The title company messed up our paperwork and it took 3 extra weeks to close

We were supposed to close on our house in Cincinnati on June 15th. Everything was set, we had the moving truck booked and everything. Then, two days before closing, our agent called and said the title company had a problem. They had the wrong legal description of the property on the deed, mixing up a lot number with the house next door. Fixing it wasn't just a quick change. They had to go back to the county records, get a new surveyor's report to confirm the boundaries, and then redo all the closing documents. Our lender had to pause everything and wait. It took them a full 21 days to sort it all out. We had to delay the move, put our stuff in storage, and stay with my parents. Has anyone else had a title issue that pushed back their closing date that far?

2 comments

2 Comments

oliverallen1mo ago

That's actually a surveyor issue, not a title company one. The title company just reports what's on the legal record. If the lot lines were wrong in the county files, the surveyor has to fix it. The title company can't change a legal description on their own. Ours in Columbus had a similar delay, but it was only ten days.

the_ryan1mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, and it gets worse if the wrong lot lines were used for a long time. A neighbor might have built a fence or part of a driveway on what they thought was their land. Fixing the legal record is one thing, but untangling years of actual use is a whole other mess that can really hold things up. That's where these delays can go from days to months.