Surveying Services / Texas Land Title Survey
Category 1A Land Title Survey
THE TEXAS STANDARD FOR LAND TITLE SURVEYS.A Category 1A Land Title Survey is a Texas-specific survey used when a real estate transaction needs more than a standard boundary survey. It combines the boundary determination with title information and visible conditions on the property, including easements, rights-of-way, access, improvements, and apparent encroachments or conflicts when applicable.
The Texas Standard
Why the standard is specific to Texas.
Category 1A is the Texas-specific land title survey standard established in the Texas Society of Professional Surveyors Manual of Practice. It sets the expectations for the research, field investigation, title-related information, and final survey documentation required when a transaction calls for a Category 1A Land Title Survey.
That gives the surveyor and the parties involved in the transaction a recognized Texas framework for what must be evaluated and shown on the final survey, while the specific property and title information determine the details of each assignment.
When It Is Ordered
When a Category 1A Survey Is the Right Fit.
The request usually comes from the title company, the lender, or an attorney rather than from the property owner. These are the situations where it comes up.
Real estate acquisitions and dispositions where the parties need Texas-specific land title survey information.
Transactions where the title company needs survey information addressing the property boundary and applicable recorded matters.
Transactions where a lender requires a land title survey as part of its property and title review.
Properties where recorded interests or visible conditions require more detailed title-related survey documentation.
Eagle Surveying prepares Category 1A Land Title Surveys throughout Texas, with offices in Denton and Waco serving North Texas, Central Texas, and projects statewide.
Title Information
The title commitment is what makes it a title survey.
A boundary survey answers where the lines are. A Category 1A goes further, because the title commitment brings recorded matters into it: easements, rights-of-way, restrictions, and other interests that affect how the property can be used. Those items are located and shown alongside the boundary, and that is what separates a title survey from a boundary survey.
How It Runs
How a Category 1A moves through the office.
Deeds, plats, prior surveys, adjoining records, and the available title commitment or title report are reviewed together, so the recorded matters are known before anyone goes to the field.
Boundary evidence is searched for and measured, and the visible improvements, access features, and easement-related conditions within the agreed scope are located on the ground.
Research, title information, and field data come together in the survey drawing, which is reviewed against the applicable Category 1A requirements and issued signed and sealed under the oversight of a Texas Registered Professional Land Surveyor.
The Finished Document
What the finished survey shows.
The completed Category 1A Land Title Survey presents the determined boundary and applicable title-related information in one signed and sealed survey. Depending on the property and title information, it may show easements, rights-of-way, visible improvements, access features, apparent conflicts or encroachments, and other items required by the Category 1A standard.
Which Survey
Which survey does the transaction require?
Two of the three are land title surveys. The third is a boundary survey. Everything else follows from which standard the transaction is written against.
An ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey follows national standards and is used when the transaction calls for the ALTA/NSPS survey requirements.
View pageA Category 1A Land Title Survey follows the Texas Society of Professional Surveyors Manual of Practice and is prepared to the Texas-specific requirements for land title survey work.
You are on this pageA Category 1B Standard Land Survey, commonly known as a boundary survey, focuses primarily on establishing or retracing the legal property boundary without the broader title-related reporting associated with the two land title survey products.
View pageFrequently Asked Questions
Category 1A Land Title Survey FAQs
What is a Category 1A Land Title Survey?
A Category 1A Land Title Survey is the Texas land title survey standard established in the Texas Society of Professional Surveyors Manual of Practice. It combines the boundary determination with title information and visible conditions on the property, including easements, rights-of-way, access, improvements, and apparent encroachments or conflicts when applicable. It is used when a transaction calls for more than a standard boundary survey.
Do I need a Category 1A or a Category 1B boundary survey?
A Category 1B boundary survey settles where the lines are and stops there. A Category 1A carries the title-related information a transaction requires, which means recorded matters from the title commitment are addressed on the survey. When a title company, lender, or attorney is relying on the survey, they generally specify which product is required, so the fastest way to settle it is to ask the party requiring the survey.
Should the transaction use Category 1A or ALTA/NSPS?
Category 1A follows the Texas Society of Professional Surveyors Manual of Practice. An ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey follows the national standard and is commonly used where lenders, title companies, investors, or parties in more than one state are involved. Both are land title surveys, and the requirement usually comes from the party relying on it. Eagle can help identify which product fits once the transaction requirements are known.
What does a Category 1A survey show about easements and access?
The survey shows recorded easements and rights-of-way that can be plotted from the title information provided, along with observed access points, visible improvements, and other observable conditions within the agreed scope. It documents what the records describe and what is visible on the ground. It does not provide a legal opinion about property rights, and it does not determine whether legal access exists.
Need a Category 1A Land Title Survey?
Send us the property location, legal description, prior survey if available, and any title materials you already have. Our team will review the project, identify what else is needed, and confirm the Category 1A scope.