ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys
An ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey is the national gold standard for commercial due diligence - the survey title companies and commercial lenders require before insuring or financing a property. Doss Land Surveying performs ALTA surveys to the current 2026 ALTA/NSPS Minimum Standard Detail Requirements, effective February 23, 2026, jointly adopted by the American Land Title Association and the National Society of Professional Surveyors.
What This Service Covers
Where an ordinary boundary survey resolves the property lines, an ALTA survey goes further: it is performed against the title commitment for the transaction, so the surveyor examines the recorded exceptions - easements, rights-of-way, restrictions - and shows on the face of the plat how each one affects the property. Encroachments, gaps, overlaps, and access questions surface before closing instead of after.
The scope is negotiated up front through Table A, the standards' menu of optional items - things like topography, utility locations, parking counts, and flood zone classification - so the lender, title company, buyer, and surveyor all agree on exactly what the survey will show before field work begins.
How the Work Runs
Title commitment and Table A scoping.
We review the title commitment and the record documents it cites, and confirm with you and the title company which Table A optional items the transaction requires.
Research and field survey.
Boundary resolution to the ALTA standards, plus location of the improvements, visible utilities, evidence of use, and everything the negotiated Table A scope calls for.
Plat, review, and certification.
The survey is drafted with the title exceptions addressed on its face, reviewed against the standards, and certified to the parties the transaction requires - buyer, lender, and title company.
What You Get
- A certified ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey meeting the 2026 minimum standards
- Title commitment exceptions plotted and addressed on the face of the plat
- The negotiated Table A optional items shown as agreed
- Certification to the buyer, lender, and title company named in the transaction
What Affects Timing
- The Table A scope the parties negotiate - more optional items mean more field and office work
- Size and complexity of the property and its improvements
- How many recorded exceptions the title commitment carries
- Turnaround of the title commitment and record documents from the title company
- Our current field schedule
When You Need This Survey
- Commercial property acquisition or disposition
- Commercial financing or refinancing where the lender requires an ALTA survey
- Any transaction where the title company will only delete the survey exception with an ALTA survey
- Due diligence on a property with a complicated easement or title history
Questions We Hear About ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys
What changed with the 2026 ALTA/NSPS standards?
The 2026 Minimum Standard Detail Requirements took effect February 23, 2026, replacing the 2021 standards. Surveys certified on or after that date must be performed to the 2026 requirements - we survey to the current standards and can walk you through what they require for your transaction.
What is Table A?
Table A is the standards' list of optional survey items - topography, utilities, parking, flood zone, and more - that the parties select up front. It is how the lender, title company, and buyer agree on scope before field work starts, and it is the main driver of an ALTA survey's cost and schedule.
Do I need an ALTA survey or a regular boundary survey?
If a title company or commercial lender is involved, they will usually tell you - ALTA surveys are the documentation standard for insured commercial transactions. For a private purchase or a line question, a standard boundary survey is often the right tool. Describe the deal and we will point you to the right one.
Content reviewed by Jacob Doss, Licensed Surveyor (TN RLS 3333 | KY PLS 4612), Doss Land Surveying, LLC. Serving Macon, Smith, Sumner, Trousdale, Clay, and Jackson Counties, TN, and Allen and Monroe Counties, KY. We also take on projects throughout the rest of Tennessee and Kentucky - just ask.
Working a commercial deal on a deadline? Let's talk timeline.
(615) 670-9856info@dosssurveying.comServing Macon, Smith, Sumner, Trousdale, Clay, and Jackson Counties, TN, and Allen and Monroe Counties, KY.
We also take on projects throughout the rest of Tennessee and Kentucky - just ask.