The T-47 Affidavit and Existing Survey: How San Antonio Sellers Skip Paying for a New One

If you already have a survey from when you bought the house, you probably do not need a new one to sell it. Under the current TREC One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale) — TREC 20-17, Paragraph 6C — the seller can deliver an existing survey plus a T-47 Residential Real Property Affidavit, and the buyer's title company and lender have to accept it unless something on the property has actually changed. In Bexar County, a new residential survey runs roughly $450–$800 and takes 5–10 business days. The T-47 is a one-page notarized affidavit. Sellers routinely pay for a new survey they didn't owe.

The catch is that the affidavit has to be truthful and specific, the existing survey has to still reflect reality, and the title company underwriter has to be willing to insure over the gap. Here is how San Antonio sellers get all three right.

What Paragraph 6C actually says

Paragraph 6C of TREC 20-17 gives the parties three boxes. The one sellers want checked is the first: Seller delivers to Buyer, within a set number of days, an existing survey together with an affidavit in the form promulgated by the Texas Department of Insurance — the T-47. If the existing survey is unacceptable to the title company or the buyer's lender, then a new survey is ordered, and the contract states who pays.

Two things sellers miss:

• If you check box 6C(1) and fail to deliver on time, the default is that the seller pays for the new survey. Do not sit on this.
• The buyer's lender — not the buyer, not the buyer's agent — is usually the party that rejects an existing survey. VA and FHA underwriters (relevant for JBSA-Randolph, Lackland, and Fort Sam Houston buyers) are stricter than most conventional lenders about visible changes since the last survey date.

What the T-47 affidavit says

The T-47 is a sworn statement by the current owner that, since the date of the attached survey, there have been no:

• construction projects such as new structures, additional buildings, room additions, garages, swimming pools, or other permanent improvements or fixtures
• changes in the location of boundary fences or boundary walls
• construction projects on immediately adjoining properties which encroach on the subject property
• conveyances, replattings, easement grants, or easement dedications

If any of those things happened, the affidavit requires you to describe them. Once you describe a material change, the title company will almost always require a new survey to pick it up. So the practical question is not whether to file a T-47 — you should — but whether you can sign it clean.

When the existing survey still works

In most Bexar County resales where the house has not been altered, the survey holds up. A 2015 survey on a 1998 tract home in Alamo Ranch (NISD, 78253) with the original fence line and no pool is almost always reusable. Same for a stable Stone Oak (78258) production home or an inside-Loop-410 Terrell Hills lot where nothing has moved.

The survey is a snapshot. If the snapshot still matches the yard, you are fine.

When it does not — and this is where sellers get burned

In San Antonio, these are the changes that most often kill a T-47 reuse:

• A pool went in. Extremely common in 78259, 78258, 78015 (Boerne ETJ), and older Northwood pockets. Any in-ground pool added after the survey date requires re-shooting the property for encroachment and easement compliance.
• A detached casita, workshop, or oversized shed. SAWS easements and CPS Energy utility easements run through a lot of older lots in 78209, 78212, and 78210. A shed built over a 10-foot utility easement is a real title problem, not a paperwork one.
• A room addition or garage conversion. Common in South San, Harlandale ISD boundaries, and older Southtown (78204). If it changed the footprint, the survey is stale.
• Fence relocation. Fences drift. If a neighbor rebuilt and moved the line, or you extended into an alley, you cannot sign the affidavit clean.
• Replat or lot line adjustment. Rare in production subdivisions, common on subdivided King William and Monte Vista lots.
• A new driveway or circular drive that crosses a front setback line in Alamo Heights or Olmos Park, where municipal setbacks are enforced independently of Bexar County.

If any of these apply, order the new survey during the option period and stop arguing with the title company.

The procedure that actually works

1. Pull the survey before you list. It is in the closing packet from when you bought — usually a PDF from the title company. If you cannot find it, call the title company that closed your purchase; they retain files. If it truly does not exist, you are ordering a new one regardless.
2. Walk the property with the survey in hand. Compare the footprint, outbuildings, pool, deck, and fence lines to what is drawn. Take five minutes. This is the whole ballgame.
3. Deliver the survey and T-47 with the contract package. Your title company — Independence, Alamo, Texas National, Stewart, whoever the buyer selected — will send the T-47 form. Sign it in front of the notary at the title office or at your bank. Do not sign a T-47 you have not read line by line.
4. Let the title company circulate it to the buyer's lender for approval. The lender has final say. If they reject it, you are in Paragraph 6C's fallback language on who pays.

What most people get wrong

• Signing a T-47 without walking the lot. Sellers sign affidavits stating no changes when they added a pergola, a shed, or extended the driveway three years ago. The T-47 is sworn under oath. If a later dispute arises — a boundary claim, an easement encroachment — you signed a false affidavit. Correct move: walk the property with the survey before you sign anything.
• Assuming the buyer's lender will accept a 15-year-old survey. Age alone is not disqualifying under TREC rules, but many lenders have internal overlays capping survey age at 5 or 10 years. VA loans, common for JBSA buyers, are particularly variable by servicer. Correct move: have your title officer confirm acceptance with the specific lender before the option period ends.
• Checking box 6C(1) and doing nothing. The clock runs from the effective date. Miss the delivery window and you owe for a new survey regardless of whether the old one was fine. Correct move: send the survey and signed T-47 to the title company within 3 business days of the effective date.
• Treating fence lines as decorative. A neighbor who rebuilt the fence 18 inches onto your side is an encroachment. It will show on a new survey. Ignoring it now means renegotiating later, usually badly. Correct move: if the fence has moved, price and disclose accordingly, and expect a new survey.
• Confusing the T-47 with the Seller's Disclosure (OP-H). Different forms, different purposes. OP-H covers the condition of the improvements; T-47 covers whether the survey still matches reality. You need both.
• Letting the buyer pick the survey vendor and paying for it anyway. If a new survey is required and the contract puts it on the seller, you still have the right to select the surveyor. Bexar County has plenty of licensed surveyors under $600 for a standard residential lot. Do not accept a $1,200 invoice without asking.

When to just order a new one

Sometimes the math favors buying the survey. If your existing document is missing, older than 10 years, or covers a property that has clearly changed, save the argument. A clean, current survey removes a contingency, tightens the closing timeline, and is a real value-add when the buyer's lender is on a tight underwriting clock — which is most VA and FHA files in this market.

If you are preparing to list, browse comparable active listings and pull neighborhood data at HomeFinder San Antonio, list a home for sale by owner at /list-your-home, or find a Bexar County listing agent who handles T-47s correctly at /agents.