Month: April 2026

The 2026 ALTA Survey Standards Are Here

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What South Carolina Real Estate Attorneys Need to Know

As of February 23, 2026, the 2026 ALTA/NSPS Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for Land Title Surveys officially replaced the 2021 standards. These updates may appear technical at first glance, but for South Carolina real estate attorneys—particularly those handling commercial transactions, development work, and lender representation—the changes carry meaningful legal and practical consequences.

The 2026 Standards reflect evolving technology, shifting risk allocation, and mounting expectations from title insurers and lenders. Attorneys who understand these changes will be better positioned to manage risk, avoid closing delays, and advise clients with confidence.

In South Carolina, ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys are a cornerstone of development due diligence, commercial financing and title insurance underwriting. While surveyors perform the fieldwork, attorneys are often the gatekeepers—reviewing surveys for compliance, identifying red flags, and reconciling survey matters with title commitments.

Any change to the ALTA Standards therefore ripples directly into:

  • Title objection and resolution strategies
  • Closing timelines
  • Survey exceptions and endorsements
  • Risk allocation among buyers, lenders, and insurers

The 2026 Standards were jointly adopted by ALTA and the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) in October 2025 after several years of committee work, with the stated goal of improving clarity, consistency, and adaptability.

A Clear Effective Date—with Transitional Traps

The effective date for the new standards is February 23, 2026. Any ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey contracted for on or after that date must comply with the 2026 Standards unless the parties agree otherwise in writing. Surveys contracted before the effective date may still be governed by the 2021 Standards, even if completed later—but only if that is clearly addressed in the engagement agreement.

For attorneys, this means:

  • Engagement letters and contracts should specify which ALTA standard applies
  • “Survey updates” or revised plats may trigger new standard requirements
  • Ambiguity can expose clients—and counsel—to disputes with lenders or insurers

Technology Is Now Explicitly Embraced

One of the most forward‑looking changes is the shift from requiring information obtained strictly “on the ground” to allowing “practices generally recognized as acceptable” in both fieldwork and mapping. This expressly accommodates modern tools such as drones, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), and other remote‑sensing technologies, without tying the standards to any specific method.  

For attorneys, this reinforces the need to:

  • Review surveys for completeness, not methodology
  • Understand that aerial or remote data may now support certain depictions
  • Counsel clients that innovation alone is not grounds for objection

Expanded Documentation of Possession and Occupation

Perhaps the most practically significant change is the requirement that evidence of possession or occupation be noted along the entire perimeter of the property, regardless of proximity to boundary lines. This exceeds prior standards, which often focused only on near‑boundary features.

This change:

  • Increases the likelihood that surveys will reveal fence lines, uses, or improvements suggesting potential boundary or prescriptive issues
  • Elevates the importance of attorney review and follow‑up
  • May increase survey‑related title objections and negotiation

Parol Statements Must Be Noted

Closely tied to evidence of possession and occupation, under the 2026 Standards, surveyors must note any verbal (“parol”) statements made by landowners or occupants relating to title or boundary issues.

For attorneys, this is a double‑edged sword:

  • It may surface issues earlier in the transaction
  • It also introduces non‑record information that may complicate underwriting, disclosures, and risk tolerance

These notations do not constitute legal opinions, but they should never be ignored during diligence.

Title Evidence and Research Responsibilities Are Clarified

The 2026 Standards expand guidance on how surveyors source title evidence when a current title commitment is unavailable, and they more clearly acknowledge shared responsibility between surveyors and title professionals for obtaining certain documents.

South Carolina attorneys should:

  • Provide current title commitments early whenever possible
  • Clearly communicate expectations regarding easement depiction
  • Coordinate closely with surveyors on complex tracts or non‑fee interests

Table A Gets a Notable Update

The optional Table A items remain a critical tool for tailoring survey scope. In 2026:

  • Item 15 was clarified to allow certain depictions via aerial or satellite imagery if agreed to in writing
  • A new Item 20 requires a summary table of conditions and potential encroachments on the face of the survey—intended as a factual summary, not a legal conclusion
  • The former “catch‑all” or blank item has been renumbered as Item 21

Attorneys should carefully align Table A selections with lender and client expectations.

Practice Takeaways for South Carolina Real Estate Attorneys

The 2026 Standards raise the bar—not by radical change, but by greater disclosure and clearer expectations. Attorneys should update internal checklists, educate clients, and adjust survey review practices accordingly.

Hilton Head Dredging and the Question of Public Benefit

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Now that Rory McElroy’s repeat victory at the Masters is in the books[1], the golfing world will turn its attention to scenic Hilton Head Island. It is there that the Harbour Town Golf Links at Sea Pines Resort will host the 58th edition of the RBC Heritage golf tournament later this week. For a long time, the Heritage was the only permanent PGA event in South Carolina[2] and quite a few South Carolina residents and golf fanatics from across the world make the trek down to Sea Pines to take in the action each year.  

That makes today’s blog a particularly appropriate time to discuss the ongoing legal battle over public funding for the dredging of the waterways around Sea Pines Resort, which made news again this month. If you have ever worked or vacationed around Hilton Head Island, you are probably aware that boating culture is a significant part of overall appeal of the Island and it also figures nicely into the presentation of the televised golf tournament.

The controversy is somewhat simple. The physics of the waterways around the Harbour Town Yacht Basin and nearby Braddock Cove Creek are such that periodic dredging of the waters is necessary to allow navigation of the waters in all tides.  

For a time, the cost of the dredging was born by the South Island Dredging Association (SIDA), a coalition of various Sea Pines owners’ associations, private slip owners, and marinas located in or near the local waterways. However, recent rounds of dredgings have become controversial both for the impact on the surrounding Calibogue Sound and the Town of Hilton Head’s decision in the last few rounds to start allocating public funds towards the project.

In 2022, resident Ryan McAvoy filed suit seeking to enjoin the Town from contributing $600,000 in public funds towards the next round of dredging. McAvoy claims that the Town’s allocation of the funds to the project violated the South Carolina Constitution because it allocated public funds primarily for the benefit of private gated communities, private owners of homes and boating slips, and private marinas from which the public is barred.

While there is no doubt that that the waterways in question are contiguous to the private communities contained within Sea Pines and contain private marinas that are restricted from public use, the Town of Hilton Head argues the waterways in question are navigable waters of the United States that are themselves open to the public and that the Town and its residents benefit from the use of the improved waterways and from the resulting tourism generated from the boating community being able to use the waters to access public areas.

In 2024, a Circuit Court judge granted the Town’s motion to dismiss McAvoy’s lawsuit on the ground that the waters to be dredged are public waterways. However, the breaking news from last week is that the Court of Appeals reversed the decision and ordered a new trial finding that the Circuit Court had mistakenly focused its decision on whether the waterways were public vs private. Instead, the trial court should have determined whether there is a public benefit to the Town’s action. The Court of Appeals found sufficient evidence in the record supporting McAvoy’s argument that the dredging primarily accrued to the benefit of private interests for the matter to continue towards a full trial. 

This recent case is just the latest example of the controversy that can come from using public funds in support of what some in the community may see as providing limited or tangential benefit to the public at large. The balance between determining private vs public benefit can often be tricky to quantify. Similar arguments (and lawsuits) have erupted in the past over the public benefit of beach renourishment, government funding of infrastructure for private businesses, and is not so far removed from past controversies concerning government use of the power of eminent domain to further private redevelopment. Whenever the public perceives that the beneficiary of government action is a private entity or a group of private parties, you can bet that there will be drama and oftentimes litigation.

While we will have to wait and see the ultimate outcome for the boaters of Hilton Head, real estate professionals and developers alike must consider the possible implications of public opposition whenever it brings in the government for assistance in these kinds of projects.

[1] My children’s rooting interests died with Scottie Scheffler’s parade of “near miss” pars that fell just a swing stroke short. It has been an up and down month of sports fandom for our household. 

[2] My colleague David Hicks reminds me that the third annual Myrtle Beach Classic will tee off in May.