Title Commitment and Survey Review: The Due Diligence Step That Saves Deals

What it is

Title commitment and survey review is the part of due diligence where you verify two things: that the seller can actually convey clean ownership to you, and that the physical parcel matches what's on paper. The title commitment is the title company's written promise of what it will insure and under what exceptions. The survey is the drawn picture of the dirt — boundaries, easements, encroachments, access. Read together, they tell you what you're really buying.

How it plays out in retail net lease

Here's how I look at it. On a single-tenant net-lease deal, everyone fixates on the tenant and the rent. That's the income. But you're buying real estate, and the real estate has a chain of ownership and a set of rights running through it that outlive any lease.

The title commitment comes in schedules. Schedule A is the easy part — who owns it, what interest you're getting, the legal description. Schedule B is where the work is. That's the list of exceptions: easements, restrictions, liens, agreements, anything the title company won't insure over. This is the meat.

The survey then takes that Schedule B list and plots it. A good surveyor ties each recorded easement to a line on the ground. That's when a "utility easement" on paper becomes "there's a gas line running under your drive-through lane." Paper and dirt have to agree, and it's your job to make them agree before closing, not after.

The mistake I see buyers make is treating title and survey as a formality the attorney handles. You should read them yourself. It's your money and your parcel.

What to watch for

• Access. Confirm legal, recorded access to a public road. A great retail box with no insured access is a problem waiting to surface.
• Reciprocal easement agreements (REAs). In multi-tenant centers and pad sites, the REA governs parking, signage, common-area costs, and use restrictions. Read it in full — it can bind you for decades.
• Use restrictions and exclusives. Recorded covenants may limit what can operate there. That matters if a tenant ever leaves and you need to re-lease.
• Encroachments. A neighbor's fence, sign, or pavement crossing your line — or yours crossing theirs. Surveys catch these; paper doesn't.
• Setback and zoning notes. The survey often flags whether improvements sit within required setbacks.
• Mineral, air, or subsurface rights. Confirm what's included and what's severed.
• Taxes, liens, and judgments in Schedule B. These generally get cleared at closing, but confirm the mechanism.
• Survey date and standard. An old survey may miss recent changes. For commercial deals, an ALTA/NSPS survey is typically the benchmark.

How to use it to your advantage

Objections are leverage. Most purchase agreements give you a title review period to raise objections in writing; the seller then cures, negotiates, or you walk. Use that window. Every legitimate exception you flag is either something the seller fixes on their dime or a real risk you get to price in.

I also use survey review to pressure-test the story. If the site plan the broker showed you doesn't match the surveyed parking count or the easement footprint, that gap is worth a conversation before you're committed. Order the survey early. It's the long pole in the tent, and rushing it at the end is how mistakes slip through.

Best case, worst case

Best case:

• Clean commitment, few exceptions, all understood and acceptable.
• Survey confirms boundaries, access, and easements with no surprises.
• You close with an owner's title policy insuring exactly what you underwrote.

Worst case:

• An unexamined easement or REA restricts your use or re-leasing options.
• An encroachment or access defect surfaces after closing, when it's your problem and your cost.
• You inherit a title cloud you could have made the seller cure — but you waived it by not reading.

This is general education, not investment, tax, or legal advice — verify everything independently and with your own licensed professionals before you act.