Title insurers must give the required notice in certain lender-policy transactions, furnish the commitment before closing when covered, explain the coverage differences, and keep a signed copy for at least five years.
(1) When a title insurance commitment includes an offer to issue an owner's title insurance policy covering the resale of owner-occupied residential property, the title insurance commitment shall be furnished to the purchaser-mortgagor or its representative as soon as reasonably possible prior to closing. If the title insurance commitment cannot be delivered prior to the day of closing, the title insurer shall document the reasons for the delay. (2) A title insurer issuing a lender's title insurance policy in conjunction with a mortgage loan made simultaneously with the purchase of all or part of the real estate securing the loan, when no owner's title insurance policy has been requested, shall give written notice, on a form prescribed or approved by the director, to the purchaser-mortgagor at the time the title insurance commitment is prepared. The notice shall explain that a lender's title insurance policy is to be issued protecting the mortgage lender and that the lender's title insurance policy does not provide title insurance protection to the purchaser-mortgagor as the owner of the property being purchased. The notice shall explain what a title insurance policy insures against and what possible exposures exist for the purchaser-mortgagor that could be insured against through the purchase of an owner's title insurance policy. The notice shall also explain that the purchaser-mortgagor may obtain an owner's title insurance policy protecting the property owner at a specified cost or approximate cost if the proposed coverages or amount of title insurance is not then known. A copy of the notice, signed by the purchaser-mortgagor, shall be retained in the relevant underwriting file at least five years after the effective date of the lender's title insurance policy. History: Laws 1997, LB 53, § 15; Laws 1999, LB 259, § 4; Laws 2001, LB 360, § 10.