New ALTA Endorsements – ALTA 3.3-06, 3.4-06, and 18.3-06

The ALTA Forms Committee has developed three (3) new endorsement forms, and all three have been approved by the ALTA Board of Governors and have passed through the comment period. These new endorsement forms have been published in final form at the ALTA website. Users may access the final versions of these forms, which include any changes applied pursuant to the comment period. Redlines of changes based on comments have also been posted, where applicable. These forms have a publication date of December 1, 2018.

It should be noted that each of these forms bears ALTA’s copyright indicia and use of these copyrighted forms is restricted to ALTA licensees and ALTA members in good standing as of the date of use.

1. ALTA Endorsement 3.3-06 Zoning – Completed Improvement – Non-Conforming Use

The ALTA 3.3-06 is available for both owners and loan policies. This endorsement is designed for issuance on Land improved with an existing building where there is known non-conforming use and insures against loss or damage if a specified non-conforming use is not allowed because it violates a municipal or county zoning ordinance or zoning regulation. In addition, this endorsement insures against a final court order either prohibiting the present non-conforming use or requiring removal or alteration of the existing building because the non-conforming use violates a zoning ordinance or zoning regulation as to: (i) area, width or depth of the Land as a building site for the building, (ii) floor space area of the building, (iii) setback of the building, (iv) height of the building, or (v) number of parking spaces.

When developing the ALTA 3.3-06, the ALTA Forms Committee recognized the need for industry standard coverage for situations in which an insurer chooses to provide coverage for a known non-conforming use that applies to an existing building or in cases where there is no existing zoning classification. The other standard ALTA Endorsements in the 3-Series do not provide the specific coverages required in these situations and include:

ALTA Endorsement 3-06 (Zoning)
ALTA Endorsement 3.1-06 (Zoning-Completed Structure)
ALTA Endorsement 3.2-06 (Zoning – Land Under Development)

2. ALTA Endorsement 3.4-06 Zoning – No Zoning Classification

The ALTA 3.4-06 is available for both owners and loan policies. This endorsement is designed for issuance on Land improved with an existing building or structure where there is no zoning classification and insures against loss or damage if a specified use is not allowed because it violates a municipal or county zoning ordinance or zoning regulation. In addition, this endorsement insures against a final court order either prohibiting the present use or requiring removal or alteration of the existing building or structure because the use violates a zoning ordinance or zoning regulation as to: (i) area, width or depth of the Land as a building site for the structure, (ii) floor space area of the structure, (iii) setback of the structure, (iv) height of the structure, or (v) number of parking spaces.

3. ALTA Endorsement 18.3-06 Single Tax Parcel and ID

The ALTA 18.3-06 is available for both owners and loan policies. This endorsement is issued if the Land consists of only one tax parcel and insures against loss if: (1) the Land is taxed as part of a larger parcel of land or if the Land fails to constitute a separate tax parcel for real estate taxes; or (2) any portion of the Land is not being assessed for real estate taxes under the specified tax identification number.

When developing the ALTA 18.3-06, the ALTA Forms Committee determined that title insurance consumers have been ordering the ALTA 18.1-06 endorsement (which is designed for multiple parcels) when the policy insures only one parcel because the more appropriate ALTA 18-06 does not identify the tax parcel number as the ALTA 18.1-06 and ALTA 18.2-06 do. Thus, there was a need for industry standard coverage for situations in which the insured wants the tax parcel number identified for a single parcel of Land.

The other standard ALTA Endorsements in the 18-Series are:

ALTA Endorsement 18-06 (Single Tax Parcel)
ALTA Endorsement 18.1-06 (Multiple Tax Parcel – Easements)
ALTA Endorsement 18.2-06 (Multiple Tax Parcel)

To learn more about these new endorsements, visit ALTA, or contact one of our Underwriter Members for availability and issuing standards:

Will Avant Kenneth Farmer Stephen Reck
Anna Batten Parrish Fortenberry Gardner Richey
Robert Burgess III Brad Jones William Stein
Danny Crotwell Jeff Lees R Cass Tinsley
Sean Culhane Roy Perilloux
Claire Ewing Joe Powell