Choose Table A items around the information your transaction needs. Each selection should answer a specific lender, title, acquisition, or design question. We’ll help you define the work and its limits before fieldwork begins.
The 2026 ALTA/NSPS standards took effect February 23, 2026. Use the current form: Table A contains 20 listed options, with additional negotiated work identified under Item 21.
Start with the transaction
Tell us what is being acquired or financed, who will rely on the survey, and what must be resolved before closing. An occupied commercial property, a redevelopment site, and an acquisition with off-site access rights can need different information.
An ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey already has a required base scope. Table A adds agreed responsibilities and information. Selecting every option can add work your transaction does not need; overlooking an important requirement can mean another field visit or revision.
Send us the lender’s requirements and title materials early. We can then separate what is already covered from what needs to be added.
Bring the right people into the scope discussion
Your buyer or development team understands the intended use. The lender sets its survey requirements. The title insurer identifies the title matters to address. Your attorney helps interpret the rights and risks.
We translate those needs into a survey scope, including research, fieldwork, deliverables, access, and certification parties. If an architect or civil engineer also needs the data, include them before finalizing the order.
Ask each party to explain what it needs and why. “Our usual Table A list” is a starting point for review, not a substitute for a property-specific scope.
Decide which property information will be useful
Monumentation, addresses, flood-zone information, land area, elevations, zoning information, and building measurements can support different decisions. Identify the decision before choosing the item.
For example, a gross area may support an acquisition calculation while your development team needs separate areas for different parts of the site. Building dimensions may support one review, while height or floor-area information requires another defined request.
Be clear about sources. Federal flood mapping is not a site-specific flood study. Zoning information needs the appropriate report or letter. We’ll identify what the survey can show and what requires another professional’s review.
Define the utility and site-improvement scope
Tell us which improvements, parking information, and utility features matter to the transaction. Avoid an open-ended request to “show everything.”
Under Item 11, records and private-locate markings supplement observed utility evidence. They do not establish every buried line’s exact position. ALTA’s current FAQs explain the limits and the need to agree on who arranges and pays for locating.
If a connection or conflict will control the development plan, tell us. Potholing, utility engineering, or other investigation may need its own scope and schedule.
Look beyond the parcel
An access, utility, or parking easement may be essential to the property even when it lies off-site. Send us the complete documents and identify the rights your transaction depends on.
Item 18 can bring plottable off-site appurtenant easements into the survey scope. That can expand the research, field area, and access coordination. Review the extent with us before assuming it is a small addition.
The same discipline applies to imagery. Item 15 permits it for certain features within stated limits and written agreements. We’ll discuss its suitability, source, age, and limitations with the transaction team before relying on it.
Make issue summaries and custom work explicit
Item 20 adds a table identifying specified observed conditions and potential encroachments on the map. It is not a legal opinion or a comprehensive list of every concern.
If your team needs additional work, define it under Item 21. Give us the feature, area, information source, and expected output. A specific request is easier to price, deliver, and review than broad custom language.
Negotiate an engineering design survey under Item 21 rather than assume it under Items 5 or 11. ALTA’s guidance on additional services makes that distinction clear. If the same fieldwork will support civil engineering, bring those requirements into the first scope conversation.
Use a simple brief for each selection
For every proposed item, record:
- Requester: who needs the information.
- Purpose: the underwriting, title, acquisition, design, or operational decision it supports.
- Source: field observations, records, a supplied report, or another agreed source.
- Deliverable: the feature, note, table, measurement, or separate work product required.
- Timing: when you need the information for review or closing.
If one of those answers is missing, discuss it with us before the order is final. We can help clarify the request and explain what affects the fee or schedule.
Send the records and the real deadline
Our first review is more useful when the supporting documents arrive together. Send us:
- Property address, parcel numbers, and legal descriptions.
- Current title commitment and complete exception documents.
- Existing surveys, plans, and relevant reports.
- Lender and title requirements, including proposed certification parties.
- Selected Table A items and any written qualifications or Item 21 requests.
- Site contacts, tenant restrictions, and off-site access information.
- Dates for the survey draft, lender review, title updates, and closing.
If a requirement is still being decided, tell us. We can develop a preliminary scope and identify the unresolved items. Late additions should have an agreed process for adjusting the work, fee, and delivery date.
Common questions
Should we select every Table A item? Review each option against the transaction. Some will be useful or required by a relying party; others may add unnecessary work. Applicable legal requirements still apply.
Does an ALTA survey include a design-ready base map? Do not assume it does. Tell us what the architect or engineer needs so we can expressly scope the design work.
Can we use the lender’s old ordering form? Send it for review, but confirm the selections and wording against the 2026 requirements before authorizing the work.
What if the title commitment is not ready? Tell us what is available and when the balance is expected. We’ll coordinate the records needed with your title team and identify any effect on scope or delivery.
Ready for a scope?
Just punch the pulsing green button, fill out a few questions, and we’ll get right to work on your estimate. Because time is the measure.
