Bulletin: NY000649

Recently, our underwriters have seen an attempt by some surveyors to use language that limits liability to “the cost of the survey” or words to that effect.  While we are happy to report that this language has been removed from surveys upon request/demand, please be advised that absent express prior authorization, Stewart cannot accept surveys certified to it that contain such limiting language.

“And that survey is the one we all go back to. When you find one of their original corners, it is like a handshake with the past.”¹

Surveyors are an invaluable resource to the real estate owner/investor, and to the other practitioners that represent those owners.   Their training and dedication to their craft is an essential part of the engine that keeps our industry running.  Underwriters, agents and practitioners are frequently asked to recommend a surveyor, which recommendations go beyond price – those recommendations speak to the quality and reputation of the surveyor, the quality of the certification, and in the rare but unfortunate event that a material error is made, the availability of errors and omissions coverage for the surveyor’s work.

In the event you have any questions regarding the above, please contact Stewart Title Legal Department at 212-922-0050 and speak with any Underwriting Counsel.

For on-line viewing of this and other bulletins, please log onto www.vuwriter.com.

¹Andro Linklater, Measuring America: How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled the Promise of Democracy