Best Practice #6 | E&O and Fidelity Coverage

Licensing and maintenance of our office licenses are a critical part of our business at Landmark Title Agency South, Inc. We follow the State of Ohio Department of Insurance procedures for licensing. These include the renewals and maintenance of our agency license, as well as individual agent licenses. This also includes the completion and reporting of continuing education requirements to each licensee.

Licensing requirements have changed over the years, and it is the responsibility of the owners and agents to keep apprised of dates of concern, and reporting of same. Annual renewals are now based upon the agent’s birthdate in the State of Ohio.

All licensees are required to complete 10 hours of continuing education (continuing legal and title) every two years; which most of our affiliated underwriters will provide at a variety of locations. This also was recently changed to include two hours of title ethics, which is very similar to our professional standards of realtors in the area.

For compliance with best practices, Landmark Title has created a separate file/notebook (available for review upon request) of our Landmark Agency license, and the four current individual licensees with their respective birthdates; license numbers; and NIPR numbers.

Each month we review the Department of Insurance website for current data and information on each agent file. Our owners renew our agency license and attend to the proper protocol of doing so.

Additional annual compliance includes hiring an outside CPA/auditor to perform an internal audit separate and apart from our underwriters and corporate accountant. We have completed this report annually by January 15 and forward same to the State of Ohio Department of Insurance for review.

Each underwriter received a copy of the audit as well. Contained within the information, as required by the state, is a listing of bank accounts—especially IOTA/ trust/ escrow accounts. This independent accountant’s review will also be addressed in Best Practices category “Escrow Account Controls”.

Landmark Title Agency’s Seven Best Practices

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