American Land Title Association Launches Policy Licensing Initiative

In a move aimed at strengthening the land title industry by protecting the association's top industry product, the American Land Title Association announced on September 8 that it has launched an initiative to license the use of its uniform title insurance policy forms.

"ALTA's uniform policy forms have become the 'gold standard' throughout the lending and legal communities. Because land title insurance coverage is standardized, the secondary market readily accepts mortgages that carry title insurance. This has greatly contributed to the growth of demand for title insurance across the country," said Mike Pryor, president of ALTA.

A license to use ALTA's policy forms will be provided free to all ALTA members. Companies that are not members of the association will be required to pay an annual licensing fee of $195 to write on ALTA policy forms, a release said.

To launch the program, ALTA is granting a free ALTA membership to all non-members for the remainder of 2009, a release said, adding that, in 2010, those companies must choose to either continue their ALTA membership or purchase the yearly license from ALTA to write on the policy forms.

"A lot of agents think the forms belong to their underwriters," said Pryor. "But the truth is, our trade association created the standardized forms and filled a unique role bringing the industry together to eliminate the confusion and chaos of disparate coverage. In turn, this has built a bridge to broader market availability for title insurance."

The American Land Title Association is a national trade association representing title insurance companies, title agents, independent abstracters, title searchers and attorneys.