Bulletin: DE2023001

Dear Associates:

The Delaware Title Insurance Rating Bureau (DTIRB) recently adopted new/revised forms effective as of April 1, 2023. A list of the new/revised forms is available here.

The new forms and corresponding guidelines are available on Virtual Underwriter in the ALTA 2021 Forms Page.

You can view webinars and PowerPoints regarding the new ALTA forms by accessing the Webinars page on Virtual Underwriter.

The following new or revised policies are adopted by ALTA, effective as of July 1, 2021, and effective in the State of Delaware as of April 1, 2023:

• 2021 ALTA Owner’s Policy, as modified by DTIRB
• 2021 ALTA Loan Policy
• 2021 ALTA Short-Form Residential Loan Policy – Current Assessments (One-to-Four Family), as modified by DTIRB
• 2021 ALTA Homeowners Policy of Title Insurance (For a One-to-Four Family Residence), as modified by DTIRB
• 2021 ALTA Expanded Coverage Residential Loan Policy (For One-to-Four Family Residential Property) – Current Assessments, as modified by DTIRB
• 2021 ALTA Short Form Expanded Coverage Residential Loan Policy (For One-to-Four Family Residential Property) – Current Assessments

The notable changes and revisions in the 2021 ALTA Owner’s Policy and the 2021 ALTA Loan Policy include the following:

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  • Use of new or amended defined terms such as Affiliate, Consumer Protection Law, Discriminatory Covenant, Enforcement Notice, Governmental Mortgage Agency or Instrumentality, Insured, Knowledge, Obligor, PACA-PSA Trust, Public Records, and State in the policies and revised endorsements (these terms made changes to some endorsements necessary).
  • Moving some exceptions that became commonplace (such as calculation of area and PACA-PSA Trust) to the jacket as Exclusions.
  • Punctuation and grammatical refinements.
  • Clarification that choice of law will be the state, or to the extent it controls, federal law.
  • Clarification that the choice of forum will be a state court or a federal court.
  • Amendments based on how courts have treated the prior policy language.
  • New coverages and exclusions for both Insured and Insurer.
  • The DTIRB-78 (ALTA 39) Policy Authentication (Electronic Policy/Signature) endorsement will become obsolete. The endorsement’s coverages are now included in the Policy Jacket. However, if requested and the ALTA 39 is available in your state, you may issue upon request.
  • The 2021 ALTA Policies treat the PACA-PSA Trust both as a Covered Risk and an Exclusion. If there is a recorded PACA-PSA Trust Enforcement Notice (such as a lis pendens) and the policy does not except to that recorded notice, it is a Covered Risk. If it is a regular PACA-PSA Trust lien and not recorded in the Public Records, it is excluded.
  • A new definition of the term “Insured” will allow coverage under the 2021 ALTA Owner’s Policy and the 2021 ALTA Loan Policy to continue when the Land is conveyed to an Affiliate, even when there is a monetary exchange.
  • “Enforcement Notice” is a new defined term. This is a document affecting the Title, recorded in the Public Records at the Date of Policy that describes any part of the Land and identifies a violation or enforcement of a law, ordinance, permit, or governmental regulation, exercise of a power, or enforcement of a PACA-PSA Trust.
  • Covered Risk 10 of the 2021 ALTA Loan Policy adds language to clarify and confirm for lenders that the coverage is for certain enumerated components of the Indebtedness.
  • Covered Risk 11.a. on Mechanic's Liens (consistent with the ALTA 32 Series endorsements) confirms that the coverage relates to services and equipment, in addition to labor and materials.
  • Exclusion 9 of the 2021 ALTA Loan Policy and Exclusion 7 of the 2021 ALTA Owner’s Policy exclude liability for the quantity of area, square footage, or acreage described in the Land (if any).
  • The Transaction Identification Data that has been a part of ALTA Commitments since 2016 is now formatted into Schedule A of the new 2021 ALTA Policies as well for consistency. It is made clear this information is not insured.
  • The 2021 ALTA Loan Policy adds a new option for the Insured to select the date the Insured Mortgage is extinguished for determination of value. The 2021 ALTA Owner’s Policy adds a new option for the Insured to select the Date of Policy for determination of value if Title to all of the Land is void.

For a detailed list of differences between the 2021 and 2006 ALTA forms and a summary of the advantages to the customer of the new ALTA forms, click here.

The following endorsements are new endorsements in Delaware, and are effective and may be issued as of April 1, 2023:

• DTIRB-85 (ALTA 10) – Assignment Endorsement
• DTIRB-86 (ALTA 10.1) – Assignment and Datedown Endorsement
• DTIRB-87 – Mortgage Modification Endorsement – Same Subdivision
• DTIRB-88 (ALTA 23.1) – Co-Insurance Endorsement – Multiple Policies
• DTIRB-89 (ALTA 34.1) – Identified Exception & Identified Risk Coverage Endorsement

The following new or revised endorsements are adopted by ALTA, effective as of July 1, 2021, and may be issued with the 2021 ALTA Owner’s Policy and the 2021 ALTA Loan Policy, if applicable:

The DTIRB-89 (ALTA Endorsement 34.1) (Identified Exception and Identified Risk Coverage) (7-1-21) can be issued with either the 2006 or 2021 ALTA Policies.

The 2006 versions of these endorsements must be issued with the 2006 ALTA Owner’s Policy and the 2006 ALTA Loan Policy.

The following ALTA endorsements have not been revised and may be issued with the 2006 and the 2021 ALTA Policies, if applicable.

The following Closing Protection Letter is effective in the State of Delaware as of April 1, 2023.

2022 DTIRB Delaware Seller Closing Protection Letter – Single Transaction

The following Closing Protection Letter has been withdrawn by Stewart Title Company effective in the State of Delaware as of April 1, 2023.

DTIRB Delaware Seller Closing Protection Letter – Single Transaction, as Modified by DTIRB, October 1, 2019

Decertification of the 2006 ALTA Forms is scheduled to occur, but the decertification will not prohibit use of the 2006 ALTA Forms. While we prefer to use the 2021 ALTA Forms if acceptable and available in the particular market, we will continue to make the 2006 ALTA Forms available if they are requested by your customers.

As a reminder, the most current version of the ALTA form available in each state for issuance with the applicable version of the ALTA Policy should be used, unless approved by a Stewart underwriter.

In addition to the adoption of the new forms, there were several minor changes to the Delaware Rate Manual. These changes include the following:

• Section 4 (“Endorsements and Rates”) and Section 6 (“Approved Forms”) in the current version of the Rate Manual have been combined into one section, being Section 4 (“Approved Endorsements and Rates”), in the revised version.
• Section 7 (“Supplemental Charges”) in the current version of the Rate Manual is Section 6 in the revised version due to the elimination of the previous Section 6 in the revised version as described above.
• Section 3.10 (“Assignment of Mortgage”) in the current version of the Rate Manual has been revised to include instructions for issuing DTIRB-85 and DTIRB-86 endorsements. Specifically, subsection C has been replaced and expanded in subsections C and D regarding insuring the effectiveness of post-policy assignments and assignments of previously insured mortgages.
• Section 3.11 (“Extension or Modification of an Insured Mortgage”) has been revised to include instructions for issuing a DTIRB-87 endorsement. A new subsection D has been added to the revised version and reads, “Notwithstanding subparagraph C of this Section, if no owner’s policy is being purchased and an extension or modification of an insured construction mortgage results in the addition of new property(ties) within the same subdivision (but not an increase in the original principal amount of the mortgage), the Loan Policy Rate for a DTIRB-87 endorsement to an existing policy issued in conjunction with such extension or modification agreement shall be charged from dollar one based upon the value of the then current fair market value of the unimproved new property(ies).”

Please contact Property Info Customer Care at customercare@stewart.com or your title production software vendor to have the new forms uploaded to your system.

If you have any questions relating to this or other bulletins, please contact a Stewart Title Guaranty Company underwriter.

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