Commercial growth is picking up speed. New retail centers, warehouses, and mixed-use projects are moving through financing faster than ever. But faster growth means lenders are asking harder questions before they release funds. And most of those questions start with the ALTA survey.
An ALTA survey is often the last thing standing between a signed deal and a delayed one. Developers assume that once the survey is done, the lender will simply accept it. That’s not always true. Lenders look for specific answers, and if those answers aren’t clear, the deal stalls.
Here are the five questions lenders raise most often, and what developers should know before they get asked.
Does the Legal Description on the Survey Match the Title Commitment Word-for-Word?
This sounds small. It isn’t.
Lenders compare the legal description of the survey to the one in the title commitment line by line. If the bearings, distances, or boundary calls don’t match exactly, the survey gets sent back.
Even a small rounding error can cause a rejection. A distance listed as 150.02 feet on one document and 150.00 feet on another might seem harmless. To an underwriter, it’s a red flag.
The fix is simple enough. Have the surveyor and title company compare both descriptions side by side before anything goes to underwriting. Catching a mismatch early, even a small one, saves a lot of back and forth later.
Is There a Gap, Gore, or Overlap With the Neighboring Parcel?
This one surprises a lot of developers. A gap, also called a gore, is a strip of land that sits between two properties but isn’t legally part of either one. An overlap is the opposite problem, where both parcels claim the same land.
These issues are rare, but they happen more often in older subdivisions or areas where parcels were split multiple times over the years. Lenders won’t fund a deal with an unresolved gap or overlap because it creates a hole in the title insurance coverage.
It’s worth asking the surveyor directly whether anything like this shows up on the neighboring parcels. If a gap exists, it needs to be resolved with the neighboring owner. If it’s an overlap, that gets cleared through title work, and both take time, so the earlier this comes up, the better.
Can the Property Legally Access a Public Road?
Physical access isn’t the same as legal access. A property might have a driveway that connects to a road, but that doesn’t mean the access is documented and insurable.
Lenders want proof. They want to see either direct frontage on a public road or a recorded easement that guarantees access. Without that proof, the property is considered landlocked in the eyes of the lender, even if people drive in and out of it every day.
That means pulling the recorded easement documents early instead of waiting until closing week. It’s also worth checking whether the easement has any restrictions that could limit commercial use down the road.
Will the Surveyor’s Certification Name Every Required Party?
This is one of the most overlooked steps in the entire process. The certification block on an ALTA survey has to list specific parties by their exact legal names. That usually means the borrower, the lender, and the title company.
A perfectly accurate survey can still get rejected if the certification is missing a name or has the wrong entity name listed. Lenders can’t rely on a survey that isn’t certified to them directly.
The safest approach is confirming the exact legal names of everyone involved before the survey gets finalized, then sharing that list with the surveyor early. A small typo in an entity name is enough to send the whole thing back.
Is the Survey Still “Fresh” Enough by the Time the Deal Closes?
Surveys have a shelf life. Most lenders won’t accept one that’s older than 90 to 120 days by the time the deal closes. This becomes a real problem when financing takes longer than expected, which happens often during periods of strong commercial growth.
A deal that gets delayed by a slow appraisal or a lender’s internal review can push the survey past its valid window. When that happens, the lender may require a recertification, which costs time and money that could have been avoided.
Keeping an eye on the survey date throughout the closing process helps here. If delays start piling up, it’s better to get ahead of it and request a recertification before the lender asks for one.
What This Means for Your Closing Timeline
Lenders aren’t trying to make the process harder. They’re protecting their investment, and a clean, well-documented ALTA survey is one of the clearest ways to do that. Developers who understand these five questions ahead of time can avoid the back-and-forth that slows deals down.
A little preparation early on goes a long way. Confirm the legal description, check for gaps or overlaps, document access, get the certification right, and watch the clock on the survey’s validity. Handle those five things, and your closing timeline tends to move a lot smoother.
