A land title survey prepared to the ALTA/NSPS national standards, showing boundaries, improvements, easements, and encroachments in a form title insurers rely on.
The longer version
An ALTA survey is a boundary and improvement survey prepared to a national standard set jointly by the American Land Title Association and the National Society of Professional Surveyors. Its purpose is narrow and practical: to give the title insurer and the lender enough certainty about the ground to insure over survey matters.
The standard has a fixed core and a menu. The core requires the boundary, the improvements, visible evidence of use, recorded easements plotted where they can be located, and access to a public road. The menu is Table A, a list of optional items the client selects, such as flood zone classification, zoning setbacks, parking counts, building height, and utility locations. Which Table A items the lender requires is a negotiation, and it drives both the cost and the turnaround.
The survey earns its cost in the title policy. With a current ALTA survey certified to the lender and the title company, the insurer will typically remove the general survey exception and can issue survey-related endorsements. Without one, the policy keeps an exception for anything a survey would have shown.
Surveys are one of the longest lead items in a closing, so they belong at the front of the diligence list. The review step that matters is reading the plotted easements and encroachments against Schedule B-II of the title commitment, because that is where a building over an easement or a fence across a line turns into a title issue.
Common questions
- What is an ALTA survey?
- A survey prepared to the national standard set by the American Land Title Association and the National Society of Professional Surveyors. It locates boundaries, improvements, easements and access so a title insurer can remove the survey exception and a lender knows what the collateral is.
- Why do lenders require an ALTA survey?
- Because the title policy only covers what it does not except. A current ALTA survey certified to the lender lets the insurer delete the general survey exception and issue survey endorsements, which closes the gap between what is recorded and what is on the ground.
- What is Table A on an ALTA survey?
- The menu of optional items added to the standard requirements, such as flood zone, zoning setbacks, parking, building height and utilities. The lender's survey requirements specify which Table A items it needs, and each one adds time and cost.
- How long does an ALTA survey take?
- Usually several weeks, depending on the site, the surveyor's backlog and the Table A items requested. It is one of the longest lead items in a closing, so it should be ordered at the start of diligence rather than once the loan documents are drafted.
- The CRE due diligence checklistEvery phase of diligence, organized the way deals close.
- The commercial loan closing timelineThe stages and what sets the pace.
- Setting up a data room for a loan closingThe folder skeleton and the first hour.
- Due diligence softwareThe request list, the owners and the dates in one place.