A survey is a drawing by a registered professional land surveyor that shows your lot's boundaries and where the house, fences, driveway, easements and other improvements sit on it. On a Texas resale, the seller can often give you their existing survey with a T-47 Residential Real Property Affidavit, or the newer T-47.1 Declaration, saying nothing has changed since it was made. If the title company or your lender won't accept the old survey and the affidavit, a new survey is ordered, and who pays for it is decided in Paragraph 6C of your TREC contract. The survey isn't an appraisal or an inspection. It tells you where things are, not what the home is worth or what condition it's in.
A survey connects what's on the ground with what's in the title records. The title company uses it to decide whether it can issue your title policy without a broad exception for boundary problems. It's the document that shows things like:
The standard owner's title policy in Texas includes an exception for discrepancies, conflicts, shortages in area or boundary lines, encroachments, protrusions and overlapping improvements. The TREC resale contract lets you choose whether that exception stays as is or is amended to cover only "shortages in area," and who pays to amend it (TREC 20-19, Paragraph 6A(8)). The title company generally needs an acceptable survey to amend that exception. See how title insurance works.
The T-47 Residential Real Property Affidavit and the T-47.1 Residential Real Property Declaration are forms promulgated by the Texas Department of Insurance. They let a seller reuse an existing survey. The seller states whether there have been any changes since the survey's date, like new fences, buildings, additions, pools or easements, and lists any changes.
Either way, it's a statement made under penalty of law. It doesn't redraw the survey. If something was built after the survey and isn't disclosed, the form doesn't fix that, and a false statement is a serious problem, not a shortcut.
On the One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), TREC No. 20-19 (form dated 05-04-2026), Paragraph 6C says the survey must be made by a registered professional land surveyor acceptable to the title company and your lender. The parties check one of three boxes (TREC 20-19):
Then Paragraph 6D gives you a window to object in writing to matters the survey or title commitment reveals, and gives the seller a cure period. If the survey is revised, you can object to new matters it shows.
There's no single Fort Worth or Tarrant County rule for who pays for a survey. It's a negotiated term, set by which box is checked in Paragraph 6C. In 6C(1), the contract also asks you to choose who pays if the old survey isn't accepted. Fill in that blank on purpose, because it's the most common surprise. See who pays closing costs in Texas.
This is where the layers matter:
Surveyors schedule their own work, and a new survey can take time to order, complete and review. The title company also needs time to read it and update the commitment. Settle the survey question early in the contract, not the week of closing. The title company can tell you quickly whether it will accept the seller's existing survey once it has it.
This example is made up to show how a survey problem plays out.
Derek is buying a home in Haltom City. The contract checks 6C(1), and the seller delivers a survey from several years ago with a T-47.1 Declaration saying nothing has changed. During the option period, Derek walks the backyard and sees a large storage building that isn't on the old survey. He tells his agent, who asks the title company. The title company won't rely on the declaration as written, so a new survey is ordered at the expense of the party checked in 6C(1). The new survey shows the building sits partly in a utility easement. Derek now has time under Paragraph 6D to object, and the parties work out whether the seller will move it, get a release, or whether Derek accepts it. Because this came up early, nobody was surprised at the closing table.
Under contract in Fort Worth and not sure whether the seller's survey will work? I'll help you track the survey with the title company early so it doesn't hold up closing. Book a call, or when you're ready, start an application.
Links checked Oct 21, 2026.
About the author: McKade Lively, NMLS 2704474, American Pacific Mortgage Corporation dba True North Home Loans, NMLS 1850.
Equal Housing Opportunity.
Last reviewed: Oct 2026