Bulletin: OR2018001

Dear Associates:

At its February 15, 2018, meeting, the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation approved the revised OTIRO Oregon Rating Manual. There are NO changes to rates in this year’s amendments. Several forms have been changed, however, and a summary of those form changes (as provided by OLTA Chairman, Cleve Abbe) follows:

(1) ALTA 2016 Commitment for Title Insurance (08-01-2016), OTIRO No. C-03 (Cond. 9 Deleted, Rev. 02-15-2018). This form replaces the ALTA 2006 Commitment, see next item.  Optional Condition 9 (Arbitration) is deleted intentionally from the form.

(2) ALTA 2006 Commitment for Title Insurance (06-17-2006), OTIRO No. C-02. This form is withdrawn, effective in six months, that is, on August 15, 2018, so as to allow adequate time for users to implement the use of the 2016 Commitment.

(3) ALTA 2006 Owner’s Policy (06-17-2006), OTIRO No. PO-04 (Cond. 14 Deleted, Rev. 02-15-2018). Optional Condition 14 (Arbitration) is deleted intentionally from the form.

(4) ALTA 2006 Loan Policy (06-17-2006), OTIRO No. PL-05 (Cond. 13 Deleted, Rev. 02-15-2018). Optional Condition 13 (Arbitration) is deleted intentionally from the form.

(5) ALTA Residential Limited Coverage Mortgage Modification Policy (12-01-2014), OTIRO No. PLO-03 (Cond. 16 Deleted, Rev. 02-15-2018).  Optional Condition 16 (Arbitration) is deleted intentionally from the form.

(6) ALTA Short Form Residential Loan Policy (06-17-2006), OTIRO No. PL-06 (Rev. Sch. A, PLO-05 Cond. 13 Deleted, 02-15-2018). The form’s reference to the ALTA 2006 Loan Policy is revised to refer to OTIRO Form PL-05, as revised 02-15-2018.

In summary:

- By August 15, 2018, all Oregon title producers should have replaced the OTIRO No. C-02 Commitment form, based on ALTA 2006, with the new C-03 form, which is based on the ALTA 2016.   

- Similarly, producers should update the OTIRO Forms PO-04, PL-05, and PLO-03 with the updated forms, all of which delete the arbitration condition, as have been deleted from the latest round of ALTA forms. 

- Finally, there is an updated OTIRO form PL-06 Short-form Loan Policy, which now refers to the OTIRO PL-02 Loan Policy for full terms and conditions, instead of the ALTA 2006 Loan Policy, on which the PL-02 is modeled.

- There is no need to wait, and any agents or directs ready to use the updated forms may do so as soon as their systems are updated with the new forms.

One final note from Cleve Abbe:

Please note that the fifth paragraph of Page 1 of the 2016 Commitment calls for the insertion of a limit to the term of the commitment. That limit is set by the Oregon Insurance Code, specifically ORS 742.043. It specifies that the term of the commitment may not exceed 90 days. 

As a reminder, other forms should not be used if a comparable ALTA version is available. If a comparable ALTA version is available, the most current version of the ALTA form available in each state should be used, unless approved by a Stewart underwriter. 

Agents please contact PropertyInfo Customer Care or your title production software vendor to get the new rates/forms changes implemented in your system.   

If you have any questions relating to this or other bulletins, please contact a Stewart Title Guaranty Company underwriter.

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