17:46B-9. Determination of insurability required

No policy or contract of title insurance shall be written unless and until the title insurance company has caused to be conducted a reasonable examination of the title and has caused to be made a determination of insurability of title in accordance with sound underwriting practices for title insurance companies. Evidence thereof shall be preserved and retained in the files of the title insurance company or its agent for a period of not less than 15 years after the policy or contract of title insurance has been issued. In lieu of retaining the original copy, the title insurance company or the agent of the title insurance company may, in the regular course of business, establish a system whereby all or part of these writings are recorded, copied or reproduced by any photographic, photostatic, microfilm, microcard, miniature photographic, or other process which accurately reproduces or forms a durable medium for reproducing the original. On every application for a commitment for title insurance the name and address of the applicant and the proposed insured shall be set forth in full. Except where the applicant is an attorney at law of the State of New Jersey representing the proposed insured, or where the proposed insured is the United States of America or the State of New Jersey, or any political subdivision thereof, or other governmental authority, the title company shall mail a notice, either separate from or as part of the commitment to insure, to the address of the insured, notifying the insured that there may be conditions, exceptions, and limitations of the insurance liability of the title company, contained in the commitment to insure, and that the proposed insured is entitled to review the commitment to insure, before transfer of title, with an attorney at law of the insured's own choosing. Such notice shall be sent at least 5 days before the closing of title. This section shall not apply to a company assuming no primary liability in a contract of reinsurance, or a company acting as a coinsurer if one of the other coinsuring companies has complied with this section.

L.1975, c. 106, s. 9, eff. May 29, 1975.