How an ALTA Survey Helps Remove Survey Exceptions

Buying commercial land comes with an extra layer of paperwork most buyers don’t expect. Title companies flag something called a survey exception on almost every commercial deal. It sounds scary. It isn’t, if you know how to clear it. An ALTA survey is the tool that does the clearing. Here’s how it works, and why the process looks a little different here than in other states.

The “Standard Survey Exception” vs. the “Specific Exception”: What Actually Gets Deleted

Every commercial title policy starts with broad, boilerplate language. This is the standard survey exception. It protects the title company from anything a survey might find, because without a survey, nobody knows what’s actually on the ground.

An ALTA survey changes that. Once a licensed surveyor maps the property, checks the boundaries, and notes any encroachments or easements, the title company has real facts to work with. At that point, they can drop the broad exception.

But dropping the broad exception doesn’t mean the policy is now perfect. If the survey finds something specific, like a shed that crosses the property line, the title company adds a new, narrower exception naming that exact issue. This is a specific exception. It’s smaller and easier to deal with. You can negotiate it, insure around it, or fix it before closing. That’s the real value of the survey. It turns an unknown risk into a known, manageable one.

Why Connecticut’s Town-Recorded Land System Makes This Process Different

Most states organize land records by county. Connecticut doesn’t. Connecticut got rid of county government back in the 1960s. Land records live at the town clerk’s office instead, spread across 169 separate towns.

This matters for surveyors and title companies. It means legal descriptions and old maps aren’t standardized the way they might be elsewhere. One town’s records office might have crisp, modern filed maps. The next town over might have handwritten deeds from decades ago that describe boundaries in vague terms.

This patchwork history is one reason survey exceptions show up more often. A surveyor has to dig through town-specific archives, compare old deeds to current conditions, and sort out any gaps before a title company will feel comfortable removing an exception.

Stone Walls, Colonial-Era Lot Lines, and Monument Disputes Unique to New England Parcels

Connecticut has some of the oldest surveyed land in the country. Many rural and shoreline parcels still use boundary markers from centuries ago, like stone walls, old fence lines, or trees mentioned by name in a deed.

These are called monuments. In New England, they often carry more legal weight than the exact measurements written in a deed. If a stone wall has stood in the same spot for 200 years, courts and surveyors may treat it as the true boundary, even if it doesn’t perfectly match the distances on paper.

A licensed surveyor’s job is to track down these old monuments, compare them to the recorded deed, and figure out whether they still line up. When they don’t match, that mismatch becomes a survey exception until it’s resolved. This is a distinctly Connecticut problem. Newer states with grid-based subdivisions rarely deal with centuries-old stone walls defining property lines.

How Coastal and Wetlands Regulation Triggers Additional Exceptions in CT

Connecticut has strict rules protecting wetlands and its coastline. The Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Act covers marshes, streams, and low-lying areas across the state. Add in the tidal zones along Long Island Sound, and you get another layer of boundaries that don’t show up on a basic property map.

These environmental lines affect what you can build and where. If a title company doesn’t know exactly where a wetland boundary or tidal setback falls, they’ll add an exception to protect themselves.

An ALTA survey maps these lines directly onto the property. Once the wetland boundary or setback is documented and confirmed, the title company can narrow the exception to something specific and workable, instead of leaving it open-ended. For developers planning to build near water or wetlands, this step often decides how much usable land they actually have.

Working with Connecticut’s Attorney-Conducted Closings to Get Exceptions Lifted in Time

Connecticut does closings differently than most states. Instead of using an escrow or settlement company, closings here are handled directly by real estate attorneys. This affects timing.

An attorney needs the ALTA survey in hand well before the title commitment is finalized. If the survey shows up late, there’s no time left to negotiate or clear anything the survey finds. The exception just stays on the policy, and the buyer closes with unresolved risk.

The fix is simple. Order the survey at the start of due diligence, not after the title commitment already exists. Give the surveyor, the attorney, and the title underwriter enough time to talk to each other. In Connecticut, that early start is often the difference between a clean closing and a rushed one.