ALTA request

Sigh.....Attorneys have got to eat, too, I guess.?ÿ Most of that is just a rewording of the ALTA standards, as you say. But knowing that I am going to be dealing with an attorney who feels the need to reword the ALTA standards would be enough to give me pause.?ÿ?ÿ

I think attorney's item 8 is part of the ALTA standard. Item 7 could be made doable by appending the phrase "observed or marked by one-call" to "All utilities".?ÿ Still, you know that you are dealing with an attorney with a very high opinion of him/herself.?ÿ ?ÿ?ÿ

Provide your standard deliverable for an ALTA for the fee you quoted, and see if the attorney comments.

Any reiterations of the Minimal Standard Detail should be compensated accordingly.?ÿ For these additional notes/certifications, I'd say OK, but the fee just increased by 33% of the original quote.

Can you make the claim/argument that if you certify to those extra items that this is no longer technically an ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey, and also then and therefore no longer protected as such by your professional liability insurance policy, or at least make the claim that you are not sure about these questions?

This article was distributed by a TN surveyor, through the Tennessee Association of Professional Surveyors, after he was asked to add notes & certifications on an ALTA he was commissioned to complete.?ÿ This may help you make a decision.

Item 7 of the Standard Detail Requirements prohibits additional certifications. If I need clarifying notes I'll add them. Being told they are required is a demand for certification. Not gonna happen.

Posted by: @thebionicman

Item 7 of the Standard Detail Requirements prohibits additional certifications. If I need clarifying notes I'll add them. Being told they are required is a demand for certification. Not gonna happen.

That's exactly what we do, send them the standards with that section highlighted and an email body to the effect of "if you don't like it, feel free to go find another surveyor".

OK #16 Have you been trained in identifying wetlands? If not you open yourself up to liability and you have no defense when someone else claims there are wetlands. How can you say there is no evidence when you haven't been trained to evaluate the evidence??ÿ . That is a ludicrous request of a surveyor. I would view his other requests in the same vein.

I would be willing to say there is no evidence of wetlands having been marked on the property at the time of the survey

Take whatever liability you want considering the compensation being provided for it. I would be tempted to tell them to pound sand.

The same with #7. I find it insulting that someone wants to make me responsible for something which I can not know. He's an attorney, he knows you can't know what utilities might exist underground, yet he tries to put you on the hook none the less. That gives me enough reason to reject all of his requests.

Posted by: @thebionicman

Item 7 of the Standard Detail Requirements prohibits additional certifications.

Item 7 precludes putting additional certifications on the plat.?ÿ Table A Item 20 is, literally, a blank slate for additional certifications separate from the plat.?ÿ

An approach I have used is to state that I would have to have my attorney review the additional certification before agreeing to sign it, and for that I will need a contract, and costs covered, plus. The lender's attorney knows full well that my attorney will refuse to allow me to sign any such P.O.S., for good reason.?ÿ At that point either the certification or the job itself goes away.?ÿ

There may be some circumstances where an additional certification is legitimate, but mostly these are attempts by an attorney make themselves look valuable by unfairly victimizing the surveyor.?ÿ ?ÿ

1 doesn't make much sense.?ÿ Can you just tell them "You have my word"? ???

7 is pretty bogus too, unless they want to pay for a backhoe to come out there and trench the entire boundary.

8... yeah, no.

11... is this just some confusing way of asking for contours?

16 would be probably alright if they coughed up the money for an expert to come out and flag it up.

Tell the Attorney you have a bunch of notes you need them to add to their report.

@brad-ott?ÿ

That's generally what I do. I don't think technically this is a certification. They are added as notes.

Posted by: @kevin-hines

Attachment : Certifications-surveyors.pdf

This article was distributed by a TN surveyor, through the Tennessee Association of Professional Surveyors, after he was asked to add notes & certifications on an ALTA he was commissioned to complete.?ÿ This may help you make a decision.

Thanks. I'll read it.

Posted by: @dave-karoly

Tell the Attorney you have a bunch of notes you need them to add to their report.

Hahaha...love it

Thanks all

We regularly check for the "possibility" of wetlands, via field inspection and current online mapping.?ÿ That's something they really need to know. If necessary, then bring in someone with more expertise to flag.?ÿ So, wetland flagging and locating flagged wetlands is usually mentioned as an additional expense if it turns out to be necessary.

Encroachments; no way to know if something over the line is one or not unless there's a court decision.?ÿ I had thought that wording was wiped from the ALTA/NSPS certification.

I wouldn't spend 1 minute thinking about that.?ÿ It's a simple NO.?ÿ ?ÿThe ALTA standards are there and complete.?ÿ ?ÿ

@andy-j?ÿ

Totally agree.

It's also often that those asking wait till the survey is almost complete to send this along, and act like it's nothing out of?ÿ the ordinary.

Posted by: @jph

@andy-j?ÿ

Totally agree.

It's also often that those asking wait till the survey is almost complete to send this along, and act like it's nothing out of?ÿ the ordinary.

That is because it is SOP for them.....