How to Read a Title Commitment
Schedule B is the part that matters, and it is the part nobody reads.
A title commitment is the document that says what we are prepared to insure and on what conditions. It arrives before closing, it looks forbidding, and most buyers file it unread. Here is how to get the value out of it in five minutes.
Schedule A — the facts
Who is being insured, for how much, what interest is held, and the legal description of the property. Check three things: your name spelled exactly as it will appear on the deed, the policy amount, and the legal description. An error here becomes an error on your deed.
Schedule B-I — requirements
What must happen before the policy can issue. Paying off the existing mortgage, recording a satisfaction that was never filed, obtaining a death certificate, producing entity documents, correcting a legal description.
This is the working list. Every item on it has to be cleared, and clearing them is what determines whether your closing date survives.
Schedule B-II — exceptions
Read this one. These are the matters the policy will not cover. Some are standard on nearly every commitment: taxes not yet due, rights of parties in possession, matters a survey would disclose.
Others are specific to your property and genuinely worth knowing about — a utility easement running through the back garden, a right of way, a restrictive covenant limiting what you can build, mineral rights severed decades ago.
If an exception concerns you, raise it before closing. Some can be removed once a requirement is satisfied. Some can be insured over with an endorsement. Some are simply facts about the property you are buying, and you are better off knowing them now.
The commitment expires
It is effective as of a stated date and is good for a limited period. If your closing is pushed, the search is updated — which occasionally turns up something new, because liens can attach at any time.
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Note: general information for Pennsylvania and Alabama property owners, not legal or tax advice. Rates, taxes, eligibility and deadlines are set by statute and by each state’s filed rate schedules and can change. Confirm the specifics with us and with a qualified professional before relying on them for a transaction.
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