Zoning Compliance Reports and ALTA Table A Item 6
Most people ordering an ALTA survey assume zoning comes with it. It does not. The 2026 ALTA/NSPS standards mention zoning in exactly one place, as an optional Table A item, and that item only does anything if you hand the surveyor a zoning report first. This page covers what the standard actually says, what a zoning report contains, who buys it, and the ordering sequence that stops it becoming the item that holds up your closing.
The Surveyor Does Not Research Your Zoning
This is the single most expensive misunderstanding in the process, and the standard is unambiguous about it. A full-text search of the 2026 Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys returns the word "zoning" in Table A Item 6 and nowhere else. Not in Section 5 (Fieldwork), not in Section 6 (Plat or Map), not in Section 4 (Records Research). The body of the standard never asks a surveyor to establish what a property is zoned.
Item 6 itself is written as a conditional. Quoting it in full, because the conditional clause is the part that gets skipped:
6. (a) If the current zoning classification, setback requirements, the height and floor space area restrictions, and parking requirements specific to the surveyed property are set forth in a zoning report or letter provided to the surveyor by the client or the client’s designated representative, list the above items on the plat or map and identify the date and source of the report or letter.
(b) If the zoning setback requirements specific to the surveyed property are set forth in a zoning report or letter provided to the surveyor by the client or the client’s designated representative, and if those requirements do not require an interpretation by the surveyor, graphically depict those requirements on the plat or map and identify the date and source of the report or letter.
2026 ALTA/NSPS Minimum Standard Detail Requirements, Table A
Both sub-items open with "If" and both turn on the same clause: "provided to the surveyor by the client or the client's designated representative". Item 6 is a transcription instruction, not a research instruction. Select it with no report supplied and there is nothing for the surveyor to transcribe: the item cannot be satisfied, and the surveyor is not the party at fault.
The tell that this is deliberate rather than an oversight is the last clause of both sub-items: the surveyor must identify the date and source of the report or letter on the plat. The standard is making the provenance of the zoning information explicit precisely because it did not come from the surveyor. A reader of the finished plat can see whose zoning opinion they are relying on, and how old it is.
Three Different Documents People Call "Zoning"
Much of the confusion here is vocabulary. Three distinct things get referred to interchangeably, and they are bought from three different parties.
| Document | Who produces it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Zoning letter | The municipality | States what that jurisdiction is willing to confirm in writing. Content and depth vary enormously by jurisdiction, and some will confirm very little. Turnaround is the municipality's, not yours. |
| Zoning report | A third-party vendor | Compiles the applicable code sections and municipal confirmation into one consistent document, in the same format across every property in a portfolio. The usual choice on multi-site deals for exactly that reason. |
| Table A Item 6 | Your surveyor | Copies figures out of whichever of the above you supplied onto the plat, and cites its date and source. Adds no zoning research of its own. |
Item 6 accepts either of the first two: the standard's phrasing is "a zoning report or letter". The choice between them is a question about your deal, not about the survey. A single asset in a jurisdiction with a responsive planning department may need nothing more than a letter. A portfolio spread across many jurisdictions is where a vendor report earns its fee, because the alternative is a differently-shaped municipal reply per jurisdiction, each on its own timeline.
What a Zoning Report Contains
Zoning is the one leg of commercial due diligence with no ASTM standard behind it. Phase 1 environmental work has ASTM E1527, property condition assessments have ASTM E2018, and the survey has the ALTA/NSPS requirements quoted above. A zoning report has none of them, so scope is set by the vendor's product sheet rather than by a consensus standard, and two reports called the same thing can differ.
What exists instead is a de facto product. The PZR Report, originally from The Planning and Zoning Resource Company and now sold by LightBox, is the report institutional lenders expect; LightBox states its reports are "accepted by every major Lender and Title Company in the U.S., including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." Treat "PZR" in a lender's checklist as a product name, not a generic term.
For what a report contains, CBRE's Land Surveying & Zoning practice describes its zoning report as covering four things:
- An analysis of the property's zoning requirements
- Written verification of the zoning from the municipality, the part that takes real time, because it moves at the municipality's pace
- Copies of the building's certificate of occupancy
- Copies of the pertinent sections of the municipal zoning code
Item 6(a) asks for four things: zoning classification, setback requirements, the height and floor space area restrictions, and parking requirements. A comprehensive report normally carries all four and a good deal more, but because no standard fixes the scope, "normally" is not "certainly" and the check is cheap. Send the vendor the text of Item 6(a) and ask whether the deliverable covers each element. The failure worth avoiding is a report that arrives on time and still leaves the surveyor unable to complete the item.
Note which way the mismatch usually runs. The comprehensive report is more than Item 6 needs, not less: municipal verification letters, variances and certificates of occupancy are there for the title company's zoning endorsement and the lender's conformance question, none of which reach the plat. That is why the next section matters more than it looks.
The Circular Dependency, and the Product That Breaks It
Here is the trap, and it is the reason "just order a zoning report" is not adequate advice. Table A Item 6 says the survey needs the zoning report. But a comprehensive zoning report needs the survey: NV5 states that once its standard zoning report is ordered, "an ALTA Survey will be required in order to complete the survey comparison portion", and LightBox says of the full PZR Report that it "can begin the research process without a Survey in most cases, but will need your Survey in order to complete the Report."
Each document wants the other first. Buyers discover this in the third week of a diligence period, and it is why zoning slips.
The lighter product is not a downgrade here, it is the correct one. LightBox's Title Insurer Packet exists specifically to feed ALTA survey requirements: it carries the zoning requirements, setback lines, height, density and area restrictions, parking formula and code sections, orders no municipal documents, needs no survey, and lands "usually within 1 week". That is precisely the Item 6(a) list. The comprehensive report can then run in parallel and finish after the plat, because what it is really for is the title company's zoning endorsement, not the drawing.
Worth knowing that the comprehensive tier is the default rather than the exception: LightBox says roughly 90% of its clients order the full PZR Report. So most buyers are already paying for the slow product. The question is not whether to buy it, it is whether you also bought something that can clear Item 6 while it runs.
| Product | Published turnaround | Needs the survey? | What it feeds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title Insurer Packet LightBox PZR | Usually within 1 week | No | Table A Item 6, and title zoning endorsements |
| PZR Report (full) LightBox PZR | Not published, gated on municipal response | Yes, to complete | Zoning endorsements, conformance opinion |
| Executive Summary Report LightBox PZR | Not published | No | Quick conformance read, 3.1-06 endorsement |
| Standard Zoning Report Zoning Research Group | 15-20 business days | Comparison section does | Full diligence file |
| Zoning Summary Zoning Research Group | 5 business days | No | Early screening |
| Express Zoning Report Zoning Research Group | 48 hours | No | Emergency screening |
Turnaround figures are the vendors' own published claims, read 2026-09-05, not our measurements, and they are the only two vendors we found publishing turnaround at all. Nobody publishes price. These are two firms among many; the tiering pattern is the transferable part, so ask whichever vendor you use which of their products carries no municipal-document wait and no survey dependency.
The 15-20 business day figure is the one to hold against your calendar. A comprehensive report on that timeline, ordered when the survey is commissioned rather than at the front of diligence, lands after a survey that itself typically runs a couple of weeks. Two sequential two-to-four week items inside a 30 to 60 day diligence period is how a closing date goes. See the due diligence timeline for where the rest of the workstreams sit.
Zoning Endorsements Are a Separate Buyer of the Same Report
Item 6 is not the only thing the report feeds, and knowing the second buyer stops you paying twice. Title insurers issue zoning endorsements, which are coverage, not annotation: the insurer takes on risk that the property's zoning is what the file says. LightBox states the PZR Report supplies the information for the ALTA 3-06, 3.1-06 and 3.2-06 zoning endorsements, and that the lighter Executive Summary Report can be enough for a 3.1-06.
So one report can serve three parties: the surveyor for Item 6, the title company for the endorsement, and the lender for the conformance question. Ask for it once, scoped for all three, rather than letting the surveyor, the title company and the lender each send you a separate request. That is the practical version of the "coordinate with the title company" advice on the Table A page.
Which Lenders Want Item 6
Item 6(a) appears in every lender profile tracked on this site, and Item 6(b) in most of them. That is the practical reason this page matters: if your lender's Table A schedule includes Item 6, you have a zoning purchase to make that is not in the survey quote.
| Lender programme | Item 6(a) | Item 6(b) | Where our list comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fannie Mae Multifamily | Yes | Yes | Guide linked, item list indicative |
| Freddie Mac Multifamily | Yes | Yes | Guide linked, item list indicative |
| SBA 7(a) Loan | Yes | - | Guide linked, item list indicative |
| SBA 504 Loan | Yes | - | Guide linked, item list indicative |
| HUD/FHA Multifamily | Yes | Yes | Guide linked, item list indicative |
| CMBS (Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities) | Yes | Yes | Guide linked, item list indicative |
| Conventional Commercial | Yes | - | Guide linked, item list indicative |
Read the last column before relying on a row. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac link to a published guide that does not enumerate Table A items: Freddie Mac Guide Chapter 29.4(b)(i) states they need not be listed in the certification at all, so the set shown is the market-standard agency list rather than a quotation. CMBS and conventional lending have no single guide to cite in the first place, and what is shown for them is market convention. Whatever this table says, get your own lender's Table A schedule in writing before ordering. That letter is the document that determines what you have to buy.
Freddie Mac is worth singling out because its survey requirements reach zoning from a second direction as well. Beyond the Table A schedule, its additional requirements call for "any setback requirements applicable to the property, including those imposed by zoning law, building codes, or recorded documents" to be shown. Setbacks can be imposed by three different instruments, and only one of them is zoning. A zoning report will not surface a setback that lives in a recorded covenant. That one comes off the title commitment and reaches the plat through Schedule B-II instead.
What It Costs, and Which Bill It Lands On
Item 6 generates two costs on two different invoices, and quotes routinely obscure this.
| Cost | On whose invoice | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Item 6(a) | Surveyor | $100-$250. Transcribing a client-supplied zoning report onto the plat and citing its date and source. |
| Item 6(b) | Surveyor | $150-$400. Drafting the setback lines rather than just listing them; more work than 6(a). |
| The report | Zoning report vendor or municipality | Quote-only. No vendor we found publishes a price, so we publish none either. Turnaround is published and is the number that decides your schedule: see the product table above. |
The plat-side figures are estimates of the drafting work, and they are small. The number that actually moves your diligence budget is the third row, and it is the one an ALTA survey quote will not mention, because it is not the surveyor's to charge. A survey quote that includes Item 6 is not a quote that includes your zoning report. Model the survey side with the ALTA survey cost calculator and treat the report as a separate line.
The Ordering Sequence That Avoids a Revision
The municipality is the slowest link in the chain and the one you control least, which is why the sequence below splits the zoning purchase in two rather than ordering one big report and hoping.
- Get the Table A schedule from your lender in writing and check whether Item 6(a), 6(b) or both are on it. The Table A configurator will show you the usual schedule for your programme, but the lender's own letter governs.
- Ask the title company what it needs for the zoning endorsement at the same time, so both requirements are known before you buy anything.
- Order the survey-facing product at the front of diligence, alongside the title commitment. That is the tier with no municipal-document wait and no survey dependency, so it is the only one that can clear Item 6 on schedule.
- Order the comprehensive report in parallel, not after. It needs the survey to finish, so it will close out later by design. Starting it late is what pushes it past the closing date.
- Send the vendor the text of Item 6(a) and confirm the deliverable covers classification, setbacks, height and floor space area, and parking. Scope is vendor-set, not standard-set.
- Tell the surveyor a report is coming and roughly when, so Item 6 is scheduled rather than discovered.
- Check the finished plat cites the report's date and source, as both sub-items require. If that citation is missing, Item 6 has not been completed to the standard, whatever the figures on the drawing say.
- Expect setbacks needing interpretation not to be drawn. Item 6(b) directs the surveyor away from that call. Resolve it with the municipality or your attorney.
Item 6(a) and 6(b) are quoted from the 2026 Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys, effective 23 February 2026. This page describes what the survey standard requires; it is not legal advice on zoning compliance, and a zoning report is not a determination of legal conforming use.
Buying Survey and Zoning From One Vendor
On a single property in one jurisdiction, splitting the two purchases is fine. On a portfolio it is where schedules break, because you are managing two vendors against a dependency that runs one way. Some national firms sell both, which collapses the handoff into one accountable party. CBRE's Land Surveying & Zoning practice is the clearest example, and it is the differentiator worth paying for when zoning is on the critical path rather than a formality.
That is a structural argument, not an endorsement: a firm selling both still has to be checked on who seals the drawing in each state. See the CBRE Land Surveying profile for what that practice covers and where its own two websites describe the delivery model differently, and nationwide single-vendor providers for the general version of that question across a multi-state programme.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does an ALTA survey include zoning?
No. The word zoning appears nowhere in the body of the 2026 ALTA/NSPS Minimum Standard Detail Requirements. It appears only in optional Table A Item 6, and even there it is conditional: Item 6(a) tells the surveyor to list zoning classification, setbacks, height, floor space area and parking on the plat only if those items are set forth in a zoning report or letter provided to the surveyor by the client or the client’s designated representative. A survey ordered with Item 6 selected but no report supplied cannot satisfy the item, because the input it operates on does not exist. Sourcing the zoning information is the client’s job, not the surveyor’s.
What is the difference between a zoning report and a zoning letter?
A zoning letter is written by the municipality itself and states what that jurisdiction is willing to confirm in writing, which varies widely and can be brief. A third-party zoning report is compiled by a vendor into a consistent format across every property in a portfolio, pulling code sections and municipal confirmation into one document. Table A Item 6 accepts either: the standard says a zoning report or letter, and requires the surveyor to identify the date and source of whichever one you provide. Worth knowing that zoning is the one leg of commercial due diligence with no ASTM standard behind it, unlike ASTM E1527 for Phase 1 environmental work and ASTM E2018 for property condition assessments. Scope is set by the vendor’s product sheet, so two reports with the same name can differ, and the closest thing to a market standard is the PZR Report, which LightBox states is accepted by every major lender and title company in the US including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Why will my surveyor not depict the setbacks I asked for?
Item 6(b) carries a second condition that Item 6(a) does not. The surveyor graphically depicts the setback requirements only if they are set forth in the report you supplied and if those requirements do not require an interpretation by the surveyor. Zoning codes routinely produce setbacks that cannot be drawn without a judgement call: a setback that varies with building height, one measured from a right-of-way line whose location is itself disputed, or a corner lot where the code does not say which frontage is the front. Where the answer needs interpreting, the surveyor is directed not to draw it, and the resolution is a clearer report or a written determination from the municipality, not pressure on the surveyor.
Who orders the zoning report, and when?
The buyer or borrower orders it, and the timing is less obvious than it looks because the dependency is circular. Table A Item 6 means the survey needs the zoning report, but a comprehensive zoning report needs the survey to finish its conformance comparison: NV5 states an ALTA survey is required to complete the survey comparison portion, and LightBox says the full PZR Report needs your survey to be completed. The way out is to buy in two pieces. Order the survey-facing tier, such as LightBox PZR’s Title Insurer Packet, at the front of diligence alongside the title commitment: it orders no municipal documents, needs no survey and is quoted at usually within one week, which is what clears Item 6. Run the comprehensive report in parallel and let it close out after the plat, because its real customer is the title company’s zoning endorsement rather than the drawing.
Do lenders require Table A Item 6?
Item 6(a) appears in every lender profile tracked on this site, and Item 6(b) in most of them. Treat the agency lists as indicative rather than quoted where the lender does not enumerate Table A items in its guide: Freddie Mac Guide Chapter 29.4(b)(i) states the Table A items need not be listed in the certification at all, so the enumerated agency set is the market-standard list rather than a quotation. The reliable move is to get the Table A schedule from your specific lender in writing before ordering, because Item 6 changes what you have to buy separately.
How long does a zoning report take?
It depends entirely on which tier you buy, and the spread is large enough to decide a closing date. Among the vendors that publish turnaround at all, Zoning Research Group quotes 15 to 20 business days for its Standard Zoning Report, 5 business days for its Zoning Summary and 48 hours for its Express Zoning Report, while LightBox quotes usually within one week for the PZR Title Insurer Packet. The pattern behind those numbers is what transfers: speed comes from not waiting on the municipality. The products that order municipal documents are slow because a planning department sets the pace, and the products that read published codes and municipal websites are fast. Prices are quote-only across the board, so turnaround is the number to plan against.
Is there an ASTM standard for a zoning report?
No. Phase 1 environmental site assessments have ASTM E1527 and property condition assessments have ASTM E2018, but zoning has no equivalent consensus standard, and the ALTA/NSPS survey standard covers zoning only through Table A Item 6, which just transcribes a report you supply. The practical consequence is that report scope is a vendor product decision rather than a defined baseline, so two documents both called a zoning report can cover materially different ground. What fills the gap is a de facto product: the PZR Report, originally from The Planning and Zoning Resource Company and now sold by LightBox, which states its reports are accepted by every major lender and title company in the US. When a lender checklist says PZR, read it as a product name rather than a generic term, and check what tier is actually being asked for.
How much does Table A Item 6 add to an ALTA survey?
Item 6 adds two separate costs and they are easy to confuse. On the survey itself, Item 6(a) is transcription work, estimated at 100 to 250 dollars, and Item 6(b) is drafting the setback lines, estimated at 150 to 400 dollars. Those are the plat-side figures only. The zoning report itself is bought from a separate vendor and is not part of the survey fee at all, which is why an ALTA quote with Item 6 selected can still leave you with an unbudgeted line item. Ask both parties what their scope covers before comparing quotes.
Related Pages
Sources
Turnaround and product scope come from vendor marketing pages and are those vendors' claims, not our measurements. Two vendors are named because they were the only ones found publishing turnaround; naming them is not a recommendation. No zoning report price is published here because no vendor publishes one.