It's been a busy time for me. Everybody seems to want to refinance their homes to draw more money out to pay for vacations and holiday gifts. Others want to move into their new homes at the beginning of the new year. Needless to say, I've been away from writing on this blog for a while. I probably should be working on some purchases and refinances that are coming up, but I think it's time for a new entry.

I recently had a case with a lawyer that was a "paper pusher" who raised an issue with a missing survey on the date of closing. I reminded him of my response to his requisition, his lack of objection to my denial of his requisition and his failure to act in good faith by raising the issue earlier had the law against his view. His response consisted of little more than, "it's in the contract and it doesn't matter what your response to my requisitions are", and anybody who meets the Law Society's guideline of continuing education would know that he was wrong. In any event, the matter did close without me providing the survey as he didn't want to face me on this issue.

It got me thinking about how important surveys are. Most lawyers will purchase title insurance to be safe, and they usually provide coverage if a survey is not available. My old real estate professor from law school wrote a chapter in the Bar Admissions materials, so I decided to have a second read at it.

It's interesting to note that copies of surveys are often provided, but as they represent a moment in time, they cannot be relied upon by subsequent purchasers without the authorization of the original surveyor. The importance of this is when obtaining an "existing survey" of the lands, it is only for informational purposes and it is unlikely that a purchaser can hold the vendor or surveyor liable for any errors made on it.

So what should be done? Well, the easiest method is just to purchase title insurance, but they may or may not cover you for the error if there is a change in use. The best, although most expensive option, is to commission a new survey to be done, which you can rely upon completely.

The question really comes down to how much you want to spend and what risks you are willing to take.

        

 

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