Lenders and title companies do not read an ALTA survey the same way a buyer does. They scan it for risk. A missing Table A item, an encroachment near a setback line, or a mismatch with the title commitment can stall a closing for weeks. If you are developing property, knowing what underwriters actually check can save you a second survey trip and a delayed loan.
Here is what lenders and title companies look for, and why it matters more here than in most states.
Which Table A Items Do Lenders Actually Require?
Most commercial lenders require Table A Items 1, 2, 3, 4, 6a, 6b, 7a, 8, 9, 11b, and 13. This is not the full menu. It is the short list lenders trust to answer the questions that matter most to a loan file: does the property match its legal description, are there flood risks, and does the site meet zoning setbacks.
Lenders standardize around this shorter list because it keeps review times consistent. A loan officer looking at surveys from five different states wants the same core items every time. Adding extra items slows down review without adding much protection.
The list can shift with the deal. A multi-family loan often adds Item 18, which covers wetlands. A larger commercial loan may call for Item 16, which covers recent earth-moving or construction activity. Smaller loans on simple parcels sometimes drop Item 8, which covers substantial features like parking lots or major structures, if the site is vacant land.
What Survey Findings Can Delay or Kill a Closing?
From the underwriter’s side, four kinds of findings cause real problems.
Encroachments crossing setback lines. If a building, wall, or paved area crosses a required setback, the lender sees a zoning violation risk. This often needs a variance or a corrective action before funding.
Undisclosed easements inside the building envelope. An easement that was not in the title commitment but shows up on the survey can restrict where you are allowed to build. Lenders will not fund until this gets resolved or insured around.
Access problems on landlocked or shared-driveway parcels. Hawaii has a fair number of parcels that rely on a shared driveway or an easement for legal access. If that access is not recorded properly, the lender treats the property as landlocked, which kills financing until it is fixed.
Flood zone mismatches. If the survey’s flood zone designation does not match FEMA’s Flood Insurance Rate Map for that parcel, the lender will not move forward until the discrepancy is explained or corrected. This shows up often on coastal Oahu and Maui parcels where flood zones changed after a map update.
How Title Companies Use an ALTA Survey to Remove Policy Exceptions
Every title commitment starts with a standard survey exception. This exception protects the title company from any boundary or encroachment problem that a survey would have revealed. It also means the buyer’s title policy does not cover those risks.
A certified ALTA survey lets the title company review actual boundary lines, easements, and encroachments. If the survey shows no serious issues, the title company can delete or narrow that exception.
This matters for two reasons. First, it gives the buyer real coverage against boundary disputes. Second, it gives the lender confidence that their collateral is not tied up in an unresolved boundary fight. Without the survey, both parties are covered by hope rather than facts.
Red Flags Unique to Hawaii Properties: Kuleana Rights, Lava Zones, and Shared Access
Hawaii carries a few risks that mainland underwriters do not deal with often.
Kuleana land claims. Under Hawaii’s kuleana lands system, native tenants and their descendants may hold rights to access or gather on parcels even when they do not hold formal title to the larger parcel. These rights trace back to the Kuleana Act of 1850 and can still surface on older TMK (Tax Map Key) parcels today. A surveyor familiar with Hawaii title history knows to check for these claims before the survey goes final.
Lava zone designations. On the Big Island, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaii Volcano Observatory maps rank land into lava flow hazard zones, from Zone 1, the highest risk, to Zone 9, the lowest. Some lenders and insurers price risk, or decline coverage, based on which zone a parcel sits in. This detail almost never appears on a mainland ALTA survey checklist.
Shared or “paper” roads. Many rural Hawaii subdivisions were platted decades ago with roads that exist on paper but were never built, or that later became informal shared driveways. A survey needs to confirm whether legal access actually exists on the ground, not just on the recorded map.
What Happens When the Survey and the Title Commitment Don’t Match?
Mismatches happen more than people expect. The legal description in the title commitment might not line up with what the surveyor finds on the ground.
Usually the surveyor flags the discrepancy first, since they are the one measuring the actual parcel. From there, the title company decides how to fix it. Sometimes it is a simple scrivener’s error in an old deed. Other times it requires a boundary line agreement between neighbors, or a new legal description recorded before closing.
The surveyor does not have authority to change legal descriptions. That is the title company’s job, usually with input from a real estate attorney. The surveyor’s role is to document what is actually there so the correction is accurate.
For developers working on tight timelines, the fix is simple: order the ALTA survey early, and get title documents to the surveyor before the first draft, not after. That single change avoids most of the delays described above.
