ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys are among the most documentation-intensive work a survey crew performs. The standards that govern them get updated periodically, and every revision changes what's required on the face of the plat — which means changing what crews need to capture in the field before they get there.
The 2026 Minimum Standard Detail Requirements replaced the 2021 version on February 23, 2026. Most of the changes are clarifications and scope expansions rather than wholesale rewrites, but several of them have direct implications for how field notes should be kept. Here's what matters.
Changes That Affect What You Collect in the Field
Monument descriptions must now include their relationship to the ground surface
Section 5(A) now requires that monument descriptions include “the relationship of such monument to the surface of the ground.” Buried, flush, above grade — that detail needs to be in the record.
In practice this means your monument notes should document not just the type and condition of each monument but how it sits relative to grade. A photo alongside the written description is the fastest way to capture this without adding much time to the field visit.
Physical access evidence: “visible” becomes “observed”
Section 5(B) previously required documentation of “visible” evidence of physical access. The 2026 version expands this to evidence “observed in the process of conducting the fieldwork.” The distinction is subtle but meaningful — it broadens the crew's obligation beyond what's immediately visible from a standard setup. If you encounter evidence of access during the course of the work, it goes in the notes.
Occupation and possession reporting beyond the boundary
Section 5(C) now requires crews to report evidence of possession or occupation “regardless of proximity to the perimeter boundary lines.” Fences, improvements, encroachments — if they're on or affecting the property, document them wherever they appear, not just when they're near the boundary.
Guy wires within five feet of the property
Section 5(E)(iv) expands the scope for overhead features. Overhead guy wires and those within five feet of the surveyed property must now be shown. This is an easy thing to miss during a busy field day — worth adding to your site review checklist.
Parol statements must now be documented — this one is new
Section 6(D)(ii)(l) is a new addition with a real workflow implication. If a landowner or occupant makes statements about title or boundary issues during the survey, the surveyor is now required to provide a notation of those statements on the plat.
That notation has to come from somewhere, and it should come from the field record. If a property owner walks up during your field visit and tells you there's a disputed fence line or a claimed easement that isn't recorded, that conversation needs to be documented — who said it, what they said, and when. This is not a new legal concept, but it's a new documentation requirement. Crews that have been handling these conversations informally now need to handle them in writing.
Changes to Table A Optional Items
New Item 20 — encroachment summary table
The most significant addition to the optional items is new Table A Item 20. When selected, it requires the surveyor to include a table on the face of the plat summarizing observed conditions and potential encroachments across five categories:
- Potential encroachments over boundary lines in either direction
- Potential encroachments into rights of way and easements
- Setback encroachments (when requirements have been provided to the surveyor)
- Physical access between parcels that lacks easement documentation
- Apparent occupant use of adjoining parcels that lacks easement documentation
That table on the plat comes directly from field documentation. If Item 20 is selected on a job, the field crew needs to come back with enough information to populate all five categories. That means systematic documentation of encroachments, access conditions, and occupant use — not just boundary measurements.
Item 15 — digital imagery now requires client consent upfront
Table A Item 15, which covers the use of methods beyond traditional ground-based surveying — drones, photogrammetric mapping, LiDAR, mobile scanning — has been reworded to require that such methods be discussed with and approved by the client before use. The methods are still permitted; the change is about documented consent before implementation, not after. For crews using aerial or remote sensing methods on ALTA jobs, this is a pre-field conversation to have, not a post-field disclosure.
Item 11(b) — clients can now coordinate private utility locates directly
Previously, utility coordination ran through the surveyor. Under the 2026 standards, clients are empowered to coordinate private utility location requests on the surveyor's behalf. This is primarily an administrative change but affects how pre-field coordination gets handled on jobs where private locates are required.
Changes to Surveyor Responsibilities
Adjoining property descriptions are now the surveyor's responsibility
Under the 2021 standards, clients were responsible for providing record descriptions of adjoining properties. The 2026 version removes that obligation from the client and places it on the surveyor, who is now expected to acquire those descriptions independently through desktop research at local registries. This is not a field task, but it changes the pre-field preparation process for ALTA work.
Easements appurtenant must be shown even outside the survey boundary
When clients provide recorded instruments establishing easements that benefit the surveyed property, surveyors are now required to illustrate those easements “even outside the property boundary.” If the easement extends onto an adjoining parcel, it goes on the plat.
What Didn't Change
The Relative Positional Precision tolerance remains unchanged at 2 cm (0.07 feet) plus 50 parts per million. The definition was refined for technical clarity — reframed as the error ellipse of the line connecting adjacent monuments rather than the semi-major axis of the position uncertainty of a single monument — but the practical standard for accuracy is the same.
The core certification language and the fundamental requirements for what must appear on the face of an ALTA survey are consistent with 2021. The 2026 revisions expand scope and clarify obligations; they don't reinvent the standard.
What This Means for Field Documentation
Taken together, the 2026 changes push in a consistent direction: more thorough documentation of conditions observed in the field, not just measurements taken at the boundary. The practical checklist:
- Document monument-to-ground-surface relationship for every monument — buried, flush, or above grade
- Record physical access evidence observed anywhere during fieldwork, not just what's obviously visible from a setup
- Note occupation and encroachments across the full property, regardless of proximity to the boundary
- Log overhead features including guy wires within five feet of the property line
- Write down conversations with landowners or occupants about title or boundary issues — parol statements are now a documentation requirement, not a courtesy note
- If Item 20 is selected, confirm your field notes will support all five encroachment categories before leaving the site
None of these are new types of information for an experienced crew. What the 2026 standards do is formalize the obligation to capture and record them consistently, on every ALTA job, rather than relying on institutional knowledge or crew discretion.
The Official Standards
The full 2026 ALTA/NSPS Minimum Standard Detail Requirements are available directly from NSPS. You can access the official page and download the PDF at nsps.us.com/page/2026ALTA. The 2026 official standards PDF is the authoritative source for any specific language questions — the summary above is intended to highlight field documentation implications, not to substitute for the standard itself.