A fee charged by a title company in some states to perform a check of the public record to verify that the buyer is purchasing a home from the legal owner and there are no liens, overdue assessment, or other claims that would adversely affect the transfer of title. In addition, a search is performed to insure that there are no issues that a survey would show that could affect the property. For our comparison purposes, a search and survey fee is considered to be a third party fee and may be included in the title insurance fee by some lenders.
