What Is a T-47 Survey Affidavit in Texas, and Can It Replace a New Survey?

A property survey confirms where your lot’s actual boundaries sit, not what the fence or the HOA map suggests they are, and in Texas, reusing an existing survey with a signed T-47 affidavit instead of ordering a brand new one typically saves a seller $500 to $700. That’s the whole transaction in miniature: a document nobody thinks about until a title company flags it, at which point it can either be a five-minute signature or a $600 unplanned expense depending on whether an existing survey is still usable.

What the Survey Is Confirming

A survey shows the exact boundaries of a property, where structures sit relative to the property line, and whether anything (a fence, a shed, an addition) encroaches onto a neighbor’s lot or a utility easement. Title companies use it to issue a title policy without what’s called a survey exception, a carve-out that otherwise limits what the policy covers if a boundary dispute comes up later. Lenders often require it too, to confirm the collateral they’re financing matches the legal description on paper. Skipping this step doesn’t make boundary questions disappear. It means nobody checked before money changed hands.

Why a T-47 Can Skip the Cost Entirely

If a seller already has a survey from a previous purchase or refinance, Texas allows them to sign a T-47 Residential Real Property Affidavit swearing that nothing has changed on the property since that survey was drawn: no new fence, no addition, no pool, nothing that would shift the boundaries or footprint shown on the old document. A buyer’s title company and lender can then rely on the existing survey instead of requiring a new one, which is where the $500 to $700 savings comes from. As of a 2025 TREC contract update, there’s also a T-47.1 version that accomplishes the same thing without requiring a notary, giving sellers a slightly faster option for the same outcome.

When the Affidavit Doesn’t Work

The T-47 only holds up if the existing survey is genuinely still accurate, and there are a few situations where it isn’t:

• Any new structure, addition, fence, or pool added since the survey was drawn
• No existing survey on file at all, which is common on older homes that changed hands informally or a long time ago
• A title company or lender that, for its own underwriting reasons, requires a current survey regardless of the affidavit

In any of those cases, a new survey gets ordered, and that’s a real cost of the transaction rather than something to fight. We’d rather flag it early in a listing conversation than let a buyer’s title company catch it during the option period, when there’s less time to shop a surveyor and less room to negotiate who pays for it.

Who Pays

There’s no fixed rule requiring the seller to pay for a new survey in Texas; it’s a negotiated item like most closing costs, and which side covers it often comes down to who’s asking for it and how competitive the listing is. What matters more than who pays is knowing early whether an existing survey exists and is still usable, since that question determines whether this is a signature or an added expense weeks before it becomes a closing-week surprise.

If you’re getting ready to list and want the fuller picture of what a Texas contract requires beyond the survey, our Seller’s Guide walks through the rest of it, and we’ve written separately about what Texas sellers are legally required to disclose if disclosure timing is the next thing on your mind.