You will probably never hear those kinds of things because RESPA is a consumer protection statute, not an abstractor protection statute.  HUD doesn't get involved, nor do they have any incentive to get involved, with abstractors.  For the most part, the lenders do not work with the abstractors - they work with the title companies.  Whereas the lender usually orders the appraisal for their use, the title company orders the title search for their own purpose.  The lender has no use for a title search - they only want the title commitment and policy.

The title companies that hire independent abstractors should be paying them, but I don't think you ever see a law setting the fees because they want to encourage competition to keep the cost of title insurance low for consumers. Abstractors are considered to be in the business of providing title searches and as business owners they are presumed to be able to negotiate their fees.

Best,
Robert A. Franco
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