Bulletin: SC000006

Dear Associates:

Access

As you are aware, title insurance policies insure against loss or damage sustained by reason of the lack of access to and from the land. The access being insured is a legal right of ingress and egress to the subject property. The policy does not insure that the access to the land is necessarily practical or convenient.

Lack of legal access to insured property may result in a costly claim. An essential element of your examination of title is the verification of a legal right of access. If legal access does not exist, the following exception must appear in the policy:

"Lack of a right of access to and from the land."

If the subject property does not abut a public road and access is by right of way across adjoining property, the agent must determine the validity of the easement. To be insurable, the easement must be by express grant or reservation. An easement by prescription may not be insured unless it has been adjudicated to be so. Also, the title to the servient tract (the tract traversed by the easement) must be examined. Any liens which encumber the servient tract prior to the grant of the easement must be subordinated.

Limited Access

Where property is bounded by a limited access highway, such as an interstate highway or an expressway, the following exception should be used:

"Subject property is bounded by (highway). No right of access to said highway is insured."