The Survey Question That Always Shows Up a Week Before Closing
“Do we need a new survey?”
On a Texas resale, that question should get answered the day the contract is signed. Too often it gets answered nine days before closing, when the title company looks at a 2011 survey, sees no pool on it, and the backyard has one. Now somebody has to order a survey in a hurry, and nobody agreed on who’s paying for it.
The answer lives in two places: ¶6C of the contract, and one of two Texas Department of Insurance forms, the T-47 or the T-47.1. This guide is for agents writing the contract and TCs managing the title side. It’s written from TREC’s One to Four Family Residential Contract (20-19) and TDI’s T-47 and T-47.1.
Not legal advice. Practical guidance from people who manage these files every day.
¶6C: Three Boxes, Pick One
The contract starts with a requirement: the survey has to be made by a registered professional land surveyor “acceptable to the Title Company and Buyer’s lender(s).” Then the parties check one box.
(1) The seller hands over the existing survey plus a T-47 or T-47.1. Within the days written in, the seller furnishes the old survey and the TDI affidavit or declaration to the buyer and the title company. Two ways this goes sideways:
- The seller doesn’t deliver both on time. The buyer gets a new survey at the seller’s expense, no later than 3 days before the Closing Date.
- The title company or the buyer’s lender won’t accept the existing survey or the affidavit. The buyer gets a new survey at the expense of whoever the box says, seller or buyer, also no later than 3 days before closing.
(2) The buyer gets a new survey at the buyer’s expense. Clean and simple, with one catch straight from the contract: if the buyer fails to get it, they “may not terminate the contract under Paragraph 2B of the Third Party Financing Addendum because the survey was not obtained.”
(3) The seller furnishes a new survey at the seller’s expense. Less common, usually negotiated.
For agents: box (1) is the default for a reason: it’s the cheapest. It only works when the old survey still matches the property. So ask the seller the question nobody asks: what have you built, added or moved since you bought the house? Pool, room addition, new fence line, shed, patio cover. Ask before you check the box, not after title finds it.
T-47 vs T-47.1: Same Promise, Different Paperwork
Both forms make the same statement. Straight from the T-47: since the date of the survey, to the best of the signer’s actual knowledge, there have been no “construction projects such as new structures, additional buildings, rooms, garages, swimming pools, deckings, or other permanent improvements or fixtures,” no changes in boundary fences or walls, no construction on adjoining property near the boundary, and no conveyances, replats or easement grants affecting the property. Then the part people skip: “EXCEPT for the following.”
The title company relies on that statement to give area and boundary coverage. That’s the whole point of the form.
| T-47 Residential Real Property Affidavit | T-47.1 Residential Real Property Declaration | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Sworn affidavit | Declaration in lieu of affidavit (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §132.001) |
| Notary | Required | Not required |
| Signer provides | Signature before the notary | Name, date of birth and address |
| Current version | Effective November 1, 2024 | Effective November 1, 2024 |
For TCs: for an out-of-town or hard-to-reach seller, the T-47.1 saves you the notary dance. Confirm the title company accepts whichever one comes back, and check that the Date of Survey on the form matches the survey actually in the file. Mismatched dates are a classic last-week surprise.
“Shortages in Area”: The Other Survey Checkbox
There’s a second survey decision hiding in ¶6A(8). The parties choose whether the title policy’s survey exception (discrepancies, conflicts, shortages in area, encroachments) stays as-is, or gets amended to read “shortages in area,” and who pays for it, buyer or seller.
That amendment generally depends on the title company accepting a survey. So ¶6C and ¶6A(8) are really one conversation. Have it at contract time, not at the closing table when the settlement statement shows a premium nobody expected.
Objections: The Clock Starts Later Than People Think (¶6D)
The buyer can object in writing to problems the survey shows (beyond the items the contract permits) or the title commitment shows.
- Deadline: the earlier of the Closing Date or the stated number of days after the buyer receives the commitment, the exception documents, and the survey. All three. Until the last one lands, the clock hasn’t started.
- The seller’s turn: a 15-day Cure Period (and the seller isn’t obligated to spend money curing). The closing date extends as needed.
- Still not fixed: the buyer has 5 days after the Cure Period to terminate (box 7 on the Notice of Buyer’s Termination) or waive. Silence means waived.
- Revised survey or commitment? The buyer gets the same objection window again for anything new, starting when the revision is delivered.
The Dates to Calendar
| Event | Rule |
|---|---|
| Seller delivers the existing survey and T-47/T-47.1 | Within the days in ¶6C(1) after the Effective Date |
| New survey (options 2 and 3, or when option 1 fails) | Within the stated days; when option 1 fails, no later than 3 days before closing |
| Objection deadline | Earlier of closing or the stated days after receiving commitment, exception documents and survey |
| Seller’s cure period | 15 days after receiving the objections |
| Buyer’s terminate-or-waive window | 5 days after the cure period ends |
The TC’s Survey Checklist
- At intake: note the ¶6C box, its deadline, and who pays if the old survey gets rejected. Note the ¶6A(8) choice too.
- Day one: ask the listing agent for the existing survey and the T-47 or T-47.1, and ask the question: any improvements since the survey date?
- Send both to title right away and ask now, not later, whether they’ll accept them, and whether the lender has its own survey requirements.
- If a new survey is needed, order it today. Surveyors get booked up, and “3 days before closing” arrives faster than anyone expects.
- Track receipt of the commitment, exception documents and survey. The objection clock doesn’t start until all three are in.
- Calendar objection, cure and terminate-or-waive, and re-calendar if a revised survey or commitment shows up.
The Bottom Line
The survey is one of those items that’s either a non-event or a fire drill, and which one you get is decided in the first week. Pick the right ¶6C box with real information, get the T-47 or T-47.1 in front of the title company early, and the whole thing stays boring.
The files that blow up are almost always the same story: an old survey, a seller who didn’t think the pool counted, and a question nobody asked until title asked it for them.
Agents: we chase every one of these dates on every Texas file. See our Texas TC services.
TCs: our TC Training Course covers the title and survey side of contract to close, start to finish.
