Guides and plain-English title terms

Probate law firms

• What happens to a house when someone dies without a will?
• How do you find out what property a deceased person owned?

Real estate law firms

• What is a preliminary title report, and what do the exceptions mean?
• What title research does a quiet title action need?

Builders and developers

• Title due diligence for land development: what to check before you buy the site
• What is an assemblage, and why does each parcel need its own title research?

Auction buyers

• Which liens survive a foreclosure sale?
• How to research a property before a tax deed auction

Home buyers

• How to check a property's title before buying without a realtor
• How do you verify that the seller actually owns the house?

Home sellers

• Why do a title check before listing your house?
• What is an unreleased mortgage, and how does it block a sale?

Chain of title

The sequence of recorded transfers of a property from one owner to the next. A complete chain shows how the current owner came to hold title; a gap in it is where problems hide.

Vesting

The exact way title is held, as written on the recorded deed: one person alone, two people as joint tenants with right of survivorship, tenants in common, a trust, an entity. Vesting decides who can sell and what happens when an owner dies.

Lien

A recorded claim against a property that must be paid or resolved before clear ownership passes: a mortgage or deed of trust, a tax lien, a judgment lien, an HOA or municipal lien.

Release, satisfaction or reconveyance

The document recorded when a loan is paid off. Without it, a mortgage from decades ago still shows as open in the record, and a buyer's title company will ask about it.

Judgment lien

A court judgment against an owner that, once recorded or docketed, attaches to real property the owner holds in that county. It travels with the owner's name, which is why name searches matter.

Lis pendens

A recorded notice that a lawsuit affecting the property is pending. Anyone who takes title afterward takes it subject to the outcome of that case.

Easement

A recorded right for someone else to use part of a property, for access, utilities, drainage or similar. Easements usually survive a sale and can limit what can be built.

Legal description

The formal description of a parcel in a deed, by lot and block, metes and bounds, or government survey. It, not the street address, defines what was actually conveyed.

Quitclaim deed

A deed that transfers whatever interest the grantor has, with no promise that the grantor has any interest at all. It does not guarantee clear title to the new owner.

Special-purpose deed

A deed issued by a sheriff, trustee, tax collector, executor, administrator or guardian. These deeds convey only what the issuing authority had the power to convey and do not guarantee clear title.

Transfer-on-death deed

A deed, available in some states, that names who receives the property when the owner dies, without probate. Whether it was validly executed and recorded is a question for the record.

Life estate

Ownership for the life of a named person, after which the property passes to a remainder owner named in the deed.

Surviving lien

A lien that is not wiped out by a foreclosure or tax sale and so becomes the new owner's problem. Which liens survive depends on their priority and on state law, which is why pre-bid research exists.

Redemption period

A window after certain foreclosure or tax sales during which the former owner, and sometimes others, can reclaim the property by paying what is owed. It varies by state and by the type of sale.

Super-priority

A rule in some states that gives part of an unpaid HOA balance priority over a first mortgage. Where it applies, a buyer at a mortgage foreclosure can still owe the association.

Assemblage

Several parcels bought from several owners to form one development site. Each parcel has its own chain, its own easements and its own restrictions until they are researched together.

Mineral reservation

Language in an old deed by which a prior owner kept the rights to minerals, oil or gas beneath the surface. It can survive many later sales unnoticed.

Title insurance

A policy from a title insurance company that protects against losses from defects in title. A research report is not title insurance; it tells you what the record says so you can decide what to do.