A title exception is something the title policy will NOT cover: an easement, a restrictive covenant, a plat note, a mineral reservation, an encroachment shown by survey. Each one is a real limit on the property that survives the closing, and together they are the true description of what is being bought.
- Pull the recorded document behind every exception that touches use, access or buildable area. The one-line description is not the instrument.
- Some are standard and some are specific to the parcel. The specific ones are the ones that deserve an hour.
- Exceptions can sometimes be removed or insured over. Both are negotiations, and both take time inside the inspection period.
- They survive the sale. Nothing about closing extinguishes a covenant that was recorded before it.
Related terms
All termsTitle Commitment
A title commitment is the title insurer's written statement of the policy it will issue, and on what conditions.
DevelopmentEasement
An easement is a recorded right for someone else to use part of a parcel for a stated purpose: a utility line, a drainage swale, a shared driveway, access to a parcel behind it.
DevelopmentBoundary Survey
A boundary survey is a licensed surveyor's determination of where a parcel's lines actually run on the ground, built from the recorded description and from monuments found and set.
Terms arrive with the writing.
The glossary grows as the Journal does, one email when something worth reading goes up. No noise.
Unsubscribe anytime. See our Privacy Policy.