Title Insurance and Survey Review: What Commercial Buyers Need to Understand Before Closing

By Hank FasthoffJuly 5, 2026

A title commitment and a survey are the two documents that tell you what you're buying. They show what the legal record contains, whatever the listing broker described or the seller represented, covering the property's ownership, encumbrances, boundaries, and physical condition. Reviewing them together, before your deposit goes hard, is the only way to identify title defects, boundary problems, easement conflicts, and encroachments that could affect your use of the property or your ability to finance it.

Texas title insurance is more heavily regulated than in most states. Title insurance forms, endorsements, and premiums are promulgated by the Texas Department of Insurance under the Basic Manual of Rules, Rates and Forms for the Writing of Title Insurance. Title companies can't offer discounts, modify promulgated forms, or provide coverage outside the endorsed framework. Understanding what the promulgated forms cover, and what they don't, is essential for getting the maximum protection available.

The Title Commitment

A title commitment is the title company's offer to issue a title insurance policy at closing, subject to specified conditions and exceptions. It's a promise that a policy will be issued at closing if the conditions are met; the policy itself comes later. Order the commitment within the first few days of the feasibility period so you have time to review it, identify problems, and negotiate cures before your deposit goes hard.

Schedule A identifies the proposed insured (the buyer), the type of estate to be insured (fee simple for a purchase, leasehold for a ground lease), the amount of insurance (typically the purchase price), the legal description of the property, and the current owner. Confirm that the legal description matches the survey and the purchase agreement. Confirm that the current owner matches the seller on the contract. If there's a discrepancy (a death in the chain of title, a divorce, a name change, or an entity that's been dissolved), the title company will note it in Schedule C as a requirement to be satisfied before closing.

Schedule B lists the exceptions from coverage. Every item on Schedule B is something the title policy won't protect you against. Exceptions fall into two categories.

Standard exceptions are promulgated by TDI and appear in every Texas title policy unless they're amended or deleted through the proper endorsement process. Standard exceptions include the survey exception (discrepancies in area and boundaries that a survey would reveal), rights of parties in possession (tenants, squatters, or other occupants the title company hasn't verified), unrecorded mechanic's and materialman's liens, and taxes not yet due and payable. Each standard exception can be addressed through specific procedures (providing a survey, conducting an inspection, requiring lien affidavits, or confirming tax status), and addressing them is a routine part of closing preparation on commercial transactions.

Property-specific exceptions are unique to the property being insured. They include recorded easements (utility, access, drainage, pipeline), restrictive covenants and deed restrictions, mineral reservations and severances, prior liens and mortgages (which should be released at or before closing), and any other recorded encumbrance that affects the property. Every property-specific exception should be reviewed against the survey and the exception documents themselves, not just the title commitment's summary.

Schedule C (called "Requirements" in some commitment formats) lists the conditions that must be satisfied before the title company will issue the policy. Common requirements include payoff of existing liens and mortgages, execution and recording of the deed, payment of the title insurance premium, satisfaction of outstanding judgments against the seller, and confirmation of the seller's authority to convey (corporate resolutions, partnership authorizations, or LLC manager certifications). Every Schedule C requirement must be addressed by closing.

Reading the Survey Against the Title

An ALTA/NSPS land title survey and a title commitment are designed to be read together. Each reveals problems the other doesn't catch.

An easement recorded in the deed records and listed as a Schedule B exception should correspond to a located easement on the survey. If the survey doesn't show it, either the easement was never physically established (it may have been recorded but never used), or the surveyor missed it. Both situations need investigation.

An encroachment shown on the survey (a neighbor's fence crossing the property line, an improvement extending into a setback area, or a building overlapping an easement) may not appear in the title commitment because encroachments aren't recorded instruments. Without a survey, you wouldn't know the encroachment exists. Without the title commitment, you wouldn't know which easements the encroachment might violate.

Updated ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey Standards took effect on February 23, 2026, replacing the 2021 standards for surveys commenced on or after that date. When ordering a survey, specify that it must comply with the current standards and must include the Table A optional items that your lender and title company require. Common Table A items for commercial transactions include zoning classification, flood zone designation, parking counts, and identification of utilities serving the property.

Require the surveyor to certify the survey to you (the buyer), your lender, and your title company. A survey certified only to a prior owner or a prior lender may not be relied upon by you or your title company, and the title company may refuse to delete the survey exception without a current certification.

Deleting Standard Exceptions

Standard exceptions reduce the coverage of your title policy, and on commercial transactions they should be deleted or amended wherever possible.

Providing an acceptable ALTA/NSPS survey to the title company allows the company to amend the area and boundaries exception to delete everything except shortages in area. This is the single most important coverage enhancement available, because without it the title policy doesn't protect you against boundary disputes, encroachments, or survey-related defects. The title company uses the T-3 endorsement form to amend the survey exception.

Conducting a title company inspection or providing evidence that no parties other than the seller (and any disclosed tenants) are in possession of the property allows the title company to modify or delete the parties-in-possession exception. On commercial properties with existing tenants, the title company will add specific exceptions for each tenant's leasehold interest.

Obtaining lien affidavits from the seller (and from any contractors who performed recent work) confirming that all mechanics and materialmen have been paid allows the title company to modify the unrecorded liens exception. On properties where construction has occurred within the preceding year, the title company may require additional evidence that no unpaid lien claims exist.

Confirming the tax status and providing evidence that all taxes through the current year are paid (or will be paid at closing through proration) allows the title company to modify the tax exception.

Key Endorsements for Commercial Transactions

Texas title endorsements are promulgated forms, and only the endorsements listed in the Basic Manual can be issued. A title company can't create custom endorsements or modify promulgated forms without TDI approval. Understanding which endorsements are available and which ones your transaction needs is part of the title review process.

T-19.1 (Restrictions, Encroachments, Minerals Endorsement for Owner's Policy) is one of the most valuable endorsements available. It provides affirmative coverage against loss from existing violations of recorded restrictions, encroachments of improvements onto easements or across boundaries, and damage to existing improvements resulting from the exercise of mineral rights. Obtaining a T-19.1 requires an acceptable survey showing completed improvements and compliance with the title company's underwriting requirements.

T-23 (Access Endorsement) insures that the property has legal access to a public road or highway. For commercial properties that depend on vehicular access for customers, deliveries, and operations, the access endorsement confirms that the access isn't just physical (you can drive there) but legal (you have the right to drive there).

T-25 and T-25.1 (Contiguity Endorsements) insure that two or more parcels described in the policy are contiguous (T-25) and that no uninsured strips or gores exist between them (T-25.1). Commercial properties assembled from multiple parcels need contiguity endorsements to confirm that the parcels fit together without unbuildable slivers of unowned land.

T-24 and T-24.1 (Non-Imputation Endorsements) are used in entity transactions to insure that the knowledge of one member or partner isn't imputed to the purchasing entity. If a partner in the buying entity previously had knowledge of a title defect, the non-imputation endorsement prevents the title company from denying coverage based on that partner's knowledge.

Express insurance under Procedural Rule P-39 provides coverage for specific liens, encroachments, or title defects that don't fall within the scope of other endorsements. If you've identified a specific issue during due diligence and need affirmative coverage that no promulgated endorsement addresses, express insurance may be available.

Interim Period Coverage

A title commitment has an effective date, which is the date through which the title company has searched the records. Closing typically occurs days or weeks after the effective date. The interval between the effective date and the recording of the deed is a vulnerability window, and any adverse filing during that interval (a judgment lien, a mechanic's lien, or a conveyance by the seller to another party) could affect the buyer's title.

Title companies address this by bringing the commitment to date (issuing an updated commitment with a current effective date) as close to closing as practical, and by searching the records again between the effective date and the recording date. If nothing adverse was filed during the interim, the title policy provides coverage effective as of the recording date of the deed. Request a bring-to-date (title update) within a few days of closing to minimize interim period risk.

The Title Company as Escrow Agent

On most Texas commercial transactions, the title company also serves as the escrow agent, holding the earnest money deposit, coordinating the closing, preparing the settlement statement, collecting and disbursing funds, and recording the deed and other closing documents with the county clerk.

As escrow agent, the title company is a neutral party that follows the written instructions of both the buyer and the seller. Closing instructions should specify how funds are to be disbursed, which documents are to be recorded and in what order, and what conditions must be satisfied before the title company releases funds. If you're the buyer, your closing instructions should require the title company to confirm that all Schedule C requirements have been satisfied, that the seller has executed and delivered all closing documents, and that the deed has been recorded before funds are released to the seller.

Practical Recommendations

Order the title commitment and the survey on day one of the feasibility period. Both take time to prepare, and you need them early enough to review, investigate, and resolve problems before your deposit goes hard.

Read every Schedule B exception against the survey and the recorded exception documents. A title commitment summary might read "easement recorded in Volume 1234, Page 567." That tells you nothing about the easement's location, width, permitted uses, or impact on your plans. Pull the recorded document, read it, and locate it on the survey.

Send a title objection letter to the seller within the contractual deadline identifying every exception you want removed, insured over, or cured. If the seller can't cure, decide whether endorsements solve the risk or whether the problem is fundamental enough to terminate.

Request the T-19.1 endorsement on every commercial owner's policy where a current survey showing completed improvements is available. It's the broadest affirmative coverage endorsement available in Texas, and it should be standard on commercial acquisitions.

Don't close without interim period coverage. Request a bring-to-date within three to five days of closing, and confirm that the title company will search the records between the effective date and recording to ensure nothing adverse was filed during the interval.

Review the title and the survey as a single exercise, not as two separate tasks. An easement that appears on one should appear on both. An encroachment that appears on the survey should be evaluated against the easements and restrictions on the title. Each document makes the other more useful, and reviewing them together catches problems that reviewing them separately would miss.