Understanding the New Table A Item 20 in the 2026 ALTA/NSPS Standards

Table A Item 20 is a new optional item in the 2026 ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey Standards. When a client requests it, the surveyor produces a summary table of significant conditions observed during the survey, such as potential encroachments, setback concerns, and access issues. It doesn’t create new findings. It pulls what’s already on the survey and puts it in one place.

The ALTA/NSPS Standards follow a roughly six-year revision cycle. The 2026 edition follows the 2021 edition, and Item 20 is one of the more notable additions in this round.

Why the Industry Needed Table A Item 20

ALTA/NSPS surveys have grown more detailed over time. A single commercial survey can span dozens of sheets covering boundary lines, easements, encroachments, utilities, and access conditions. Every party in a transaction, including the lender, the title insurer, the buyer’s attorney, and the developer, had to review those sheets independently to find what mattered most to them.

That process is slow. It also leaves room for something important to slip through.

The ALTA/NSPS Standards Committee responded to direct industry feedback: surveys didn’t have a built-in way to surface critical findings without a full document review. Commercial transactions typically run on a 30-to-45-day due diligence window. Survey review is just one of several things happening at the same time, so the pressure is real.

Item 20 addresses that directly. The surveyor compiles the most significant observations already identified during the survey into a single table. One document. One pass.

What Goes Into a Table A Item 20 Summary

The summary can include any of the following observed conditions:

• Potential encroachments: structures or improvements that appear to cross property lines or easement boundaries
• Setback concerns: buildings or features that may sit closer to setback lines than zoning allows
• Access issues: questions about whether the property has legal access to a public road
• Other notable physical conditions: anything observed in the field that could affect the use or transfer of the property

The key word is “observed.” The surveyor records what they can see and measure on the ground. The table collects those observations and puts them front and center. It doesn’t interpret them, assign legal meaning to them, or settle ownership questions.

Think of it as a highlight reel pulled from the full survey. Nothing in the summary is new. All of it was already documented.

How Item 20 Supports Due Diligence

The 2026 Standards now include 21 optional Table A items. Item 20 is one of the few that directly addresses how survey findings get communicated to non-surveyor reviewers, which is where much of the value sits.

Each party in a commercial transaction reads a survey through a different lens:

Stakeholder	What They’re Looking For
Lenders	Conditions that could affect loan security
Title Companies	Potential encroachments before issuing a commitment
Buyers and Investors	Physical concerns before closing
Developers	Setback or access issues that affect site planning
Attorneys	Conditions that may need legal resolution

Item 20 doesn’t replace a full survey review. It gives every party a faster starting point, and it reduces the chance that a significant observation gets missed because it appeared on page 18 of a complex drawing set.

What a Surveyor Is Not Doing With Item 20

This is worth being clear about. The 2026 Standards are explicit: surveyors are not providing legal opinions, making ownership determinations, or drawing conclusions about whether an observed condition creates a legal problem.

The surveyor’s role is observation and documentation. Item 20 doesn’t change that.

A practical example: if a surveyor observes a fence that appears to cross the boundary line by four feet, that goes into the summary. Whether that fence creates an encroachment claim, and what to do about it, belongs to the attorney and the title company. The surveyor’s role ends at “here’s what I saw.”

That distinction matters for liability. It also keeps the survey focused on what surveyors are qualified to do.

When to Request Table A Item 20

Item 20 is optional, so it won’t fit every project. It adds the most value when a transaction is complex and multiple parties need to review the same survey.

Good candidates include:

• Commercial acquisitions where several stakeholders are reviewing the survey
• Refinancing transactions where a lender wants to confirm no new physical concerns exist
• Development projects where setbacks, easements, and access issues affect site design
• Properties with multiple buildings or parcels covered by a single survey
• Deals with investors, co-lenders, or joint venture partners, each doing independent review

It’s less useful for straightforward, single-use properties with a small review team. A simple net lease on a small retail pad probably doesn’t need it. A multi-building industrial portfolio almost certainly does.

The added scope is generally modest. Item 20 draws from observations the surveyor already made during the standard survey process. In most cases, it doesn’t require new fieldwork.