The Schmalz On Real Estate – Blog

This is the 2nd of a two part series of what your  Homeowners/Title Insurance covers. This is a must know for people who are shopping the Santa Monica Real Estate market for Santa Monica Houses or Condos. Anyone buying Santa Monica Real Estate needs to have Title Insurance but not many people know what is covered. In this two part Series, ”Santa MonicaReal Estate - Buying A House Or Condo ?- What Does A Homeowners/Title Policy Cover – Part 2″ I will give a detailed list of what these policies cover. So if you are looking at  Santa Monica Condos or Houses to purchase here is what this insurance covers

 “CLTA Policy” used to mean less coverage than “ALTA Policy”. Not anymore—as long as you are buying Santa Monica Houses of  one to four family residence. The CLTA Homeowner’s Policy and the ALTA Homeowner’s Policy are identical. Note that the word “homeowner’s” in the name of the policy distinguishes these policies from other forms of title insurance.

 The following is an outline of the affirmative coverages you get with these new policies. Please refer to the policy for a complete explanation of exclusions, conditions, stipulations and deductibles. Each policy will also contain exceptions that pertain to the particular property and parties involved in each transaction.

ZONING VIOLATIONS

• You are forced to remove or remedy your existing structures, or any part of them, because they violate an existing zoning law or zoning regulation. If you are required to remedy any portion of your existing structures, the amount of your insurance for this covered risk is subject to your deductible amount and our maximum dollar limit of liability shown in Schedule A.
• You cannot use the land because use as a single-family residence violates an existing zoning law or zoning regulation.

ENCROACHMENT OF INSURED’S STRUCTURES

• You are forced to remove your existing structures because they encroach onto your neighbor’s land. If the encroaching structures are boundary walls or fences, the amount of your insurance for this covered risk is subject to your deductible amount and our maximum dollar limit of liability shown in Schedule A.

ENCROACHMENT OF NEIGHBOR’S STRUCTURES 

• Someone else has a legal right to, and does, refuse to perform a contract to purchase the land, lease it or make a mortgage loan on it because your neighbor’s existing structures encroach onto the land.

ENCROACHMENT ONTO EASEMENT OR SETBACK

• You are forced to remove your existing structures because they encroach onto an easement or over a building set-back line, even if the easement or building set-back line is excepted in Schedule B.

103.1 ENDORSEMENT

• Your existing structures are damaged because of the exercise of a right to maintain or use any easement affecting the land, even if the easement is excepted in Schedule B.

EXERCISE OF MINERAL RIGHTS

• Your existing improvements (or a replacement or modification made to them after the policy date), including lawns, shrubbery or trees, are damaged because of the future exercise of a right to use the surface of the land for the extraction or development of minerals, water or any other substance, even if those rights are excepted or reserved from the description of the land or excepted in Schedule B.

DISCRIMINATORY COVENANTS

• Someone else tries to enforce a discriminatory covenant, condition or restriction that they claim affects your title which is based upon race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.

“ESCAPE ASSESSMENTS”

• A taxing authority assesses supplemental real estate taxes not previously assessed against the land for any period before the policy date because of construction or a change of ownership or use that occurred before the policy date.

NEIGHBOR’S POST-POLICY ENCROACHMENT

• Your neighbor builds any structures after the policy date—other than boundary walls or fences—which encroach onto the land.
• Your title is unmarketable, which allows someone else to refuse to perform a contract to purchase the land, lease it or make a mortgage loan on it.
• A document upon which your title is based is invalid because it was not properly signed,sealed,acknowledged,delivered or recorded.

116 ENDORSEMENT

• The residence with the address shown in Schedule A is not located on the land at the policy date.

MAP

•  The map, if any, attached to this policy does not show the correct location of the land according to the public records.

ETERNITY AND ADDITIONAL INSUREDS

• This policy insures you forever, even after you no longer have your title. You cannot assign this policy to anyone else. This policy also insures: (1) anyone who inherits your title because of your death; (2) your spouse who receives your title because of dissolution of your marriage; (3) the trustee or successor trustee of a trust to whom you transfer your title after the policy date; or (4) the beneficiaries of your trust upon your death.

INFLATION

• The policy amount will increase by ten percent (10%) of the policy amount shown in Schedule A each year for the first five years following the policy date shown in schedule a, up to one hundred fifty percent (150%) of the policy amount shown in Schedule A.