ALTA/ACSM Standards: Pt. II

Please send questions/comments you may have about the standards to NSPS Executive Director Curt Sumner via email at curtis.sumner@nsps.us.com. Responses will be posted in NSPS News and Views.

Readers may recall the following question from last week:

We have run into a question regarding the interpretation of the 2011 Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/ACSM Land Title Surveys. Specifically, the requirement for Table A, Item 1 (the Optional Survey Responsibilities and Specifications). We have been requested to have the surveyor set the monuments at each corner for this parcel of land. This property is plotted and the survey is recorded in the land title records. It is in a developed area and only one monument still exists at the property corners. This request was made in order to satisfy Item 1 referenced above. When speaking with the surveyor he informs me that his responsibility to meet the requirements of Item 1 is to locate the monument at the corner of the property or another monument that he might use as a reference point, which is what he did. He advises that this is the acceptable manner of meeting the requirements of Item 1.

We have received several responses from readers regarding “requirements” for setting corners when performing boundary surveys. A response to those questions follows:  Read more for the response

Regarding last week’s question, several readers commented about their state’s requirements versus the option of Table A Item 1.  A number of states require that a monument or witness be found or set at all corners of a boundary.  Such a requirement nullifies the ‘optional’ status of Item 1, and surveyors in those states must include Table A item 1 as a requirement whether the client wants it or not (see Section 3.B. of the 2011 Standards).  However, in order to avoid the confusion and bad public image generated by ‘pin-cushion corners,’ surveyors should endeavor to avoid setting a new monument in close proximity to an existing marker.  Rather, the existing marker could be a witness to the corner, or, if it is close enough, it could be used as the corner itself.  “Close enough” is, of course, a moving target that depends on the exact circumstances of each survey.   In states where monuments are not required Item 1 remains optional and negotiable.