Transfer of Deeds

• A deed is the tangible physical document that one party transfers to another to change ownership of property. Upon transfer, the new owner effectively owns the property. Deeds also serve as contracts that detail any special circumstances governing the transfer; for instance, conditions that one party must fulfill, any limitations on the new party's ownership, and any promises made by one party to another.
  
  

Quitclaim Deeds

• The term "quitclaim deed" includes any deed in which the party relinquishing ownership does not stipulate or guarantee anything about his title to the property. He may own the property, he may not; the party taking the property takes the risk that the granting party has no interest in the property at all to transfer. Other types of deeds contain title promises that the new owner can enforce against the grantor in court; a quitclaim deed gives no legal protection if the grantor proves to have no title, or some sort of legally problematic title, to the property.
  
  

Recording a Deed

• To record a deed, the new owner must typically appear with the deed before a notary public. Although a new owner need not record his deed with the county or another municipality in order to own the property, recording the deed serves several functions. Once a deed is recorded, most states' courts allow the deed as evidence in a legal dispute. The recording system also allows any prospective party thinking about buying the property to search through the property's past ownership, which might facilitate a sale.
  
  

Legal Protection

• Most states have enacted recording statutes, under which recording a deed can protect certain purchasers of property from claims by earlier owners who failed to record their deeds. The new owner who had no way of knowing about a prior ownership interest is a "bona fide purchaser," or BFP. If the BFP records his deed, and has no notice of the prior owner who failed to record, the prior owner's claim on the property will be trumped by the fact that the BFP recorded his deed in good faith.
  
  

Quitclaim Notice

• Recording a quitclaim deed typically provides the same legal protections as recording other types of deeds. However, several U.S. jurisdictions' courts have ruled that any property transfer via quitclaim deed effectively gives the buyer notice that there may be title problems with the property. In these jurisdictions, even if the new owner records his quitclaim deed, the law may not recognize him as a BFP because the use of a quitclaim deed itself effectively acted as notice of possible title issues.