When buying older commercial property, ALTA surveys are one of the most important steps in the due diligence process. They show you the full picture of what you’re getting before you close. A title search reviews documents. It checks ownership history, recorded liens, and legal descriptions. What it can’t do is confirm what’s physically on the ground. That gap is exactly where older properties hide their biggest risks.
What Makes Older Commercial Properties Different
Newer properties tend to have clean records and recent surveys. Older ones don’t. A commercial building in St. Louis that has changed hands several times over 50 years can carry a long list of problems that were never recorded, recorded incorrectly, or simply forgotten over time.
The most common issues that turn up in older commercial properties include:
- Outdated boundary descriptions. Legal descriptions from decades ago don’t always match what’s on the ground today. Streets get realigned, parcels get split or merged, and the written record falls out of step with physical reality.
- Unrecorded easements. A utility company may have run a gas line across the property on an informal agreement years ago. A neighboring business may have been using part of the parking lot for a decade. None of this appears in public records, but it affects how you can use the land.
- Building encroachments. Older structures were sometimes built right up to or over the property line. Additions made over the years compound this. A wall or roof overhang that crosses into an easement or onto a neighboring parcel has to be resolved.
- Assembled parcels. Many older commercial properties in St. Louis were put together through multiple purchases over time. Easements can overlap and boundary lines don’t always align cleanly when that happens.
- Zoning nonconformity. A building constructed under 1965 zoning rules may not comply with current St. Louis codes. This affects what you can do with the property and whether a lender will finance it.
None of these are rare. They show up regularly on properties that look clean on paper.
What an ALTA Survey Checks That a Title Search Cannot
An ALTA survey documents all physical improvements on the property, including buildings, fences, driveways, and parking areas. It plots every recorded easement from the title commitment against conditions on the ground. If a recorded easement shows a 20-foot drainage corridor along the rear boundary, the survey checks whether any structures sit inside it.
The survey also identifies encroachments from neighboring properties, classifies flood zones using current FEMA maps, and captures evidence of third-party use such as worn paths or informal access routes. These can become legal claims over time.
When a title insurer receives a completed ALTA survey, they can review the actual site conditions and often provide broader coverage. Without one, they typically include a blanket survey exception in the policy, which leaves a wide range of physical risks uninsured.
St. Louis Specifics Worth Knowing
St. Louis City and St. Louis County are separate jurisdictions with different recording systems, parcel databases, and zoning codes. A property near the city-county line may require research in both systems to get a complete picture.
Many of St. Louis’s older commercial neighborhoods, including Soulard, the Warehouse District, and Midtown, have ownership histories going back to the 1800s. Sewer easements are often held by the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District and may cross parcels in ways that don’t appear clearly in county GIS data. Properties near the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers also carry flood zone considerations that are part of every ALTA survey.
In Missouri, land surveyors follow both ALTA/NSPS national standards and state requirements overseen by the Missouri Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors, and Landscape Architects. Where state rules are stricter, the stricter standard applies.
What Happens When the Survey Finds a Problem
Finding a problem during due diligence is the best possible outcome. It means you still have options.
A minor encroachment can often be handled with a title policy exception or a boundary line agreement. A building that sits inside a recorded utility easement may require the seller to get an easement release before closing. Access problems, where a parcel lacks legal deeded access to a public road, need to be resolved through a recorded easement agreement. Waiting until after closing to discover any of these makes everything harder and more expensive.
In each case, the survey gives you the information while you still have leverage. You can ask the seller to fix the problem, negotiate a price reduction, or exit the contract during the due diligence period.
Timing and Cost
Order the survey as early as possible once you’re under contract. Standard turnaround for an ALTA survey is two to three weeks. Older properties with incomplete records or multi-parcel boundaries can take longer. Starting six to eight weeks before your target closing date gives you time to address anything that comes up.
ALTA surveys for commercial properties typically range from $1,500 to $6,000 for standard sites. Complex properties can go higher. That cost is small compared to what it takes to resolve a title defect after closing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a new ALTA survey if the seller already has one?
It depends on age and what’s changed. If the existing survey is more than six months old, if any construction has occurred since it was done, or if new easements have been recorded, most lenders will require a new survey or a formal update by the original surveyor.
Can a standard boundary survey replace an ALTA survey for a commercial deal?
Not for most commercial transactions. A boundary survey establishes property lines but doesn’t document improvements, plot easements against physical conditions, or produce the certified deliverable that lenders and title companies require. It’s typically not sufficient on its own.
Are ALTA surveys required by law in Missouri?
Not by state law in every case, but most institutional lenders and title insurers require one as a condition of the deal. It’s a standard expectation in any commercial transaction involving financing or a title policy.
What if the survey finds something serious?
You have real options. You can require the seller to resolve the issue before closing, negotiate a lower price, request a specific title endorsement, or exit the contract. The survey gives you the facts while you’re still in a position to act on them.
Land Surveyors are professionals who make precise measurements to determine the size and boundaries of a piece of real estate. While this is a simplistic definition, boundary surveying is one of the most common types of surveying related to home and land owners. If you fall into the following categories, please click on the appropriate link for more information on that subject:
