Mortgage Inspection

A Mortgage Inspection does not approach the standards of other survey categories, though by the provisions of Section 5 of the Illinois Professional Land Survey Act of 1989 [225 ILCS 330/5] the services of an Illinois Professional Land Surveyor are required. A mortgage inspection is not a type of boundary survey or ALTA/ACSM survey and does not constitute a boundary survey of the subject real property. A mortgage inspection includes field investigation, measurements and graphic representation of improvements.

1. Purpose. The mortgage inspection is intended for use by a mortgage lender and/or title insurer and is only a professional opinion of the relationship of improvements with respect to the deed lines and the existence, location and type of building on the property, the intent of which is to assist in the determination of the property’s suitability to serve as collateral for a mortgage. It is not an opinion as to deed, title or platted lines. It is not to be used in matters of boundary disputes, legal actions between landowners, or for construction purposes. No new legal descriptions can be created from a mortgage inspection.
2. Product. A complete mortgage inspection will produce a drawing entitled “Mortgage Inspection” and, if required, a written report of the surveyor’s findings and determinations.
3. Information.

A) The following information shall be furnished by the client and/or his/her agent:

i) Legal description and address for the tract of land.

ii) Copy of commitment of title insurance for the tract of land, if possible.

B) The following information shall be obtained by the surveyor:

i) Copy of recorded subdivision plats (if applicable).

ii) Recorded section corner tie monuments and original government surveys (if applicable).

iii) Other necessary surveying information.

4) Monuments. No monuments shall be set.

5) Tolerances. Tolerances cannot be mandated for a mortgage inspection since the very nature of recovering deed lines and other information for that purpose precludes a rigid adherence to any standard value.

6) Field Procedures. The following procedures should generally be considered as minimum, but deviations as dictated by specific conditions shall be allowed:

A) Preliminary search and recovery of existing monument evidence.

B) Field location of tract through measurement from some controlling locations, such as: street intersection, subdivision corner, section corners, etc., sufficient to eliminate the possibility of gross error in location of the premises.

C) Through field measurements, locate and dimension relevant improvements.

D) If evidence of deed lines does not exist, the surveyor is obligated to refuse to perform a mortgage inspection until satisfactory evidence is obtained, either through a boundary survey or a land title survey.

E) If evidence exists of the possibility that the improvements on the subject property or adjoining property are on or very near the apparent deed lines, the surveyor is obligated to note his/her findings and recommend that a boundary survey or land title survey be performed.

7) Drawing.

A) Minimum size: 8½” x 11″.

B) The drawing shall be entitled:

MORTGAGE INSPECTION THIS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A BOUNDARY SURVEY

(The above two lines shall be of the same letter size and shall be twice the letter size of all other lettering on the drawing.)

C) A North arrow, scale of drawing, date and drawing legend shall be included.

D) Building dimensions and type of structure shall be shown.

E) Boundary dimensions shown shall be based on the public record or description provided; field measurements do not need to be shown.

F) No dimensional ties from structures or other improvements to apparent deed lines are required.

G) The legal description of the tract shall be given on the face of the drawing.

H) Use of the word “survey” in the title, or any implication in a certification that this drawing represents a “survey”, is prohibited.

I) Professional land surveyor seal, signature, date of signing, and license expiration date. Rubber-stamp signatures, computer-generated signatures or other reproduced signatures are prohibited.

J) Address of the tract.

K) No found corner, boundary line or other survey monumentation shall be shown on the drawing.

L) Preceding the legal description and in the same size letters as the legal description the following statement shall appear:

“This mortgage inspection and drawing is not a boundary survey or plat of survey. This mortgage inspection was prepared to assist the mortgage company and title insurance company and is not to be used for any purposes of boundary disputes, location of actual deed, title or platted lines, or for construction of new improvements. Graphic representation shall be deemed approximate and no reliance should be placed on the scale of the drawing.”

M) The following statement shall be placed immediately above the signature of the surveyor and in the same size letters as the legal description:

“This professional service conforms to the current Illinois minimum standards of practice for a mortgage inspection and is not a boundary survey.”