The client requesting an ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey should identify who controls entry and, when required, secure permission for the surveyor to enter. A buyer under contract may not yet possess the site. Access to adjoining property or an offsite easement may require separate coordination. Resolve these permissions before treating a field date as confirmed.
Map the places the surveyor may need to reach
Send the surveyor the site address, parcel identification, owner or property-manager contact, gate and building procedures, tenant restrictions, safety requirements, and available access windows. Ask whether the agreed survey scope requires entry beyond the principal parcel. The 2026 ALTA/NSPS standards state in Section 2 that the client shall secure permission when required for entry onto the surveyed property, adjoining properties, or offsite easements.
Do not assume a seller’s permission to inspect the main lot includes a locked utility area, occupied building, neighboring parcel, or an easement across a third party’s land. Confirm who will contact each party and whether the surveyor can perform the planned fieldwork in the available window. Tell the surveyor about known hazards and site rules; the field team should determine its own safe work plan.
Make restrictions visible in the scope
If an area cannot be reached, discuss the effect with the surveyor and transaction team. The surveyor may need additional records, another visit, or a note about a limitation, depending on what the assignment requires and what the evidence supports. A schedule promise should not assume access that has not been granted.
Send a single access brief to the buyer, seller contact, surveyor, and site representative. Include the person who can open the site, the areas covered by permission, time restrictions, and a contact for changes. That record gives the field team a practical start and the transaction team a clear view of what remains unresolved.
Terrane’s ALTA survey service can be scoped against the property and transaction; access is one of the inputs to settle before mobilization.
Site access is one part of the purchase investigation. Use our pre-acquisition due diligence checklist to coordinate it with the other information needed before committing to the property.
