In the state of Texas, regardless of residential or commercial transactions, it is in almost all cases the responsibility of the seller to provide a survey for the closing of a land transaction.
Section 6C(1) of the TREC contract states: “Seller shall furnish to Buyer and Title Company Seller’s existing survey.”
If you are buying real estate, this may sound great from a financial standpoint. It means one less closing cost to worry about. Often, a survey is overlooked because it is a relatively small-ticket item in a closing compared to the costs of financing. However, when you look at the purpose of a survey, it is just as important because of what it determines.
A survey, most importantly, shows the legal boundaries of the land being purchased. It may also identify encroachments, structures, easements, and other important details associated with the property.
It is crucial to know the correct legal boundaries of the property being purchased. It is also important to understand any other property conditions, especially if the land is being purchased for development.
As a buyer, it is important to conduct proper due diligence and confirm that the survey furnished by the seller is accurate.
In many cases, existing surveys are accepted for closings, which means the seller may not have to provide a recent one. Often, surveys provided at closing can be decades old. They may not capture additional buildings, changes in monuments on the property, fence line adjustments, or changes in easements and setbacks that could affect the buyer’s ability to develop the land.
Even if the buyer has an existing relationship with the seller and believes the seller is not acting with malicious intent, there are still important questions to consider.
How does the buyer know the seller received the correct existing survey when they originally purchased the land?
If the furnished survey is more than 10 years old, how does the buyer know the quality of the survey work that was completed by a firm many years ago, especially if that firm may no longer be registered?
How can the buyer confirm that the existing monuments, fences, and structures are all captured accurately?
How can they know whether zoning changes, easement updates, or setback changes have occurred since the original survey?
These are important questions, and the simple answer is this: it is in the best interest of anyone purchasing residential or commercial property to request a current survey from a reputable surveying firm.
While it may be the seller’s obligation to provide a survey, often regardless of age, it becomes the buyer’s headache to deal with any changes or updates to the plat after the land is purchased.
For the minimal cost it takes to request an accurate, updated survey, the benefit of knowing exactly what is on the land is well worth it.
While you can buy a property with an existing survey, it is usually in the buyer’s best interest to acquire an updated one.
A current survey can help confirm boundaries, identify potential issues, and provide greater confidence before closing.