Page 9 - Whatcom Title & Escrow Guide
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TYPES OF
COVERAGE 2. ALTA Standard Owners Policy:
The Owner’s Standard Policy will cover the buyer
Please visit our website at against issues that could be discovered by an
www.ctthurston.com for a complete chart examination of Public Record.
showing a deeper comparison of the three
forms of coverage below: Examples of these would be:
A document upon which your title is based was
not properly filed, recorded or indexed in the
Public Records.
1. Homeowner's Title Insurance Policy: Someone else has a right to limit your use of
The Homeowner’s Policy is only available on the land.
single family homes to fourplexs. It must be Someone else claims to have rights affecting
owned by a “natural person” and not an entity your title arising out of forgery or
such as a corporation or an LLC. In addition to impersonation.
the protections offered in the Standard Policy, Someone else owns an interest in your title.
the Homeowner’s Policy extends coverage
beyond the issue date. 3. ALTA Extended Owners Policy:
The Extended Owner’s Policy offers the most
Examples include: extensive title insurance as it covers not only
You cannot use the land because use as a matters of Public Record but also insures issues
single family residence violates an existing that are revealed as a result of a physical inspection
zoning law or regulation. or survey of the property. This is commonly issued
You are forced to remove your existing for high value residential properties, large parcels of
structures which encroach onto an vacant land and commercial properties.
easement or over a building set-back line
even if the easement or building set-back Policy coverage examples include:
line is excepted in your title policy. You are forced to remove your existing structures
Your neighbor builds any structure after the because they encroach onto our neighbor’s land.
policy date, other than boundary walls or Someone else has a legal right to, and does,
fences, which encroach onto your land. refuse to perform a contract to purchase the
You do not have both actual vehicular and land, lease it or make a mortgage loan on it
pedestrian access to and from the land because your neighbor’s existing structures
based upon a legal right. encroach onto the land.
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