves you with a thin drawing that answers few of your real questions.

Does an ALTA survey guarantee there are no title problems?

No. The survey shows how recorded matters and physical conditions relate to the parcel, but it does not clear title or insure anything. Title insurance is what covers you financially, and the survey is what lets the title company narrow its exceptions. The two work together, so use both.

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Posted in land surveying, land surveyor | Tagged ALTA Survey