ALTA Survey Details Commercial Buyers Should Review Before Closing on Older Properties
Older commercial properties carry history. Some of that history is valuable. Some of it is buried in decades of undocumented changes, and an ALTA survey is often the first document that makes those problems visible.
Most developers don’t find out about property record issues during due diligence. They find out when the City of Hialeah flags their permit application. By then, the deal is closed. The price is locked. The problem belongs to the buyer.
Reviewing the ALTA survey details before closing is how you avoid that situation.
Why Permit Applications Often Trigger a Closer Review of Property Records
When a permit application is submitted, the building department compares it against county records. They check the site plan against the recorded plat. They verify setbacks. They look at prior permit history for the parcel.
On older commercial properties, those comparisons rarely go smoothly.
A prior owner may have pulled a permit for interior work and never closed it out. The recorded plat may reference an easement that was later vacated. The legal description may reflect a boundary that shifted when a neighboring road was widened.
None of these issues appear in a casual review of the title commitment.
An ALTA survey prepared to 2026 ALTA/NSPS standards documents the property as it actually exists today. It shows improvements, easements, boundary measurements, and gaps between recorded conditions and what’s on the ground.
Reviewing that document before closing gives the buyer options. Finding these issues after closing gives the buyer a problem.
Encroachments That Can Delay Permit Approval
Encroachments on older commercial properties are common. Most of them built up quietly over years of tenant improvements and ownership changes where nobody checked anything.
Common examples that surface during permit review:
- A covered loading area extended over a shared property line
- A patio or concrete pad poured into a required setback zone
- A storage shed placed inside a utility easement corridor
- A parking expansion that overlaps an adjacent parcel
Each of these creates a problem when a buyer submits plans for new construction. The permit reviewer checks the site plan against required setbacks and recorded easement locations. If an existing improvement is in the wrong place, the application gets held.
Fixing it after closing means relocating the structure, seeking a variance, or negotiating a new easement agreement. Those options take weeks. Sometimes months.
Reviewing the ALTA survey before closing turns these into seller negotiating points instead of buyer surprises.
Missing Easements and Access Rights That Affect Construction Plans
Some easements don’t show up in a basic title search. They’re recorded in older documents referenced by deed book and page numbers that predate digital county records.
On older commercial parcels, buried easements create real construction problems:
- A utility easement running under a planned building footprint
- A drainage easement that restricts grading near a canal or swale
- A shared driveway agreement that limits where fencing or new structures can be placed
- An ingress and egress easement that remains legally active on the parcel
An ALTA survey plots all recorded easements on the drawing. A buyer can see exactly where each easement sits relative to planned improvements.
If a planned structure sits inside a utility easement, the utility company has the legal right to access that corridor. That means the right to excavate through a finished building to reach underground lines. No variance fixes that.
Catching this during due diligence takes a few hours. Catching it after the slab is poured takes far more.
Correcting Survey Issues Before Contractors Mobilize Saves Time and Money
Once construction starts, stopping it is expensive. Mobilization fees don’t pause when work does. Equipment is on-site. Crews are scheduled. Subcontractors have committed time.
A stop-work order issued because a structure conflicts with a recorded easement puts the whole project on hold. The developer then works through a redesign or a variance application while costs keep running.
Finding the same issue during permitting, before any contractor shows up, changes everything. The permit is still in review. The site is untouched. A redesign costs time but not idle crew fees.
For commercial buyers, the steps are clear:
- Order the ALTA survey at the start of due diligence, not the end
- Review it with a licensed land surveyor and a real estate attorney
- Flag every encroachment and every easement before the inspection period closes
- Bring those findings to the seller before closing
A survey issue found during due diligence is a negotiation. Found during permitting, it’s a delay. Found after construction starts, it’s an expensive problem with no easy fix.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an ALTA survey cover that a standard boundary survey does not?
An ALTA survey follows national standards set by the American Land Title Association and the National Society of Professional Surveyors. It documents property boundaries, recorded easements plotted on a drawing, encroachments, improvements, flood zone status and access points. A standard boundary survey covers boundaries and visible improvements but doesn’t include the full range of items lenders and title companies require for commercial transactions.
How old can an ALTA survey be before a lender or title company won’t accept it?
Most commercial lenders and title companies in Florida require an ALTA survey dated within one to two years of closing. Many require a survey prepared specifically for the current transaction. On older commercial properties in Hialeah, a survey from a prior transaction is unlikely to reflect current conditions and may not satisfy the title insurer without re-certification from the original surveyor.
Can an ALTA survey reveal easements that didn’t show up in the title search?
Yes. Older easements recorded in deed books before digital indexing was common can be missed in a title search. A surveyor preparing an ALTA survey conducts independent research and plots all located easements on the drawing. Any discrepancies between the title search and the survey should be resolved before closing.
What happens if the ALTA survey reveals a conflict with the legal description?
The surveyor documents the discrepancy on the drawing. The buyer’s attorney and the title company then review it to determine whether it’s a description error, a boundary issue, or a gap in the title chain. The transaction should not close until the conflict is understood and addressed.
Who should review the ALTA survey before closing on a commercial property?
Both the buyer’s real estate attorney and a licensed land surveyor should review it. The attorney interprets legal implications. The surveyor explains field conditions and clarifies anything on the drawing that isn’t clear. Relying on only one of those two perspectives increases the risk of missing something that matters.
For a free land surveying quote, call us at (305) 912-7795 or send us a message by going here.