Title, Survey, and the Problems That Surface Late

Who is actually doing this

Separate from your lender and your agent, a title company or real estate attorney is researching the property's ownership history. They are answering one question: can the seller convey clear ownership, and is there anything attached to this property that follows it to you.

You will barely interact with them until closing. Then, sometimes, a problem appears with two weeks left.

What a title search turns up

Liens. Unpaid contractor work, tax liens, judgments against the owner, an old mortgage that was paid but never formally released. That last one is more common than you would think, and it takes time to clear because it requires a response from an institution that has no urgency.

Heirs and estate issues. A property that passed through an estate where the paperwork was not completed cleanly. These can take a while.

Easements. Someone else has a right to use part of the property — a utility, a neighbor's access. Usually routine, occasionally significant.

Restrictions and covenants. Recorded limits on use. Worth actually reading if you have plans for the property.

Open permits. Work that was permitted and never closed out. This one is quietly one of the most common, especially with older homes, and it can be slow to resolve because it involves a municipality.

Owner's title insurance

The lender requires a policy protecting the lender's interest. A separate owner's policy protects yours, and it is optional.

Take it. A title defect discovered years later is a problem you cannot fix retroactively, and the cost is small relative to what it covers. In Florida the seller customarily pays for it in many counties, so it may not even be your cost — but do not skip it if it is.

The survey

A survey establishes boundaries and shows what is on the land relative to them. What it turns up:

Encroachments. A fence, shed, driveway, or pool deck crossing a boundary line — in either direction. Resolution ranges from a simple agreement to something genuinely complicated.

Structures in easements. A shed built over a utility easement. The utility retains its rights regardless of what is sitting there.

Setback violations. Something built closer to a boundary than local rules allow.

Discrepancies with the legal description. Rare, and slow to fix when it happens.

Unpermitted work

This deserves its own section because it is the one that most often surprises buyers, and it connects to more than title.

An addition, an enclosed patio, a converted garage, a second kitchen — done without permits. It can affect the appraisal, because unpermitted square footage may not be counted toward value. It can affect insurance, because a carrier may not cover work it cannot verify. And it can affect the loan, because a lender is generally not willing to lend against a structure that a municipality could order removed.

Options are narrow: the seller pursues permitting retroactively, which takes time and may require exposing work for inspection; the work is removed; or the deal adjusts to reflect it. All three take longer than the contract usually allows, which is why finding it early matters so much.

Ask for permit history at offer stage. Most counties make it searchable online in about ten minutes.

How to keep this from becoming a delay

• Get title work opened immediately after going under contract. The single biggest factor in whether a title issue is a delay or a non-event is how much runway it has.
• Order the survey early, especially on a property with visible fencing, outbuildings, or a pool.
• Pull permit history yourself before your inspection window closes.
• Read the title commitment when it arrives instead of filing it. The exceptions section is the part that matters.
• Ask about payoff timing if the seller has an existing mortgage — an institution that is slow to produce a payoff letter can move a closing date on its own.

If something surfaces

Most title items are solvable. What determines the outcome is almost always time, so the response to "there is an issue on title" is a same-day phone call among the title company, both agents, and me — not an email thread that takes four days to converge.

Tell me as soon as you hear about it. The version of this that goes badly is the one where everyone assumes someone else is handling it.