Buying a property? Refinancing a shopping center? Planning a redevelopment? Each deal calls for different survey information. That’s where ALTA Table A comes in.
Table A lists optional items a surveyor can add to a standard ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey. Since February 23, 2026, the 2026 ALTA/NSPS standards govern these surveys in Maryland and across the country, replacing the 2021 edition. Table A still lists optional items, numbered 1 through 20, plus a catch-all Item 21 for anything else.
Picking the wrong items wastes money. Skipping the right ones can delay your closing.
1. Start With the Decision the Survey Must Support
Don’t copy a Table A list from a past deal. Start with what this deal actually needs.
Ask a few plain questions first:
- Is the property being purchased, refinanced, leased, or redeveloped?
- Does the lender need details on parking, access, zoning setbacks, or utilities?
- Does the title insurer need certain conditions shown before it will remove or change survey exceptions?
- Will an architect or engineer use this survey after closing?
Your answers point you toward the right items. A lender financing a warehouse cares about different things than an investor buying raw land.
One more point worth stating plainly: Table A adds to the standard survey. It doesn’t replace the required boundary work, field measurements, mapping, title-document review, or the surveyor’s certification. Those parts happen no matter what you pick from Table A.
2. Separate Closing-Critical Details From Information That Is Merely Helpful
Not every item on Table A carries the same weight. Sort requested items into three groups:
- What the lender or title insurer needs. Missing this can stall or sink your closing.
- What the buyer needs for due diligence. This helps you understand what you’re buying.
- What might help future design or building work. Useful later, not urgent now.
Requesting every item on the list sounds safe. It isn’t. It adds time and cost for information nobody will use. Skipping a closing-critical item is worse. That can trigger extra field work or a delayed closing right when you can least afford it.
Think about the property type. Parking counts matter for a retail center. Building measurements matter for an industrial building. Vertical relief information, meaning ground contours and elevation data, tends to matter more when redevelopment is planned. Table A also covers zoning details, utilities, adjoining ownership, and off-site easements. Pick based on the deal in front of you, not a generic template.
3. Identify Which Requested Items Depend on Outside Documents
Here’s something buyers and lenders often miss: checking a box on Table A doesn’t hand the surveyor everything needed to complete that item. Some items depend on records from you or another party.
A few examples:
- Zoning information needs a report or letter given to the surveyor. The surveyor can’t guess your zoning classification.
- Utility information may need site plans, utility company reports, or coordinated private utility markings in the field.
- Government agency requirements come from the client or the client’s representative, not from the surveyor’s own research.
- Off-site easements must show up in documents given to, or found by, the surveyor.
Before fieldwork starts, get the buyer, lender, title company, attorney, and surveyor talking about who supplies each document and when. A missing report can hold up your whole survey.
4. Review Maryland and Local Requirements Before Treating an Item as Optional
Table A calls its items “optional.” That word can be misleading. A given item might already be required under Maryland law, a state administrative rule, or a county or city ordinance, regardless of what Table A says.
The 2026 standards direct surveyors to follow the rules in the property’s jurisdiction and apply whichever standard is stricter when there’s a conflict. So ask your licensed surveyor directly: is this item already required because of where the property sits?
Requirements shift by county and by property type. A package that works for one Maryland county might not fit another. Don’t assume a single standard list applies statewide. Ask each time.
5. Put the Final Table A Scope in Writing Before Fieldwork Begins
Settle the full list before the surveyor starts work. A written scope should spell out:
- The exact numbered items and subparts you’re requesting
- Any changes to standard wording
- Who supplies zoning, utility, agency, or title records, and when
- The delivery date and format you need
- Any property-specific work that falls outside Items 1 through 20
Under the 2026 standards, the wording and fee for Items 1 through 20 can be negotiated between you and the surveyor. Anything beyond that gets written up as Item 21(a), 21(b), and so on. If you want a full engineering design survey, say so under Item 21. Don’t assume Items 5 or 11 alone will cover it. They won’t.
The right Table A list usually comes from early conversation. Get the buyer, lender, title insurer, attorney, and your surveyor talking before you sign off.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does every commercial property need the same ALTA Table A items?
No. The right selections depend on the property, the deal, lender needs, title concerns, planned use, and what information the parties want from the survey. A package that fits a warehouse won’t necessarily fit an apartment building, an office property, or an open lot.
Who should approve the Table A selections before the survey is ordered?
The client should work through the selections with the lender, title insurer, attorney, and surveyor together. This confirms the survey covers what the deal needs, without adding items nobody asked for.
Can Table A wording be changed for a particular transaction?
Yes. Under the 2026 standards, the exact wording of Items 1 through 20 can be negotiated between the client and surveyor. Any change to that wording has to be spelled out on the survey. Extra items beyond the standard list get identified under Item 21.
Does selecting the utility item guarantee the exact location of underground utilities?
No. Item 11 draws on set sources, such as client-provided plans or coordinated private utility markings. Without digging, underground features can’t always be shown accurately, completely, or reliably.
Should Table A Item 5 be selected when the property will be redeveloped?
It can help. Item 5 covers vertical relief, contours, datum, and where the elevation data came from. But Item 5 by itself isn’t a full engineering design survey. If you need design-level work, the 2026 standards say to negotiate that separately under Item 21.
