Real Estate Law To Freshen The Mood

One of my colleagues at the college, Prof. Huber, just came out with a new easy-to-read California real estate law textbook.

I was fortunate to work with Property Corner during my vacations, I also get a free copy and I wanted to share some things I read in this book that you may already know, but like Prof. Hayes — I like the way Prof. Huber explains real estate law.  I share the following below from his book.  I will post more later as I read more great stuff.

Types of Deeds

A deed is a document that the owner uses to transfer all or part of their interest in property to another.  This is called conveyance.  The grantor conveys to grantee.

In California, there are two frequently used deeds:  Grant Deed and Quitclaim Deed.  If you use the word “grant” in the deed then the law presumes it is a Grant Deed.

Grant Deed carries two implied warranties: (1) grantor has not conveyed title to anyone else prior to you and (2) grantor has not caused any other encumbrances to attach to the property other than the ones disclosed.

Quitclaim Deed does not contain any warranties and transfers only whatever interest or title the grantor has at the time of conveyance.

The biggest difference between a Grant Deed and Quitclaim Deed is the legal doctrine of “After-Acquired Title“.   A Grant Deed conveys after-acquired title but the Quitclaim does not.   After-Acquired Title Doctrine, found in Cal. Civ. Code 1106, says that when a person grants greater title than they actually hold at the time of the transfer and the granter later acquires the title that he purported to convey after making the grant, the “after-acquired title” passes automatically to the grantee.

For example:  Matt owns land and there is a oil reserve under the ground.  Matt does not know that his interest in the oil reserve vests in 2 years.  If Matt quitclaims his interest to Jon, then Jon would only get the land (not the oil).  But, if Matt grants his interest to Jon then Jon gets the land and later when Matt eventually gains an interest in the oil reserve then Matt’s interest in the oil reserve automatically also transfers to Jon under the “after-acquired title” doctrine.

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