QUICK SUMMARY
The short answer is no. Alabama does not require a land survey to buy or close on a house, and most lenders on a standard residential loan will not ask for one. But a survey is the only document that tells you where your property lines actually are. Without one, your owner title insurance policy will almost certainly carry a survey exception, which means the insurer will not cover a fence, driveway, shed or encroachment that turns out to sit on the wrong side of the line.
Buyers in Tuscaloosa, Northport and the Birmingham suburbs ask us about surveys most often on two kinds of property: older in-town lots where fences were built decades ago by feel rather than by pin, and rural or lake acreage where the deed description is long and the corners are somewhere out in the trees. The answer is different for each. Here is how to decide. Last updated: September 2026.
Key takeaways
1. No law requires it. Alabama has no statutory survey requirement for a residential closing, and conventional lenders usually waive it.
2. Title insurance is the real reason to get one. A standard owner policy excludes anything an accurate survey would have shown. A current survey is what lets the closing attorney consider removing that exception.
3. A mortgage survey is not a boundary survey. The cheap version locates improvements. The boundary survey sets and marks the corners.
4. Time matters in Alabama. Long use by a neighbor can harden into a legal claim: by statute in 10 years with recorded color of title or 10 years of listing the land for taxation, and under Alabama common law after 20 years of possession. A long-standing fence is not automatically just a fence.
5. Order it during your inspection period. Surveyors book out, and a boundary survey on wooded acreage is not a two-day job.
Does Alabama require a survey to buy a house?
No. There is no Alabama statute that conditions a residential closing on a survey, and on a typical conventional purchase the lender will not order one. That surprises buyers moving here from states where a survey is routine. It also means the decision falls to you, and nobody in the transaction is obligated to raise it.
There are common situations where a survey does get ordered: new construction and subdivision lots where the builder or developer already has one, USDA and some VA files, land and acreage purchases, and any property where the closing attorney flags a legal description problem. Land surveying in Alabama is a licensed profession regulated by the Alabama Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, and the statutory definition of surveying includes establishing and retracing property boundaries, rights-of-way and easements. Only a licensed surveyor can set your corners.
What does a boundary survey actually show?
Buyers often pay for the wrong product. The two you are choosing between are:
Mortgage location survey. The inexpensive one. It shows the house, drive and obvious improvements relative to the record lines, so a lender can confirm nothing major is sitting in a right-of-way. Corners are usually not set. It is a sanity check, not a boundary determination.
Boundary survey. The surveyor researches the deeds, recovers or sets the corner monuments, and marks the lines on the ground. This is what you want if you plan to fence, build, clear timber, split the parcel or settle a disagreement with a neighbor.
Cost scales with acreage, terrain and how bad the record chain is. A platted subdivision lot is straightforward. Forty acres off a county road in Coker or Duncanville with a metes-and-bounds description written in the 1950s is not. Ask for a quote before you assume a survey is unaffordable, and ask what you are getting for the price.
Buying land or acreage in West Alabama? We walk sellers and buyers through survey, access and timber questions on our land and lot page, or call 205-292-2108.
How does a survey change your title insurance?
This is the part most buyers miss. A standard owner policy contains a general survey exception, which excludes any encroachment, overlap, boundary dispute, shortage in area or easement that an accurate survey would have disclosed. In plain terms: if you never got a survey and the neighbor carport turns out to be three feet onto your lot, that is not a covered claim. It is your problem to solve.
With a current, acceptable survey in hand, the closing attorney can ask the title underwriter to delete or narrow that exception. Whether they will depends on what the survey shows. If you are buying an owner policy at all, and you should, the survey is what gives it teeth on boundary questions. Our guide to title insurance in Alabama walks through what the owner policy does and does not cover, and the same logic applies to severed mineral rights, which a survey will not find but a title search should.
When is a survey worth it in West Alabama and Greater Birmingham?
Acreage and rural parcels. Coker, Duncanville, Vance, Brookwood, Ralph, Fosters, Samantha. Long descriptions, old corners, timber lines, shared drives. Get the boundary survey.
Lake Tuscaloosa waterfront. Where your line ends relative to the shoreline and the water level matters before you plan a dock or a seawall. See our Lake Tuscaloosa dock permit guide and our second home guide.
Older in-town neighborhoods. Downtown Northport, the 35401 and 35405 pockets near the University of Alabama, Homewood and parts of Vestavia Hills. Small lots, mature trees, fences and drives placed generations ago.
Anything you plan to change. Adding a pool, fence, shop or addition, or applying for a permit. Cities want to know where the setbacks are measured from.
New construction where the builder is done. Ask for the as-built. If the builder has one, you may not need to pay for another. Start with our new construction page.
What if the survey finds a problem?
Most findings are small and fixable: a fence a foot off, a corner of a shed over the line, a driveway that clips the neighbor parcel. The usual remedies are a boundary line agreement recorded in probate court, a written easement, moving the improvement, or a small corrective deed. All of them are easier to negotiate before closing than after.
The reason not to shrug it off is Alabama law on long use. Alabama Code Section 6-5-200 sets the statutory route: a deed or color of title recorded in the probate office for 10 years, or 10 years of annually listing the land for taxation. The statute expressly says it does not govern questions of boundary between coterminous owners, so a classic fence-line dispute is decided under Alabama common law prescription, which requires 20 years of open, notorious, continuous, exclusive and hostile possession. Alabama courts apply that same 20-year period to prescriptive easements, and they presume use was permissive, putting the burden on the person claiming the right. A fence that has been in the wrong place since the 1990s is worth a conversation with a real estate attorney, not a guess.
Under contract and not sure whether to order a survey? Call or text The Williams Group: West Alabama 205-292-2108, Greater Birmingham 205-292-7142.
BUYING ACREAGE?
A survey tells you where the land is. The tax bill tells you what it costs to hold. If the tract is farm or timber land, read our guide to Alabama current use valuation, because the seller’s lower tax status does not transfer to you automatically.
The Williams Group perspective
The Williams Group at Keller Williams Realty works both sides of the state line between city lots and country acreage, and the survey question splits almost perfectly along that line. In a platted subdivision with recent plats on file, most of our buyers skip the survey and nothing comes of it. On acreage, on anything touching water, and on older parcels where the description references a pin or a tree rather than a lot number, we raise it every time, because the cost of the survey is small next to the cost of finding out later.
The practical advice we give: decide during the inspection period, not the week of closing. Surveyors in Tuscaloosa County and Jefferson County stay booked, and a wooded boundary survey takes field time. If the survey is going to change whether you buy, you need it while you still have a way out of the contract. Pair it with your home inspection and treat both as one due diligence window.
Frequently asked questions
Is a plat the same as a survey?
No. A recorded subdivision plat shows how the whole subdivision was laid out and is a useful starting point, but it is not a current survey of your specific lot and it does not confirm that the corners are still where the plat says they are.
Can I use the seller old survey?
Sometimes. If it is recent, from a licensed Alabama surveyor, and nothing has been built or moved since, a title underwriter may accept it. Ask your closing attorney early, because the answer controls whether you need to order a new one.
Does a survey find easements?
A boundary survey will show recorded easements the surveyor researched and any visible evidence of use, such as a worn drive or a utility line. Unrecorded or prescriptive claims may not appear, which is why the survey and the title search work together.
Do I need a survey for a condo or townhome?
Usually not. In a condominium you own an airspace unit described by the declaration, not a metes-and-bounds parcel, so a boundary survey has little to add. Attached townhomes on individually deeded lots are a different question.
Who pays for the survey in Alabama?
It is negotiable and there is no default. In most of our transactions the buyer orders and pays for it because the buyer is the one who wants the answer, but sellers of land often supply a current survey to make the parcel easier to sell.
Have a survey or boundary question on a property you are considering?
Tell us the address and what you are worried about. We will tell you honestly whether a survey is worth ordering, and connect you with a licensed Alabama surveyor if it is.
Call or Text 205-292-2108Greater Birmingham 205-292-7142Get a Free Home Valuation
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Sources
Alabama Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (bels.alabama.gov); Code of Alabama Section 6-5-200, adverse possession; Alabama Association of REALTORS legal resources on boundaries and easements.