Question:
I have a
question that’s been bugging me, especially lately. I have been getting
Table A’s recently from some clients who are checking off items 20a and
20b. I have been doing ALTA’s for years, but only recently have I been
getting these items checked off.
I have spoken
to several of my colleagues about it, particularly about 20b. I get a
different take on what needs to be done from everyone I talk to.
Can you tell
me what your thoughts are regarding 20b? I cannot get my head around what
the limits of this might be, where do you stop? And what is meant by the
term “monument?” I wonder if Lenders & Attorneys really understand
what this means?
For
reference, Table A, Item 20 reads as follows:
(a) Locate
improvements within any offsite easements or servitudes benefitting the
surveyed property that are disclosed in the Record Documents provided to the
surveyor and that are observed in the process of conducting the survey (client
to obtain necessary permissions).
(b) Monuments
placed (or a reference monument or witness to the corner) at all major corners
of any offsite easements or servitudes benefitting the surveyed property and
disclosed in Record Documents provided to the surveyor (client to obtain
necessary permissions).
Response:
First and foremost
it is important to remember that whether, and to what extent, any initially
requested Table A items are to be addressed is to be negotiated between the
responsible party (person/entity purchasing the survey) and the surveyor. The
responsible party may very well be influenced by others (title
company/attorney/etc.) regarding whether or not a particular Table A item is in
fact desired/needed. Whether or not “lenders & attorneys really understand
what is intended” by Table A items is a hard question to answer. It seems that
often Table A items are initially requested, but dropped once the magnitude of
the effort/cost to provide them is understood.
A key phrase
here is “record documents provided to the surveyor”. This means that the
surveyor is not required to exhaustively search out such documents during
record research to collect boundary determination evidence.
20(a) is
intended to basically treat (survey) off-site easements as if they were a fee
parcel - locating improvements therein like fences, drives, observed evidence
of utilities, etc. But only within off-site easements that have been
identified in documents provided to the surveyor.
20 (b) deals
with setting a physical marker (iron pin/stake/etc., whatever is negotiated) at
the major corners/break points along any easement/servitude that is “disclosed
in the Record Documents”. A reason Item 20 (b) may be desired is to find out
the physical limits of the easement or servitude.
The “client
to obtain necessary permissions” phrase of course means the responsible party
is to obtain permission (preferably written permission) from the owner for the
surveyor to enter the offsite property upon which an easement or servitude
lies.
