Large commercial site, just completed. I did the ALTA with topo several years ago, then the block plat, and now the completed final ALTA survey. They pay promptly and I already have my money.
The title report, not locally produced, was a mess beginning to end. The person who prepared it referred to a road map as a survey, with book and page, and the link was to a completely different document. Repeatedly. Almost every exception incorrect for one reason or another. It was obvious a title officer did not review the report, even after I pointed out all the errors.
Zoning report says there are no minimum building setback lines. The approved?ÿ development plan says 40' from the travelled lane. The zoning report author obviously asked the city zoning office for the zoning on the site and minimum requirements, but never looked at the approved plan.
The city zoning official provided the zoning designation and the generic restrictions (zero setbacks), but didn't look at their own maps which showed that this is a special development area with special restrictions.?ÿ
In other words, all of them did the least amount of shallow effort and not one bit more.
The title report is now correct, the zoning report is still wrong, and the city zoning official still has not responded.
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Hate being the title person for a job.
Title reports have been degrading in quality and completeness for years. It is not uncommon for me to receive missing documents and only get a list of exceptions but no printed back up.
I make the title search and report my client's responsibility. When I receive an incomplete of flawed report, I make it the client's responsibility to resolve that problem and advise them that my work on their project will be delayed until I get what I need.
The absolute worst title work I even encountered had been done by a fellow I had met several times. He needed to get in his rocking chair and stay there. We were working is a sub titled Cherry Hill Sub which was about a half mile away from one titled Cherry Wood Sub, or something similar. Say we were in Blocks 5 and 6. Anything in Blocks 5 and 6 in BOTH subs was listed. I want to say there might have been six out of twenty-some items listed that could possibly have any connection to the site.
I make the title search and report my client's responsibility. When I receive an incomplete of flawed report, I make it the client's responsibility to resolve that problem
I take that job on. But I do expect to be paid for it.
How did we reach the point where we have to ask a private title insurance company for information that the counties are supposed to maintain in a recording system?
Title reports have been degrading in quality and completeness for years. It is not uncommon for me to receive missing documents and only get a list of exceptions but no printed back up.
I make the title search and report my client's responsibility. When I receive an incomplete of flawed report, I make it the client's responsibility to resolve that problem and advise them that my work on their project will be delayed until I get what I need.
Amen!
@chris-bouffard I agree wholeheartedly. Over the last few years, when I get a hyperlinked title commitment with a link to a recorded plat and I click on that link, the document that is "provided" through the hyperlink is typically illegible. Upon reaching out to the title company the typical response is "that's the best available copy". I then have someone obtain the plat from the County itself (usually on line for free, but always an image copy available for free and to the public) and it's crystal clear.
From this I assume that the response of "that's the best available copy" really means "that's the image that was scanned into our data plant, and we no longer get up off of our duffs and physically go to the Courthouse any more to do the job correctly".
Really sad- when i worked in the Midwest I would always run into the same Title Examiners in the various Courthouses daily and those folks were a wealth of knowledge regarding records (transfers, railroad info, right of way dedications, etc.). Nowadays it seems the title folks merely retrieve documents from an on line data plant somewhere using a document recording reference provided to them and don't really do(or learn) anything else.
but boy howdy do they snap to when they collect their fees or have a complaint for the time it's taking for the survey or other things to happen. Yeah. tails not supposed to wag the dog...
