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The Legal Description Doesn't Match the Survey. What Happens Before Closing?

The title commitment is back, and so is the survey. The buyer's attorney lays them side by side and finds a problem: the legal description in Schedule A doesn't describe quite the same piece of land the surveyor mapped. The calls are slightly different, the acreage is a hair off, or the description doesn't close. Closing is two weeks away.

This happens more often than buyers expect, especially on older commercial tracts with descriptions carried forward through decades of deeds. It's usually fixable, but the fix takes coordination, and the sooner everyone knows about it the better.

Why the Two Documents Can Disagree

The title commitment repeats the legal description from the vesting deed or prior records. The survey is based on what the surveyor finds on the ground and in the records, then resolves into a single description of the property. Differences can come from several places:

• Old or imprecise deed language. Descriptions written decades ago may rely on monuments that have moved or disappeared.

• Math that doesn't close. Some recorded descriptions have calls and distances that don't form a closed shape.

• Typographical errors. A transposed bearing or distance can carry through a chain of deeds.

• Prior partial conveyances. A piece sold off years ago may not have been reflected in later descriptions.

• Different datums or methods. Older descriptions were prepared with equipment and standards that differ from today's.

None of these necessarily means anyone did anything wrong. It means two documents describing the same land need to be reconciled before the buyer, lender, and title company can rely on them.

What a Survey Can Do About It

The surveyor's role is to report what was found. A good survey will note differences between the record description and the surveyed boundary, show where a mismatch exists, and indicate whether the description closes mathematically. On an ALTA/NSPS survey, the surveyor generally addresses any gaps, overlaps, or other discrepancies between the record description and the surveyed boundary. You can read more on our page about ALTA/NSPS surveys.

What the survey doesn't do is decide how the title company will insure the property. That's a separate decision based on the title company's underwriting.

How Title Companies Often Handle It

Resolving a description mismatch is typically a conversation between the surveyor, the title company, and the buyer's attorney. According to an American Bar Association overview of title and survey issues in commercial transactions, there are several general approaches:

• Slight discrepancies may be handled by having the title company insure both the record description and the surveyed description, rather than requiring a new survey.

• Closure problems or varying calls and distances may lead to additional curative requirements, which can include a revised or recertified survey.

• Multi-parcel properties may call for coverage showing there are no gaps or gores between the pieces.

That article discusses ALTA endorsements in general terms. Title insurance in Texas follows state-promulgated forms, so what's available on your transaction depends on the title company and the policy. Ask your title company early what it will need to see.

Why This Is a Timeline Issue

A description mismatch found at closing can hold up the policy and the loan. Lenders generally want the insured description and the surveyed description to line up, so unresolved differences can stall funding. Fixing the issue may require a corrected survey, a corrective instrument, or agreement from the title company, and each of those takes time.

If the discrepancy involves a neighbor's land, a corrective instrument may need other parties to sign. That's the kind of step that doesn't fit into a closing week.

Related Issues to Watch For

• Gaps and overlaps with adjoining tracts. A sliver between your parcel and the neighbor's, or an area claimed by both, can create title questions. Our look at resolving property encroachment in Texas commercial investments covers a related set of problems.

• Acreage differences. A survey that reports less or more acreage than the deed can affect price calculations and appraisals.

• The survey exception. Title companies often remove the general survey exception once an acceptable survey is delivered, and unresolved description issues can block that. See our explanation of how the survey exception gets removed.

What to Do When You Spot a Mismatch

• Tell your surveyor right away, and send the title commitment and the vesting deed.

• Ask the surveyor to describe the nature of the difference in plain terms.

• Bring in the title company and your attorney so they can say what they'll need.

• Decide with your team whether the fix fits the closing date or whether an extension is worth negotiating.

Houston-area tracts that were carved out of larger parcels over several generations are especially prone to this, because each deed in the chain may have rewritten the description slightly. The same goes for older commercial strips and industrial tracts anywhere in Texas where the original monuments are long gone.

Send the Description Early

The easiest way to avoid a last-minute surprise is to give your surveyor the title commitment and recorded documents at the beginning of the project, not the end. Differences found in the first week of due diligence are manageable. The same differences found at the end are expensive.

Buying or refinancing commercial property and worried the legal description may not match the ground? Contact South Texas Surveying with the property location, a copy of your title commitment and vesting deed, your lender's survey requirements, and your closing date, so our team can scope a survey that addresses the description and flags any differences early.