Las Vegas Title Insurance Buyer Guide

A few days into escrow, your inbox pings with a 25-page PDF called a “preliminary title report.” Buried inside are references to Schedule A, Schedule B, ALTA endorsements, and a CC&R recorded in 1987 you have never heard of. If you are buying a Las Vegas home and have not seen one of these before, this guide explains what title insurance is, what an owner’s policy actually covers, who pays for what in Clark County, and how to read the report itself without a real estate attorney on speed dial.

Title insurance is one of the only insurance products you buy that looks backward instead of forward. It does not cover what might go wrong with the house tomorrow. It covers what might already be wrong with the ownership history today, before you sign the deed. In Nevada, getting this part of the deal right is the difference between owning your home free and clear and inheriting somebody else’s legal problem.

What Title Insurance Actually Is

When you buy a Las Vegas home, the seller signs a grant, bargain, and sale deed conveying ownership to you. That deed is only as good as the chain of ownership behind it. If the seller’s grandfather forged a signature in 1962, if a former spouse never quitclaimed their interest, if a contractor recorded a mechanic’s lien that was never released, or if a county tax collector missed a parcel split, that defect can follow the property forward and surface as a claim against you years later.

Title insurance is a one-time premium policy paid at close that protects the insured party against losses from those pre-existing defects. Unlike homeowners insurance, you do not pay it monthly, and unlike most insurance you do not file claims often. When you do need it, though, it is the only thing standing between you and a quiet-title lawsuit funded out of your own pocket.

Two Policies, Two Different Beneficiaries

Every Las Vegas closing involves up to two title policies, and they are not the same product. The table below makes the difference concrete.

If you skip the owner’s policy and a hidden defect surfaces, the lender’s policy will defend the bank’s loan position, but nobody is defending you. You can lose your down payment, your equity, and any improvements you have made.

ALTA vs. CLTA: Standard vs. Extended Coverage

In Nevada you will see two policy form families on your settlement statement: CLTA (California Land Title Association, the historic standard) and ALTA (American Land Title Association, the modern extended form). Most purchase transactions today use ALTA forms, but the terminology lives on.

• Standard coverage protects against defects of record: things a careful search of the Clark County Recorder’s office should reveal, like recorded liens, recorded easements, and breaks in the chain of title.
• Extended (ALTA) coverage adds protection for off-record risks: unrecorded mechanic’s liens, encroachments a survey would reveal, undisclosed parties in possession, and certain zoning issues. Extended coverage usually requires a survey or an inspection endorsement and costs more.

For most resale homes in established Clark County neighborhoods, the standard policy is fine. For new construction, custom builds, properties with recent permits or remodels, and rural Nevada parcels with messy boundaries, the extended ALTA policy is worth a hard look.

Reading the Preliminary Title Report

The preliminary title report (often called the “prelim” or sometimes the title commitment) is the document the title company issues early in escrow that previews what your final policy will and will not cover. It is not the policy itself. It is an offer to insure on certain terms. Reviewing it during your due diligence period is one of the most important things you do as a buyer.

Schedule A: What You Are Buying

Schedule A is the short part. It identifies:

• The proposed insured (you, by name).
• The policy amount (your purchase price for the owner’s policy, your loan amount for the lender’s).
• The estate or interest being insured (typically “fee simple”).
• The current vested owner of record.
• The legal description of the parcel.

Read Schedule A carefully. Confirm the seller listed matches the seller on your contract. Confirm the legal description matches the address you toured. Mismatches here are uncommon, but when they happen they tend to derail closings.

Schedule B: What Is NOT Covered

Schedule B is where the substance lives. It lists every exception to coverage: every lien, easement, restriction, and encumbrance that will survive closing and pass to you with the property. Common Schedule B items in Las Vegas include:

• Property taxes for the current fiscal year.
• HOA assessments and CC&Rs for the community.
• Utility easements along the lot lines for NV Energy, Southwest Gas, water, or telecom.
• Recorded subdivision restrictions and architectural controls.
• Existing deeds of trust the seller will pay off through escrow.
• Mineral rights reservations from the original land grant (often dating to the late 1800s).

Most Schedule B items are routine and do not block closing. Your job is to read each one and ask the title officer about anything that looks unusual: a lien that was not supposed to be there, an easement that runs through the middle of your future pool location, a use restriction that prevents the home-based business you planned, or a lis pendens indicating active litigation.

Common Title Defects You Might Actually See

Not every defect is exotic. The ones that show up in Las Vegas resale deals tend to fall into a few buckets:

• Unreleased liens

  A prior loan paid off but never had its deed of trust formally reconveyed. Usually fixed by the title company tracking down a release before close.
• Mechanic’s liens

  A contractor or subcontractor who was not paid for work on the home. These can be recorded after the work is done, which is why ALTA extended coverage matters when there have been recent renovations.
• Encroachments

  A neighbor’s fence, shed, or driveway crossing the property line, or yours crossing theirs. A survey reveals these.
• Easements you did not expect

  Drainage, access, or utility easements that limit where you can build a casita, pool, or addition.
• Prior owner claims

  An ex-spouse, business partner, or heir claiming an interest in the property that was never extinguished.
• Recording errors

  A scrivener’s mistake in a prior deed, a missing notary acknowledgment, or a clerical typo that breaks the chain.

Common Exclusions: What Title Insurance Will Not Cover

Even an extended ALTA policy has limits. Standard exclusions typically include:

• Defects created, assumed, or agreed to by you after the policy date.
• Defects you knew about but did not disclose to the title insurer.
• Government regulations like zoning, building codes, and environmental rules (covered only by specific endorsements, if at all).
• Eminent domain proceedings not yet recorded.
• Items disclosed on Schedule B (which is the whole point of Schedule B).

This is why reviewing Schedule B during your inspection period matters. Once you close knowing about an exception, the policy will not cover you for it.

Who Pays in Clark County?

Allocation of title costs is governed by your purchase contract, not by law. Nevada does not mandate who pays, but Southern Nevada has well-established custom that shows up as the default on the GLVAR Residential Purchase Agreement.

In a hot seller’s market, sellers sometimes refuse to pay for the owner’s policy and push it to the buyer. In a softer market, sellers may absorb more to attract offers. We walk through the GLVAR allocation boxes in detail in our post on what’s in the GLVAR Residential Purchase Agreement, and the fuller closing flow in our post on how escrow works in Nevada.

Endorsements Worth Knowing About

Endorsements are add-ons to the base policy that cover specific risks not included in standard coverage. Common Nevada endorsements include:

• ALTA 4-06 (Condominium): Coverage for condo-specific issues like assessments and percentage interest in common areas.
• ALTA 5-06 (Planned Unit Development): Coverage for PUD-specific risks, including HOA assessments.
• ALTA 8.1 (Environmental Protection Lien): Protects against certain environmental cleanup liens.
• ALTA 9 (Restrictions, Encroachments, Minerals): A broad endorsement covering CC&R violations and certain mineral rights issues. Common on Las Vegas residential deals.
• ALTA 22 (Location): Insures that the building improvements are located within the legal description.

Your lender will dictate the endorsements required for the loan policy. For your owner’s policy, ask the title officer which endorsements make sense for the property type. They cost relatively little compared to the base premium.

When to Talk to an Attorney About a Title Issue

Most title items are routine and the title officer can explain them clearly. But some warrant a Nevada-licensed real estate attorney, especially if you are self-representing. Consider consulting one when:

• The prelim shows a lis pendens or active litigation involving the property.
• An easement materially affects your intended use (a driveway, addition, casita, or pool).
• There is a probate, trust, or divorce in the chain of title that was not cleanly resolved.
• The seller is unable or unwilling to clear a recorded defect before close.
• The title company refuses to insure over a particular exception you care about.

The cost of a one-hour consultation is trivial compared to the cost of litigating a title claim after the deed records.

What This Looks Like Without an Agent

If you are buying without a buyer’s agent, you are the one who will receive the prelim, read Schedule B, ask follow-up questions, and decide what to ask the seller to clear. The title officer is helpful but neutral; they are not your advocate. Block out an hour during your due diligence period to read the document line by line, mark what you do not understand, and email the title officer with questions. Our guide on writing a Nevada home offer without an agent covers the contract-side decisions that affect the title workstream, including the title and escrow company designation and who pays for each policy.

The Bottom Line

Title insurance is the cheapest meaningful protection a Las Vegas home buyer can get. The owner’s policy is a one-time premium that defends your equity for as long as you own the home. Read the preliminary title report. Pay attention to Schedule B. Ask about endorsements. And in Clark County, expect the seller to pay for the owner’s policy and you to pay for the lender’s, unless the contract says otherwise.

Ready to put this into a real offer? Start with our Nevada home offer wizard and produce a contract that handles the title and escrow line items cleanly from the first draft.

This is general information, not legal advice. Draft a Deal is a software service, not a law firm. Real estate transactions involve meaningful legal and financial consequences — consult a Nevada-licensed attorney or real estate broker before acting on anything you read here.