Okay,
I've officially had it with title companies. I'm preparing an ALTA for a management/holding company that just purchased shopping mall that I previously performed an ALTA on as part of a design project. The new owner used a different title company that the previous client. So I'm going over the report and notice several new exception which would make sense, especially since I create several new easements for the new design. Exception 22 refers to my old ALTA. Okay, I can understand that although that is why I will not certify to successors and assigners. Then when I started thinking about the encroachments listed on my survey I realize that they are not referencing the ALTA I signed but one of the original review copies that covered some additional property. With the exception of the first review copy I sent off, all of the review copies were labeled "REVIEW ONLY" in line L500 over the unsigned certificate and none had my stamp. What could be going through a title officers mind using an obviously unofficial document. This is even worse than getting an updated title report for a project only to find your previous review copy listed an exception. I always respond to that with a nasty little comment in my surveyor's note for the exceptions.
Okay vent over
Have a great weekend.
Clearly the Title Insurance Companies are no different than Surveyors. Some take great care to do very professional work. Others, well.... let's be generous and say their actions indicate they really don't care about the quality of their work.
Larry P
Larry,
You are correct, title reports just are not what they used to be. I get the pleasure of working on a lot of long term projects. We normally do ATLA's for our right-of-way acquisitions as well as selling of the excess. These things seem to go on for literally years and I'm constantly getting updated title reports. It amazes me how many times an update will include new exceptions which predate the previous list. I can not understand how these companies stay in business. Although this should not surprise me. About 15 years ago I had to replace the sewer line from my house. The line did not run into the sewer in the adjacent street, instead it ran across my property and through my neighbors yard under his patio in between his house and garage. Since neither my title report nor deed made any reference to an easement, I had to go through a lot of extra work to get our line into the trunk line in our street. Do to some city requirements I had to directional bore in two direction and needles to say it was not cheap. Several years later I ended up doing a partition plat for another neighbor and when doing a full chain of title found the 1920 deed splitting the neighbor with the sewer line's property off of mine. Low and behold there it was, the easement for my line. If not for the time lag I think I might have tried to recover a little from my title insurance.
