A buyer has a contract on three acres along a Brownsville corridor for a warehouse with a truck court. The zoning works. The utilities are close. Then the title commitment arrives with eleven items in Schedule B: a utility easement across the back of the tract, a drainage easement along one side, a 1970s deed that "restricts the property to commercial uses," a pipeline right-of-way granted decades ago, and a reservation of minerals. The survey has not been ordered yet. Nobody has read the documents behind those eleven lines, and the option period ends in two weeks.
This article is an owner and buyer brief on the recorded fine print for industrial land, warehouses, flex buildings, yards, and small commercial buildings in Brownsville and Cameron County: easements, deed restrictions and park covenants, and the title commitment and survey that reveal them. It is not legal advice. The broader pre-purchase checklist lives in our land due diligence guide. What to do when public zoning does not fit lives in our zoning relief guide. Platting, site plans, and permits for new construction live in our ground-up development guide. Highway and public right-of-way takings live in our right-of-way and eminent domain guide. This page owns how to read the recorded matters that burden or benefit a site, how the survey ties them to the ground, and which questions to settle before the option period ends.
Alfredo Cristo Realty Group operates from Brownsville with more than 45 years of advisory and stewardship experience, Texas real-estate licensing, and a background in Mexico corporate and real-estate law. The goal matches our promise: Experience that protects your investment. Education first. Specialist handoff when the question leaves the real-estate lane.
What is Schedule B of a Texas title commitment? On the Texas commitment form promulgated by the Texas Department of Insurance (Form T-7), Schedule B lists the exceptions from coverage: title risks a policy would generally cover but will not cover in this particular case. They include recorded restrictive covenants, a standard exception for discrepancies, conflicts, or shortages in area or boundary lines and encroachments, taxes, and a list of specific recorded matters such as easements. Schedule C lists requirements that must be satisfied before closing, or they will also appear as exceptions in the policy.
Does a recorded easement bind a new buyer in Texas? Generally, yes. Under Section 13.002 of the Texas Property Code, an instrument properly recorded in the proper county is notice to all persons of its existence. Under Section 13.001, an unrecorded conveyance of an interest in real property is void as to a later purchaser for value without notice, but it still binds the parties and anyone who has notice of it. That is why buyers read the recorded documents behind every exception and also look at the ground for signs of rights that are not recorded.
This page is educational only. It is not legal, engineering, surveying, or investment advice. Retain a Texas real-estate attorney, a Texas-licensed surveyor, your title company, and an engineer for those decisions. Nothing below predicts whether a title company will insure over any matter, whether any restriction or easement is enforceable, how much a survey or endorsement will cost, or how long any cure will take. Legal and form references are attributed to the Texas statutes, Texas Department of Insurance forms, and survey standards they come from, listed in Sources.
Why this matters for Brownsville owners now
- Industrial demand is testing older tracts. Supplier warehouses, truck yards, and light manufacturing are being considered on land that was divided, restricted, and crossed by easements long before anyone imagined those uses. The zoning map is only one layer; recorded documents are another.
- Utility and pipeline corridors are part of the landscape. Port, energy, and utility growth in Cameron County means many tracts carry utility, drainage, or pipeline rights. An easement in the wrong place can decide where a building, a dock, or a detention pond can go.
- The survey standard changed in 2026. The American Land Title Association and the National Society of Professional Surveyors adopted new Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys, effective February 23, 2026. Owners ordering a commercial survey should order to the current standard.
- Option periods are short. The time to object to title and survey matters is usually set by the contract. Owners who wait for closing to read Schedule B have often lost the cheapest moment to negotiate.
Three layers that limit a site
A site's use is shaped by three different kinds of rules. They are easy to blur.
Public land-use rules
Zoning, subdivision, platting, building codes, floodplain rules, and permits come from the city, the county, and state and federal agencies. Our zoning relief guide and ground-up development guide cover those.
Private recorded restrictions
Deed restrictions, restrictive covenants, and the declarations that govern some business and industrial parks are private agreements recorded in the county records. They can limit uses, building materials, setbacks, outdoor storage, signs, or truck access, and they can be stricter than public zoning. Our land due diligence guide notes that park covenants and deed restrictions can be more restrictive than public zoning. A rezoning does not by itself remove a private restriction.
Easements and other rights held by others
Easements give someone else a right to use part of the land, such as a utility, a drainage district, a pipeline operator, or a neighbor who needs access. The land under an easement usually still belongs to the owner, but what the owner can build or place there may be limited by the easement's terms.
Reading the title commitment
In Texas, the title commitment is the map of what the title company has found and what it will and will not insure. The Texas Department of Insurance promulgates the commitment form (Form T-7) and the policy forms, and the form itself explains its parts.
Schedule A
Schedule A names the policy or policies to be issued, the proposed insured and amount, who record title appears to be vested in, and the legal description. Confirm that the legal description matches the land you think you are buying, including any access strips or detention areas.
Schedule B: exceptions from coverage
Form T-7's Schedule B lists exceptions the policy will not cover. Several are standard text; others are specific to the property. Items owners should read closely include:
- Restrictive covenants of record. The form requires the title company to either insert specific recording data or delete this exception. Ask for copies of each listed instrument and read them.
- The area and boundary exception. The standard exception for discrepancies, conflicts, or shortages in area or boundary lines, encroachments, protrusions, or overlapping of improvements.
- Taxes and assessments. Including later taxes for prior years due to a change in land use or ownership. Owners of land with agricultural valuation should read our ag valuation and rollback guide.
- Specific listed matters. The form's final exception lists particular recorded matters and "all terms of the documents creating or offering evidence of the matters." This is usually where easements, pipeline rights, plat notes, leases, and mineral reservations appear.
A one-line description in Schedule B is not the document. An easement listed as "utility easement, Volume and Page" may be ten feet wide or may be a blanket easement over the whole tract. Only the recorded instrument says which.
Schedule C: requirements before closing
Schedule C lists what must be done to the title company's satisfaction before the policy is issued, or those matters also become exceptions. Examples on the form include signed, notarized, and recorded conveyance documents and evidence that no one occupying the land claims an interest against the record owner. Unreleased liens, missing releases, and gaps in the chain of title surface here.
Options the form describes
Form T-7 also describes changes a buyer may request before the policy issues:
- Amendment of the area and boundary exception. To get it, the buyer must furnish a survey and meet the company's other requirements, and on an owner's policy pay an additional premium. If accepted, the policy insures against loss from discrepancies or conflicts in boundary lines, encroachments or protrusions, or overlapping of improvements, though the company may make special exceptions for specific problems the survey shows.
- Rights of parties in possession. If the buyer refuses this exception, the company or its agent may inspect the property and may except specific persons, such as renters, adverse owners, or easement holders who occupy the land.
- Deletion of the arbitration provision. The form explains that the policy's arbitration provision applies if the amount of insurance is $2,000,000 or less, and that the insured must request deletion before the policy is issued to keep the right to sue the company over a claim.
Minerals
Form T-7 warns that minerals and mineral rights may not be covered by the policy, that the company may be unwilling to insure title without an exclusion or exception for them, and that even with optional endorsements, the policy does not ensure the purchaser has title to the mineral rights related to the surface estate. For industrial buyers, the practical question is less about owning minerals and more about whether a recorded mineral owner or lessee has surface rights that could affect improvements. Ask counsel to read every mineral reservation and lease in Schedule B.
Endorsements worth asking about
Endorsements add coverage for specific risks, subject to the title company's underwriting. The Texas Department of Insurance's Basic Manual lists the promulgated forms. Three that often come up on commercial and industrial purchases:
- Restrictions, Encroachments, Minerals Endorsement (T-19.1 for an owner's policy; T-19 for a loan policy). The T-19 text covers, among other things, loss from violations of enforceable covenants on the land at the date of policy unless Schedule B identifies the violation, enforced removal of improvements for violating certain recorded plat setback lines, certain encroachments, and certain damage to improvements from the future exercise of surface rights for mineral development. It also lists exclusions, including covenants in leases, maintenance or remediation obligations, and most environmental covenants. Under the Basic Manual's rule P-50, a company may issue these endorsements if its underwriting requirements are met and must delete any insuring provision it does not consider an acceptable risk.
- Minerals and Surface Damage Endorsements (T-19.2, T-19.3, and related forms). Listed in the Basic Manual for mineral-related surface risks.
- Access Endorsement (T-23). Insures against loss if, at the date of policy, the land does not abut and have actual vehicular and pedestrian access to and from a named street, or the street is not physically open.
Whether any endorsement is available on a given tract, and on what terms, is a question for your title company and counsel. Ask early, because underwriting often depends on the survey.
Easements: the questions that matter
For each easement in Schedule B, owners and buyers should be able to answer:
- Who holds it, and for what purpose? Utility, drainage, pipeline, access, sign, or a neighbor's shared driveway.
- Where is it? A defined strip, an undefined location, or a blanket easement over the whole property.
- What may the holder do? Enter, excavate, maintain, clear vegetation, add lines, or restrict structures and paving within the strip.
- What may the owner do within it? Pave, fence, park trucks, stack containers, build, or nothing permanent.
- Is it still in use, and has it been released? An old easement with no visible facilities may still be of record until released.
- Does it benefit the property? Some easements are assets: recorded access to a public road, a shared drive, or an offsite drainage outfall. A buyer should confirm the benefited easements are in the title commitment and shown on the survey.
Pipelines
The Railroad Commission of Texas offers a Public GIS Viewer that shows oil, gas, and pipeline data in a map view. It is a starting point for asking whether a pipeline runs near or across a tract; it does not replace the recorded easement, the operator's requirements, or a surveyor's field evidence such as pipeline markers. Before any excavation, follow the Texas one-call process through 811.
Access
Access deserves its own line in diligence. A tract that touches a road on a map may still lack legal or physical access where trucks need it. Our port-adjacent ownership guide flags driveway and TxDOT issues, and our right-of-way guide covers how projects can change access. Confirm whether access is by public road frontage or by a recorded private easement, and whether a T-23 access endorsement is available.
Shared drives and reciprocal agreements
Multi-parcel commercial and flex sites often share drives, parking, signs, utilities, or detention under a recorded reciprocal easement or operating agreement. Read who maintains what, how costs are shared, and whether the agreement restricts uses on your parcel.
Deed restrictions and park covenants
Recorded restrictions can control far more than zoning does. Read them for:
- Permitted and prohibited uses, including restrictions written decades ago for a different market, such as "commercial only," bans on outdoor storage, or limits on truck terminals.
- Building standards: setbacks, height, materials, landscaping, screening, and lighting.
- Architectural or owners' approval requirements before construction or changes.
- Assessments and maintenance obligations for common areas, drainage, or roads in a business park, and whether unpaid assessments can become a lien.
- Term and amendment: how long the restrictions last, whether they renew, and what vote or signatures can change them.
- Enforcement: who may enforce them, such as a developer, an association, or neighboring owners.
Whether a particular restriction is still enforceable, has been waived, or applies to your intended use is a legal question. Do not rely on a summary, a broker's memory, or the fact that a neighbor appears to ignore it.
The survey ties the documents to the ground
A title commitment describes recorded rights in words. A survey shows where they fall on the land and what the surveyor observed on the ground.
Order the right survey
For commercial and industrial purchases with a lender, an ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey is common. The 2026 Minimum Standard Detail Requirements took effect February 23, 2026, and the standards say the request must specify a "2026 ALTA/NSPS LAND TITLE SURVEY" and which optional Table A items are to be included. Provide the surveyor the title commitment and copies of the recorded easements, servitudes, and covenants, which the standards list among the records the surveyor should be given.
What the standard survey shows
Under the 2026 standards, the plat or map shows, among other things:
- The location, width, and recording information of plottable rights of way and easements, both burdening and benefiting the property.
- A summary of each survey-related matter in the title evidence, noting whether its location is shown, whether its location cannot be determined from the record document, whether it is a blanket easement, whether it limits access to an otherwise abutting right of way, and whether the surveyor has information that it may have been released.
- Observed evidence of easements, including evidence of undocumented use, which the standards label prescriptive easements, such as roads, paths, utility lines, ditches, and pipelines used by others and not disclosed in the documents.
- Observed evidence of utilities, such as pipeline markers, manholes, meters, transformers, and overhead lines.
- A note if no physical access to an abutting street or way was observed.
- Platted setback or building restriction lines from recorded plats or provided documents.
If the surveyor finds a recorded easement not listed in the title evidence, the standards require the surveyor to advise the insurer and show or explain it on the plat unless the insurer shows it was terminated.
Table A items industrial buyers often consider
Table A lists optional items the client chooses. Items commonly discussed on industrial and commercial deals include flood zone classification (item 3), gross land area (item 4), zoning information from a zoning report or letter (items 6(a) and 6(b)), building dimensions and footprint (item 7), evidence of underground utilities (item 11), names of adjoining owners from tax records (item 13), evidence of recent earth moving or construction (item 16), proposed changes in street right of way lines when made available (item 17), plottable offsite easements that benefit the property (item 18), and a table of potential encroachments and access without a documented easement (item 20). Scope and fees are negotiated with the surveyor.
Practical steps for buyers
- Calendar the title and survey objection deadlines from the contract before anything else.
- Order the title commitment and every exception document at once. Ask the title company for legible copies of each Schedule B instrument and the recorded plat.
- Order the survey early to the 2026 ALTA/NSPS standard, with the Table A items your lender, engineer, and counsel want, and give the surveyor the commitment and documents.
- Overlay the site plan. Ask your engineer or architect to place the planned building, docks, truck court, detention, and utility routes over the survey and the easements.
- Read restrictions against the intended use, not just against the current use.
- Check pipelines and utilities with the Railroad Commission's Public GIS Viewer, the survey's observed evidence, and the utility providers.
- Confirm access and ask about a T-23 access endorsement.
- Ask about the area and boundary amendment and the T-19.1 endorsement, and what the title company needs to issue them.
- Send written objections on time and track which items the seller agrees to cure, which the title company will insure over, and which remain.
- Keep the final commitment, survey, recorded documents, and endorsements in the property file. They are the starting point for any future sale, loan, or lease.
Practical steps for current owners
- Pull your own owner's policy and survey before marketing, refinancing, or planning an expansion. A lender or buyer will.
- Search the county records. The Cameron County Clerk provides a Public Access Portal for official records. Recorded easements, restrictions, plats, and releases can be researched there, and your title company can run a full search.
- Clean up what you can, such as obtaining releases of unused easements from willing holders or documenting shared access informally used for years. These are attorney-led steps.
- Watch for encroachments before they become a dispute: fences, paving, signs, or storage that crossed a line or an easement.
- Plan improvements around easements rather than discovering them after a permit is issued.
Documents folder for a recorded-matters review
- Title commitment with all Schedule B and C documents
- Recorded plat and any replats
- Current or prior surveys, including any ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey
- Deed restrictions, park declarations, and any amendments
- Easement instruments, releases, and any reciprocal or shared-use agreements
- Pipeline and utility easements and any operator crossing requirements obtained
- Mineral reservations and leases listed in the commitment
- Prior owner's title policy and endorsements
- Site plan or conceptual layout for the intended use
- Correspondence on title and survey objections and cures
Common mistakes owners and buyers make
- Reading Schedule B as a list of labels instead of reading the documents behind it.
- Assuming a rezoning clears a deed restriction. Public and private rules are separate.
- Ordering the survey too late to fix problems inside the option period.
- Ordering a survey without giving the surveyor the title documents, so easements cannot be plotted.
- Treating a blanket easement as harmless because no facilities are visible today.
- Ignoring what benefits the land, such as recorded access or offsite drainage, until a lender asks.
- Assuming the policy covers minerals or environmental covenants. The forms say otherwise for many risks.
- Missing the deadline to request deletion of the arbitration provision when it matters to the owner.
Questions to bring to counsel, the surveyor, and the title company
- Which Schedule B items affect the planned building, docks, truck court, utilities, or detention, and where exactly do they fall?
- Are any listed easements blanket easements, and can they be relocated, limited, or released?
- Do any recorded restrictions prohibit or condition the intended use, and who can enforce them?
- Is there legal and physical access where trucks need it, and is a T-23 endorsement available?
- What does the title company need to amend the area and boundary exception or issue a T-19.1 endorsement, and what would it still except?
- What mineral reservations or leases exist, and do they include surface rights that could affect improvements?
- Did the survey find evidence of undocumented use, encroachments, or access without a documented easement?
- Which items must the seller cure before closing, and how will the contract handle items that cannot be cured?
How Alfredo Cristo Realty Group helps
We help Brownsville and Cameron County owners and buyers organize the real-estate side of a recorded-matters review: collecting the commitment and exception documents, coordinating the survey order and site-plan overlay, tracking objection deadlines, and keeping the title, survey, and restriction file in order as part of management / stewardship. We connect clients with Texas real-estate attorneys, surveyors, title companies, and engineers, and with Mexican counsel when entities or investors are across the border, and we serve as an accountable Brownsville point of contact through consultation / contact. We are not lawyers, surveyors, or title insurers, we do not give legal advice, and we do not promise that any title company will insure over a matter, that any easement or restriction can be released, or that any site can be used as planned.
Review current properties and market context without pressure toward a listing, or read about Alfredo's background. Related reading: land due diligence, zoning relief, ground-up development, right-of-way and eminent domain, owning property near the Port of Brownsville, ag valuation and rollback, inherited family land and title, and buying a leased building. More on the Insights hub. Spanish readers: Artículos.
The objective: help owners and buyers know what the recorded documents allow, where those rights sit on the ground, and what must be resolved before money and time are committed to a site.
Sources
- Texas Property Code, Chapter 13 (Effects of Recording), Sections 13.001 (Validity of Unrecorded Instrument) and 13.002 (Effect of Recorded Instrument), via the Texas Legislature statutes site and the Texas legislative statute mirror (accessed November 9, 2026)
- Texas Department of Insurance, Form T-7, Commitment for Title Insurance, including Schedules A, B, and C, the area and boundary amendment, rights of parties in possession, minerals notice, and deletion of arbitration provision (accessed November 9, 2026)
- Texas Department of Insurance, Basic Manual of Rules, Rates and Forms for the Writing of Title Insurance, Section II forms list and Section IV Rule P-50; Form T-19, Restrictions, Encroachments, Minerals Endorsement (effective November 1, 2024); and Form T-23, Access Endorsement (accessed November 9, 2026)
- American Land Title Association and National Society of Professional Surveyors, 2026 Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys, effective February 23, 2026, including Sections 4, 5, and 6 and Table A (accessed November 9, 2026)
- Railroad Commission of Texas, Public GIS Viewer (Map) (accessed November 9, 2026)
- Cameron County Clerk, official records resources including the Public Access Portal (accessed November 9, 2026)
Educational disclaimer (repeated): This page is owner and buyer education only. It is not legal, surveying, engineering, title, or investment advice, and it does not predict whether any title company will insure over a matter, whether any easement or restriction is enforceable or can be released, what any survey or endorsement will cost, or how long any cure will take. Do not rely on it to review title, draft objections, or interpret recorded documents. Work with a Texas real-estate attorney, a Texas-licensed surveyor, and your title company, and confirm the current forms, standards, and statutes before acting.
This guide is also available in Spanish: /es/articulos/servidumbres-restricciones-escritura-compromiso-titulo-levantamiento-propiedad-industrial-brownsville.