Nobody searches for this out of curiosity. If you are reading it, you are probably two or three weeks into a file, the closing date is real, and the agency holding it has stopped answering.

The short answer is that yes, a transaction can be moved to a different title agency after it has been opened. It happens regularly. The longer answer is that moving a file has a cost in days, and the entire decision comes down to whether that cost is smaller than the cost of staying.

This page is the honest version, including the parts that argue against moving.

First, is this a service problem or a title problem?

Worth five minutes before anything else, because the two look identical from the outside and only one of them is fixed by moving.

A service problem is the agency's: calls not returned, no named escrow officer, a commitment that was promised last Tuesday, figures that keep changing, a lender who cannot get anyone on the phone. Moving the file fixes this, because the problem travels with the agency.

A title problem is the property's: a lien nobody can get released, an unrecorded interest, a boundary question, an estate that was never properly closed, a payoff a lender will not produce. Moving the file does not fix this. It arrives at the new agency exactly as it was, and the new agency starts from zero on a problem the old one had already spent two weeks on.

Ask one question to tell them apart: what specifically is outstanding, and what is being done about it today? An agency with a title problem can answer that in a sentence. An agency with a service problem cannot answer it at all.

When moving is the right call

You cannot get a named human. Not a company, a person, with a direct line. Two weeks into a file this is not a minor irritation; it is the whole job not being done.
The lender is blocked and escrow is the reason. A loan officer who cannot get figures, conditions or a Closing Disclosure timeline is going to miss the date, and the date is usually contractual.
The figures keep moving. A settlement statement that changes three times in a week without an explanation is a file nobody is holding.
Something has gone wrong with money or identity. If you have a wire concern, read the wire fraud and seller impersonation guide first — that is an emergency with its own procedure, not a service complaint.
The client has lost confidence. This one is legitimate on its own. A seller who no longer trusts the company holding their proceeds is not going to sign comfortably, and you will spend the rest of the file managing that.

When it is not

The closing is inside a week and the only complaint is speed. Moving will almost certainly cost you more days than it saves.
The delay is the lender's. Escrow is visible, so escrow gets blamed. Check first.
The title problem is real. Moving it does not solve it, and the new agency has to find it again.
You want to move only one side of it. That is not a switch. That is a split closing, and it is a much smaller operation — the side that is working stays where it is.

Who actually gets to decide

The parties do, and the contract says how.

How a change to the settlement arrangement gets recorded is a contract question before it is a title question. Read the form you are actually on, with your broker. That is not a throat-clearing disclaimer — the state forms are revised, and this page is not a substitute for the one in front of you.

Two boundaries are worth knowing.

A seller cannot make it a condition. Under RESPA Section 9 (12 U.S.C. § 2608), where the purchase is being made with the help of a federally related mortgage loan, a seller may not require as a condition of sale that the buyer buy title insurance from a particular company, on penalty of three times the charges. A seller may ask. They may not require.

A lender's requirements are real. They are not a matter of preference. If the lender has approval requirements for the closing agent, the incoming agency has to satisfy them, and confirming that should happen before anything else moves.

And whatever the contract says, in practice this needs both parties to agree in writing. A unilateral move is how a transfer stalls for a week over earnest money.

What transfers, and what does not

This is the part people are surprised by, so it is worth being blunt.

What generally does not simply move across:

The title commitment. Expect the incoming agency to run its own search and issue its own commitment rather than adopting someone else's. Budget for it in the timeline; ask the incoming agency directly rather than assuming.
Escrow instructions, which are written to the agency that holds them.
The lender's approval of the closing agent, which has to be obtained again for the new one.

What usually does move, or can be re-obtained quickly:

The purchase contract, addenda and disclosures. Your file, and you can send them today.
Payoff demands and association demands. They belong to the seller, who can authorise their release — though a demand with a good-through date may need reordering.
The earnest money, with the parties' agreement. See below.
Everything you and the other agent already have. In practice the fastest transfers are the ones where the agents send the new agency a complete package on day one instead of waiting for the old agency to forward it.

Work already done at the old agency may be reusable, particularly where the same underwriter is involved. Ask; do not assume, and do not promise your client a saving on that basis until the incoming agency has said so.

The earnest money question

This is the item most likely to hold a transfer up, and it is worth getting in front of.

Earnest money already deposited sits with the original escrow holder, and the one thing to be clear about is what it is not: it is not the buyer's to redirect and it is not the agency's to hand over on request. Releasing it is governed by the contract, and you should expect to need written authorisation from both buyer and seller. Ask the outgoing agency on day one what exactly they require.

So do this first, not last. Get the written authorisation moving on the same day you decide to switch, and have the incoming agency tell you exactly what they need to receive it. A transfer that is otherwise complete can sit for days waiting on one signature nobody asked for.

What it costs

Two kinds of cost, and honest people quote both.

Days. A new search, a new commitment, new escrow instructions, and lender re-approval. That is real calendar time on a file that is usually already behind, which is why the closing-inside-a-week case above is a no.

Money. An agency may bill for work it has already performed, and the amount varies by agency and by how far the file got. Ask the outgoing agency directly what they will charge, in writing, before you commit the parties to the move — that number is much easier to discuss on day one than after the file has left.

Moving a file, in order

Diagnose. Service problem or title problem. Do not skip this.
Ask the incoming agency whether they can hit the date. If they cannot, you have saved everyone a week. Give them the real date and the real condition of the file, not the optimistic version.
Clear the lender. Confirm the incoming agency meets the lender's requirements before you tell anybody the file is moving.
Get both parties to agree in writing, in whatever form the contract and your broker require.
Notify the outgoing agency in writing, and ask in the same message for their fee for work performed and for release of the earnest money.
Send the incoming agency everything you have, the same day. Contract, addenda, disclosures, lender contact, payoff information, association contacts, and the name and direct number of everyone involved.
Get the earnest money moving. It is the long pole.
Confirm the new commitment and the new figures before you relax.

How fast can it actually be done

Honestly: it depends on the county, the lender, the condition of the title and how complete the package you hand over is. An agency that answers that question with a flat number before seeing the file is guessing.

What we will do is look at the file and tell you whether the date is reachable, including when the answer is no. A straight no on day one is worth more than a yes that fails in week three.

Moving a file to us

Send us the contract, the closing date, the lender's contact and the name of the agency currently holding it. You will get a named escrow officer and a direct number, and an honest answer about the date before anybody signs anything.

If what you actually want is to keep the seller where they are and move only the buyer's side — or the other way round — read split closings in Utah first. It is a smaller change and it is usually the better one.

Sources

RESPA Section 9, 12 U.S.C. § 2608 — cited above; see the review note on this page.
Utah Insurance Department — Title and Escrow
Utah Insurance Department — Title insurance FAQs
The current Utah Real Estate Purchase Contract, as published by the Utah Division of Real Estate. Check the form in force; it is revised.

Switching title companies mid-transaction: when it is worth it, and how it works