Freddie Mac Multifamily Survey Requirements

The 90-Day Rule Is the Real Constraint

Chapter 29.4(b)(i) requires that the survey "be made, dated or revised by a licensed civil engineer or registered surveyor not more than 90 days prior to the date of the Note." That window is four times tighter than Fannie Mae's, which accepts a survey dated within 360 days before recording.

The practical consequence: on a Freddie Mac deal you generally cannot re-use a survey from an earlier transaction, and you cannot commission the survey early to de-risk the schedule. Order it too soon and it ages out before the Note date; order it too late and a 2–3 week standard turnaround becomes the critical path. Most borrowers work backwards from the expected Note date and start the survey at roughly week 4–6 of a 90-day close.

A survey is required for every Mortgage Freddie Mac purchases unless it is specifically waived in the Letter of Commitment — so treat a waiver as an exception to negotiate up front, not something to assume.

Four Requirements Beyond Standard ALTA/NSPS

This is the part most often missed at scoping. Chapter 29.4(b)(ii) states that "in addition to the items that must be included in an ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey, the survey must also include" the following. None of these map cleanly onto a Table A checkbox, so a surveyor working only from a Table A list can deliver a technically compliant survey that Freddie Mac still rejects:

1. Substantial visible improvements beyond buildings — entrance or monument signs, parking structures including carports and garages, swimming pools, and recreational facilities such as clubhouses and basketball or tennis courts
2. Indication of access to all public rights of way, such as curb cuts and marked driveways
3. Parking areas with the type and number of parking spaces (striping need not be shown)
4. Any setback requirements applicable to the property, including those imposed by zoning law, building codes, or recorded documents

Put these four in the engagement letter explicitly. Adding them after fieldwork usually means a second site visit, which is the single most common way an ALTA survey budget overruns.

Table A: Freddie Mac Does Not Enumerate

Unlike Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac publishes no Table A list. Chapter 29.4(b)(i) says the certification must be the form required by the current ALTA/NSPS requirements, "except that the Table A items need not be listed in the certification."

In practice, agency deals converge on the same set, and lenders and title companies will expect it. The list below is the market-standard agency set — identical to Fannie Mae's enumerated list — shown here as a working baseline, not as a quotation from the Freddie Mac Guide:

Freddie Mac does not enumerate Table A items — Guide Chapter 29.4(b)(i) states the Table A items need not be listed in the certification. The list shown here is the market-standard agency set (identical to Fannie Mae's enumerated list) and is indicative, not quoted from the Guide.

Build the exact list for your deal with the ALTA Table A configurator.

Small Balance Loans Are Exempt

Chapter 29.4(a) is unambiguous: "A new survey is not required for SBL Mortgages." Where the title policy contains an exception for itemized survey or plat matters, the Seller/Servicer delivers an electronic copy of the referenced survey or plat with the recorded exception documents.

For a small-balance borrower this removes $3,000–$8,000 and two to three weeks from the due-diligence budget. It is the clearest cost difference between Freddie Mac's SBL programme and a conventional agency execution, and it is worth confirming your loan is being underwritten as SBL before you commission any survey work.

Certification and Encroachments

The surveyor's certification must run to the Seller/Servicer, Freddie Mac and its successors and assigns, and the Title Insurance Underwriter issuing the policy where that underwriter requires it. Getting the certification parties wrong is a re-issue, not a correction — confirm the exact names before the surveyor seals the drawing.

Chapter 29.4(b)(iii) requires the Seller/Servicer or its counsel to analyse every encroachment and violation shown on the survey, and to submit a written analysis for any that materially or adversely affects the property's operation, use or value — income-producing buildings, parking and access ways are the named examples. That analysis must describe the encroachment in reasonable detail (how many feet a building crosses an easement, for instance) and state whether building law and ordinance coverage exists where a zoning requirement is implicated.

Where the risk can be mitigated by an endorsement identified in the Title Policy and Endorsement Requirements and that endorsement is included in the policy, no written analysis is needed. If the endorsement is unavailable or has been modified from the standard form, the analysis is required.

Manufactured Housing Communities Have Extra Rules

For MHC properties, Chapter 29.4(b)(iv) adds requirements on top of everything above. The survey must show the number of Home Sites and describe the parking generally available for each Manufactured Home. It must depict the extent and approximate dimensions of any encroachments by Manufactured Homes, Home Sites, piers and foundations — where these are not encroachments, a simple indicating mark suffices. Private interior access roads and visible utilities must also be shown, and unless they constitute encroachments they may be sketched to approximate location by photogrammetric or other approximate methods rather than precise field measurement.

That last allowance matters commercially: it means an MHC survey does not require every internal road to be field-located, which keeps the cost closer to a standard multifamily survey than the acreage alone would suggest.

Budgeting a Freddie Mac Deal

Survey and environmental are the two due-diligence line items Freddie Mac drives directly:

Costs vary by state — see survey cost by state and Phase 1 cost by property type, or get competitive quotes.

Related Pages

• All lender survey requirements compared
• Fannie Mae multifamily requirements
• CMBS requirements
• HUD/FHA requirements
• SBA 7(a) and 504 requirements
• What is an ALTA survey?
• What is ALTA Table A?
• Build your Table A list
• ALTA survey providers compared
• Best survey providers for Freddie Mac deals