I was recently hired to perform a boundary and topo survey on a 5 acre vacant tract. After we finished, I was asked by the lawyer if I would add a certification to make the survey an ALTA. I was sent a certification that, I'm not joking, was over a page long. This morning I responded that I would not be signing that certification, but only the standard. At 12:05 I received an email that stated the lawyer had sent my concerns to the bank. At 12:23 I received another email from the lawyer saying that the bank had agreed to allow the standard. It would appear to me that the bank did not decide to allow the standard certification within those 18 minutes, but rather, they were trying to hoodoo me, and if I refused, they would allow the standard.
Bet they wanted you to certify everything below the ground and all airspace too! Seen it before. Stick to the standard. If they want something more than that charge $1000 per word. That should slow them down a bit. :woot:
There are three excuses to kill off those additional certifications.
1. ALTA and NSPS jointly came up with the standards and at least 1 person on the committee agrees with me in that these additional certifications exists to transfer liability to the surveyor.
2. That certification runs the risk of invalidating my E&O insurance.
3. If you continue to insist that I sign the certification, I will have to retain an attorney to review it, with the cost to be added to the survey.
Those three excuses should kill off every request for an additional certification, especially if the survey is already under contract.
Congrats Tommy! And thank you - we need to all do this every time..
> I was recently hired to perform a boundary and topo survey on a 5 acre vacant tract. After we finished, I was asked by the lawyer if I would add a certification to make the survey an ALTA.
Were you supplied the title information and ALTA forms prior to beginning the survey? If not how would you know which items from the checklist to need to be included? An after the fact request like that would have me asking a few other questions as well!
Yeah, I forgot to mention that a title commitment was attached to the email and the certification had the Table A items that were required listed.
Those are reasons, not excuses. While the attorney may have been trying to hoodoo you, I believe the certification is more likely the result of his inexperience and his desire to add what he believes to be value to the deal.
"I was recently hired to perform a boundary and topo survey on a 5 acre vacant tract. After we finished, I was asked by the lawyer if I would add a certification to make the survey an ALTA".
Tommy,
If you were not originally contracted to provide and ALTA I hope you increased your fees to cover the additional liability incurred by an ALTA.
No, actually I lowered it by half.
Reading A Title Package After The Survey Is By The Hour
And I am a very slow meticulous reader.
Paul in PA
Right on
Eh?
Guess I missed something...
Eh?
> Guess I missed something...
If you were not originally contracted to provide and ALTA I hope you increased your fees to cover the additional liability incurred by an ALTA.
Condescending question
No, actually I lowered it by half.
Sarcastic answer