Addressing a Title Committment-Schedule B

ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey I presume. I usually respond that if the title report says it is an easement I will review it. Something like this... "Deed of Trusts, Financing Statements, Covenants Conditions & Restrictions, City Planning Codes, Liens, are not survey matters and are not reviewed by the Surveyor."

Then if they get really pushy call them on the phone and tell them (1) that your fee is $500 per hour to read the document and reference it on the survey. (2) You will not mention said document on the survey without reviewing it all. (3) And you are a SLOW reader. (When they ask why so much $, the answer is that they should have their attorney doing it not you.)

I haven't had someone push me beyond that. However it is usually the lender, or their council, that is trying to get me to review it, not the Title Co.

Why would you not address the survey related matters in that deed?

That involves showing on the drawing where the encumberance is located and stating the Name and recording information.

When a document contains no property description and there is nothing on the surface to locate on the ground, do not show or refer to that document.

A surveyor can only work within their areas of expertise and guesswork is not a part of our product.

The Title Policy Schedule B will mention all this, simply show what you can prove and let them pound sand on the unknowns.

The only thing I say about restrictions & covenants is if the property is affected by them.

Terms, provisions, covenants, conditions, restrictions, easements, charges, assessments and liens provided in the Covenants , Conditions and Restrictions?ÿcan be plotted on the survey if they are defined as to their location on the property. For instance if the property were to include several lots and only one lot has assessments levied on it, that would be important to make note of. Same for covenants associated with a specific deed restriction that encumbers only a portion of the total property.?ÿ

I make a note regarding every paragraph on Schedule B. I have learned that the title company and those attorneys and lenders reviewing the report rely on me to tell them if and where the document affects the property. It may not be able to be plotted though, which I note. If its inclusion is in error because it may have terminated or is just not applicable by virtue of the description, I also make a note and usually the title company will remove it on its next update.?ÿ ?ÿI also make note if the document is illegible and its location cannot be determined.?ÿ

Someday you will be tasked with a property that is bisected by various water and sewer districts, municipal boundaries, zoning lines, multiple plats and the like and you will see what I mean. If it was easy, the lawyers would do it.?ÿ

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I agree with Daniel in making notes regarding every paragraph on Schedule B.?ÿ Although a lot of the information in the documents is left up to other professionals to figure out what it means to the property owner, we can evaluate from a surveying standpoint if it affects the property.?ÿ Any plottable entities should be shown, as mentioned they might not affect the entire property. ?ÿ

Each item should be addressed, marking those that are not our area of expertise as "Not a surveying matter" or something of the sort.?ÿ This lets the survey reviewer know that we have not skipped over any items, thereby limiting the back and forth of them asking us if we considered all items. ?ÿ

As the title company has already gone through the work to pull the documents, I always request that they accompany the title commitment.?ÿ I will now waste my resources, time, or money to obtain the public records. ?ÿ

To further the discussion, what is your manner of dealing with the wide open statement of "Easements or claims of easements not recorded in the Public Records."?ÿ I favor the statement of "No easements or claims of easements not recorded in the Public Records are known by or have been brought to the attention of this land surveyor."

It seems that whenever an ALTA survey is requested, a primary aspect of the deal is that the attorneys involved, the title company, and the lender all try to con the surveyor into taking on as much liability as he or she is ignorant enough to take.?ÿ And for the surveyor experienced in these projects, his or her part of the game is to know his or her professional and insurable limitations, throwing back inappropriate liabilities to whoever they belong with and ensuring that those within the scope of insurable professional survey practice are also accounted for in the negotiated scope of services and in the negotiated fee.

There are survey-related portions in many of the title items mentioned in the OP.?ÿ Many of those documents are likely to have some provisions that can be addressed by the surveyor and many provisions that are outside of the scope of professional survey practice.?ÿ Address the provisions that you are licensed and competent to address.?ÿ Remain silent on those outside of your licensed authority and competence.

It's been a while since I've done an ALTA, but what I did with regard to Schedule B (Exceptions to Coverage) was to list them on the map and note whether or not the effect was something which could be plotted on the map.?ÿ If the Schedule B item was a non-survey matter, then I would include no comments or other info as to its effect.

Generally, the surveyor's purview is location.?ÿ Most anything else in title documents affects the condition or quality of title.?ÿ Those are questions for attorneys to answer and title officers to decide whether or not to include in the title insurance coverage.

I have run up on numerous CCR's that contain items directly related to Surveying. There are other provisions very similar to the ordinances we walk our clients through on a daily basis. It comes down to 2 things.

Do I have the expertise? Does it conflict with State Code regarding the practice of law?

Anything I deem improper for me to address will be noted accordingly. That means I say clearly what is and is not dealt with. If another expert weighs in I may include his product and identify it as to who did it. It's not that hard...