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When you’re thinking of buying a home, you probably know that ownership of the home will be transferred to you through a deed. But did you know there are several types of deeds that all offer differing levels of protection against claims from third parties?
So, in order to know what level of protection you’ll enjoy, it’s essential that you understand the different types of deeds and the differences between them. In this post, we’ll delve deeper into what special warranty deeds are and when they’re used.
What is a Special Warranty Deed?
In real estate, a special warranty deed is a legal document where the seller of a property, also known as the grantor, warrants only against anything that happened during their physical ownership of a property. In simple terms, the grantor does not guarantee against any issues that existed before the grantor took ownership of the property.
As a result, in terms of a special warranty deed, the grantor is only liable for debts or other issues that happened when they owned the property. This may come into play if the buyer of the property discovers an issue, but the seller is able to prove the issue existed before they took ownership.
Purpose of Special Warranty Deed
A warranty deed provides the transfer of ownership or title to a commercial or residential real estate property from the current owner to the new owner. It comes with certain specific guarantees that are made by the seller.
These guarantees include that the property the seller transfers to the new owner is free-and-clear of ownership claims, outstanding liens or mortgages, or any other issues by individuals or entities against the property.
The main purpose of a special warranty deed is to limit the warranties given by the seller to issues that occurred only when the seller had ownership of the property. For this reason, it's also often referred to as a limited warranty deed. In simple terms, the special warranty deed is less comprehensive and offers less protection to buyers due to the time frame where it provides guarantees being limited.
Since this is a special warranty deed, it must contain additional information to the standard information that a general deed contains, which is what makes it special.
Both general and special warranty deeds need to contain the following information:
- The name of the seller, also called the grantor.
- The name of the buyer, also called the grantee.
- The physical location or address of the property.
- A statement that the grantor intends to transfer the property to the grantee.
- A warranty that the grantor is the rightful owner of the property and has the legal right to transfer the property into the name of the grantee.
- A warranty by the grantor that the property is free-and-clear of all liens and that there are no outstanding claims on the property from any creditors or other individuals.
- A guarantee that the title of the property will withstand any claims to ownership by third parties.
- That the grantor will do whatever is necessary to make good the grantee's title to the property.
In addition to the above, to qualify as a special warranty deed, the deed must also state that:
- There are no outstanding claims against the property that were instituted by any creditor or other individual during the grantor's ownership period.
- A guarantee that the grantor had a clear title of the property only during their time of ownership.
- That, if there is an issue with the title during that period the grantee is not entitled to compensation from the grantor. As a result, the guarantee does not cover the time before the grantor became the owner of the property.
Here is an article about further discusses the purpose of special warranty deeds.
When To Use a Special Warranty Deed
Because of the limited protection special warranty deeds offer buyers, they are rarely used in residential property transactions. In fact, many mortgage lenders require a general warranty deed when a property is transferred from the seller to the buyer for risk purposes.
Special warranty deeds, however, often used in estate matters . This is because the properties are transferred by the executor of an estate or trustee of a living trust to a buyer. Logically, the executor can't be held liable for defects or faults in the title because they never owned the property. Thus, it makes sense to limit their warranties through a special warranty deed.
Likewise, special warranty deeds are often used when the grantor isn't able to make extensive warranties as to the title of the property. An example of this is when a mortgage lender forecloses on a property. In this situation, the mortgage lender may not know the prior history of a property and therefore cannot offer the level of protection when it sells the property.
Although the previous owners who went into foreclosure may have encumbered the title, mortgage companies are not the individuals giving the guarantee that they did not. A special warranty gives the mortgage lender some protection against claims from buyers as a result of encumbrances of the title before foreclosure.
Special warranty deeds are most commonly used in commercial real estate transactions. This is simply because ownership of commercial real estate can have an extensive history of multiple owners, foreclosures, and other issues. As a result, special warranty deeds are needed to protect the current owner of the commercial property.
Explore some of ContractsCounsel’s real estate lawyers .
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Special Warranty Deed vs. Quitclaim
A quitclaim deed is typically used when the ownership of a property is not transferred because of a traditional sale. For example , they are commonly used when real estate is transferred in terms of a living will as a gift, or when a property is placed in a trust.
They are also quite common when a seller wants to sell a property but isn’t sure what the property boundaries are or whether there are any claims that can be made against the property.
And this is where the main difference with special warranty deeds comes in. With a warranty deed, the buyer has a claim against the seller to recover damages in the event that there’s an uncleared lien or any other issues on the title of the property. A quitclaim deed offers none of this protection and the buyer will have no recourse against the seller.
Here is an article about the differences between warranty deeds and quitclaim deeds.
Get Help With A Special Warranty Deed
When buying a house, ownership is transferred through a deed. Here, there are several types of deeds, each of which offers the grantee different levels of protection in respect of claims and other encumbrances in the title of the property.
As a result, buyers or grantees need to understand the differences between the different types of deeds and what protection they offer. Hopefully, this post helped illustrate these differences.
To find out more about special warranty deeds or other types of deeds, real estate lawyers can advise and guide buyers or grantees on the differences between them. Post a project on ContractsCounsel to get help with a special warranty deed.
Meet some of our Special Warranty Deed Lawyers
Samuel R.
My career interests are to practice Transactional Corporate Law, including Business Start Up, and Mergers and Acquisitions, as well as Real Estate Law, Estate Planning Law, Tax, and Intellectual Property Law. I am currently licensed in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Utah, after having moved to Phoenix from Philadelphia in September 2019. I currently serve as General Counsel for a bioengineering company. I handle everything from their Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Placement Memorandums, and Corporate Structures to Intellectual Property Assignments, to Employment Law and Beach of Contract settlements. Responsibilities include writing and executing agreements, drafting court pleadings, court appearances, mergers and acquisitions, transactional documents, managing expert specialized legal counsel, legal research and anticipating unique legal issues that could impact the Company. Conducted an acquisition of an entire line of intellectual property from a competitor. In regards to other clients, I am primarily focused on transactional law for clients in a variety of industries including, but not limited to, real estate investment, property management, and e-commerce. Work is primarily centered around entity formation and corporate structure, corporate governance agreements, PPMs, opportunity zone tax incentives, and all kinds of business to business agreements. I have also recently gained experience with Estate Planning law, drafting numerous Estate Planning documents for people such as Wills, Powers of Attorney, Healthcare Directives, and Trusts. I was selected to the 2024 Super Lawyers Southwest Rising Stars list. Each year no more than 2.5% of the attorneys in Arizona and New Mexico are selected to the Rising Stars. I am looking to further gain legal experience in these fields of law as well as expand my legal experience assisting business start ups, mergers and acquisitions and also trademark registration and licensing.
Vicki P.
Vicki graduated from Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, Virginia in 1996. She is a licensed attorney. She has been admitted to Wisconsin since 1998 and Pennsylvania since 1999.
Mark P.
www.parachinilaw.com I represent a diverse mix in a vast array of specialties, including litigation, contracts, compliance, business and financial strategies, and emerging industries. Credit for this foundation of strength goes to those who taught me. Skilled professors and professionals fostered my powerful educational and professional background. Prior to law school, I earned dual Bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration & Accounting from Peru State College. I received a Master of Business Administration degree from Chadron State College. My ambitions did not stop there. While working full time as a Senior Accountant for the University of Missouri, Columbia, I achieved the lifelong goal of becoming a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Mizzo provided excellent opportunities and amazing experiences. Managing over $50M in government and private research funding was a gift. As a high ranking professional in the Department of Research, I was given priceless insight into the greatest scientific, journalistic, medical, and legal minds in the world. My passion for successful growth did not, and has not stopped. I graduated summa cum laude (top 3%) with a Doctorate in Law, emphasizing in urban, land use and environmental/toxic tort law from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. This success lead to invaluable experiences of serving as Hon. Brian C. Wimes' judicial clerk for the U.S. District Court for the W. D. of Missouri, as a staff editor/writer for UMKC Law Review, and as a litigation and transactional attorney with Lathrop GPM (fka Lathrop & Gage). My professional and personal network is expansive, with established relationships throughout the U.S. and overseas. Although I engage in legal practice all over the country, I maintain law licenses in Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. Federally, I hold licenses in the W.D. and E.D. of Missouri and the District of Nebraska. To offer extra value, efficiency, and options, I maintain a CPA license and am obtaining a real-estate brokerage license.
Mathew K.
Kerbis' practice includes business and real estate transactions, estate planning, and limited scope litigation consulting. Mathew has negotiated deals involving multinational corporate franchises and has collectively helped hundreds of clients with their transactional, civil litigation, and appellate legal needs. Throughout his tenure as an American Bar Association leader, Mathew has advocated for legal education reform, interviewed ABA Presidents and State Appellate and Supreme Court Justices, and lobbied Congress on behalf of the legal profession. As a law student, Mathew served as an extern for the Honorable Justice Robert E. Gordon of the Illinois Appellate Court, First District.
Tina R.
15 years for legal experience; expertise in contracts, healthcare, ERISA, physicians, financial services, commercial contracts, employment agreements, etc. I am adept at all contracts and can provide you with efficient and quality services. I have worked at a law firm, financial services company, consulting ,and non-profit.
Meghan T.
Meghan Thomas is an accomplished transactional attorney. She specializes in real estate transactional matters, property disputes, IP, tech and business contracts. Meghan's innovative leadership style has attributed to the firm's rapid development and presence in the metro-Atlanta market. She obtained her Doctor of Law from Emory University where she worked with the State Attorney General and litigated property disputes for disadvantaged clients. Prior to practicing, Meghan negotiated complex transactions for Fortune 500 tech and healthcare companies. She lives with her family in Southwest Atlanta, enjoys cooking, travel, dance and continues to develop her research in the areas of transactional law and legal sustainability.
January 31, 2022
Cecilia O.
With 15 years of extensive transactional/contracts experience reviewing and negotiating commercial contracts including a wide variety of purchase orders and contracts and non-disclosure agreements (NDA), I believe I can immediately contribute to the continued success of your team. I have been commended for a range of valuable skills—excellent contract management and contract administration, legal research, risk analysis, drafting and negotiations, and strategic thinking. I have worked as a legal consultant for 10+ years and I have reviewed over 7,500 contracts through this position. Contracts I have reviewed include but not limited to purchase orders, commercial and construction contracts, equipment rental agreements, non-disclosure, confidentiality, vendor agreements, service agreements, site access agreements, international agreements, request for proposals (RFP), bids and government contracts. These experiences have enabled me to master the ability to work independently and expeditiously to identify and assess issues and provide legally sound recommendations, consistent with good business practices. I have led teams (sales, insurance and management) to successfully negotiate contract terms with customers. Effective Communicator and Negotiator. I am a people person, and for the past 13 years, I have acquired excellent oral and written communication skills that enable me to interact and negotiate effectively with stakeholders at all levels. I am a self-starter with a strong work ethic. I have a high degree of resourcefulness, diligence, and dependability. Most important, I adapt to changing priorities quickly, thriving in an environment with high volume and short turnaround deadlines. My experience over the years allows me to transfer my skills to all types of contracts to meet the client’s needs. I am hopeful to provide similar legal expertise, effective contract administration and leadership to your organization. It would be a pleasure to meet within the next few weeks and discuss how my qualifications, experience, and capabilities will best fit the needs of your outfit.
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Doc Type: Special Warranty Deed
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