A closing attorney in Columbus called us last fall about a missed encroachment. The ALTA survey, dated six months earlier, had shown a fence line that did not match the legal description. The acquisition team had signed off anyway. By the time the dispute surfaced, the buyer owned the parcel and a seven-figure problem.
The encroachment was on sheet three. It was labeled. It was not hidden. Nobody on the acquisition team had known what they were looking at.
ALTA surveys are dense documents. They are also readable, once you know the structure. Here is what an acquisition team should look for on a survey before closing, with no surveying license required.
What ALTA/NSPS is
ALTA/NSPS is a joint standard published by the American Land Title Association and the National Society of Professional Surveyors. The most recent major revision is the 2021 standard. A survey performed to ALTA/NSPS standards meets a minimum specification that title insurers recognize for extended coverage. A typical purchase of commercial real estate closes against an ALTA survey. A purchase that closes on a plain boundary survey is either residential or a shortcut.
The standard has two parts. The required items are mandatory on every ALTA survey. Table A is an optional menu of additional items the buyer can request. The buyer's attorney specifies which Table A items apply.
The required items, in plain language
The survey shows the boundary. That means the corners of the parcel, the bearings and distances between them, and any monuments found or set in the field.
The survey shows the location of any visible improvements. Buildings, fences, driveways, paved areas, and utilities visible above grade.
The survey shows easements and rights-of-way that are listed on the title commitment or are observable in the field. A title commitment typically lists recorded easements. The surveyor plots them.
The survey shows any exceptions to title that the surveyor can locate on the ground. If an exception is recorded but cannot be located, the surveyor notes that.
The survey shows the location of any encroachments visible to the surveyor. This is the critical one. Encroachments are the places where improvements on one parcel cross the boundary onto another, or where improvements from another parcel cross onto the subject.
The survey shows flood zone information. Zone designation and community panel number at minimum.
Table A, the optional additions
Table A items the buyer commonly requests:
Item 2, address and zoning. The surveyor posts the current classification and dimensional standards.
Item 6, contours. Typically one-foot or two-foot.
Item 11, location of utilities based on observed evidence and markings by utility locators. This is not a complete utility survey. It is a best-effort with 811 markings.
Item 16, observed evidence of wetlands.
Item 19, offsite easements. Easements benefiting the subject parcel that cross adjacent parcels.
Item 20, a professional stamp on the survey.
The buyer's attorney picks the Table A menu. Read the menu. If Item 11 is not included, do not assume the utilities shown are complete.
What to catch, specifically
Gaps at the boundary. A gap is a strip between the subject parcel and the adjacent parcel where neither legal description covers the ground. Gaps show up in areas with old legal descriptions that were never reconciled. A gap means the buyer does not own what everyone assumed they owned.
Overlaps. The reverse of a gap. Two legal descriptions claim the same strip of ground. Title insurance usually excepts overlaps. An overlap is a title fight waiting to happen.
Lack of access. The survey should show a physical or easement-based connection from the parcel to a public right-of-way. If the access is via a private drive across an adjacent parcel, there must be a recorded easement. If no easement exists, the access is not guaranteed.
Encroachments, outbound. Something the subject parcel has built that crosses onto the neighbor. This is the seller's problem, usually. It becomes the buyer's problem at closing.
Encroachments, inbound. Something the neighbor has built that crosses onto the subject. This is a use right the neighbor may have acquired over time. Adverse possession is rare but real. A long-standing fence on the wrong side of the line is a red flag.
Utility easements on the face of the land. Recorded utility easements that cross buildable area. If the buyer plans to build where an easement runs, the easement must be relocated or vacated. That is a process, not a phone call.
Rights-of-way for roads. Some jurisdictions have wide statutory ROWs that extend well into what looks like usable land. A sixty-foot ROW on a state highway can take a meaningful bite out of a shallow lot.
Flood zones. Check the zone letter. Check the panel date. If the survey references an outdated panel, pull the current panel separately and reconcile.
The sheets that matter
An ALTA survey is typically multiple sheets. Sheet one is the cover and general information. Sheet two is usually the full survey map. Sheet three and beyond are detail views, notes, and certifications.
The notes section, usually on sheet two or three, is where the surveyor identifies exceptions, encroachments, and anything observed that the map cannot cleanly show. Read every note. The Columbus encroachment I mentioned at the top was buried in a notes block on sheet three.
The surveyor's certification, on the cover sheet, states which Table A items were performed. Read it. Confirm it matches what the buyer's attorney requested.
The escalation path
Three findings warrant a call to the surveyor, no exceptions. A boundary gap or overlap. An unmistakable encroachment. A flood zone discrepancy between the survey and the current FEMA panel.
A call to a real estate attorney is warranted for any easement that crosses buildable area, any access provided through a private drive without a recorded easement, and any gap in the chain of legal descriptions.
An acquisition team that catches these issues before the wire goes out has earned its fee that week.