Also known as: recording statute · recording acts
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A statutory system for recording instruments that affect title to real property. The system determines priority among competing claimants by establishing which interests are protected against later purchasers and by defining the consequences of failing to record.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Ravi Reddy conveyed Blackacre to Rita Russell by deed that she failed to record. Reddy later conveyed the same parcel to Roger Ramirez who immediately recorded his deed. Under the applicable race statute Ramirez prevails because he was the first to record even though Russell paid value first.
Ryan Roberts purchased land from Rebecca Ross whose recorded deed traced back through a common grantor. An easement benefiting a neighboring parcel appeared only in a deed from the common grantor to a stranger outside Roberts chain. Roberts takes free of the easement because it lies outside his chain of title.
Ruby Rivera bought a parcel from a seller who had previously granted an unrecorded mortgage to Riverstone Manufacturing. Rivera paid value and recorded without actual knowledge of the mortgage. Rivera holds title free of the mortgage because the recording act protects a subsequent purchaser without notice who records.
Raven Logistics entered an installment contract for land and paid forty percent before a prior unrecorded claimant appeared. The court awarded title to Raven Logistics but granted the prior claimant a lien on the property to secure the unpaid balance.
A forger executed a deed conveying Rocky Mountain Mining land to Radiant Technologies. Radiant Technologies paid value without notice and recorded. In a jurisdiction applying a race-notice statute Radiant Technologies may prevail against the true owner depending on how the recording act treats the void deed in the chain of title.
Roger Ramirez paid thirty percent under an installment contract when a prior unrecorded owner asserted title. The court awarded the land to the prior owner but granted Ramirez an equitable lien on the property measured by the payments already made.
Race statutes award priority to the first party to record regardless of notice. Notice statutes protect a subsequent bona fide purchaser who takes without notice of a prior unrecorded interest. Race-notice statutes require both lack of notice and first recording by the subsequent purchaser.
Supporting sources
A purchaser is charged with constructive notice only of instruments appearing in the chain of title through which the purchaser claims. An instrument recorded outside that chain such as a deed from a common grantor to a stranger does not provide constructive notice.
…lot and all lots within its scope, and defendants and their predecessors in title were bound by constructive notice under our recording acts. The original plan was repeatedly declared in subsequent sales of lots by restrictions in the deeds, and while some lots sold were not so restricted the purchasers thereof, in every…
…mineral owners in the instant cases after their interests had lapsed. The Indiana statute is similar in operation to a typical
…again point out that the right which the defendant Seale attempts to assert is dependent exclusively upon compliance with the recording statutes
…are bound thereby. ( Arrowhead Mut. Service Co. v. Faust (1968) 260 Cal.App.2d 567, 580 [67 Cal.Rptr. 325].) Thus, the recording statutes
…should not be left to mere conjecture."'" ( Ibid. ) We also emphasized the importance of recording
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The act protects a subsequent purchaser for value who lacks notice of prior unrecorded interests and who records. That purchaser takes free of the prior unrecorded claim.
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A forged deed is void and passes no title. In some jurisdictions a subsequent bona fide purchaser without notice who records may still prevail against the true owner depending on the type of recording statute and applicable chain of title rules.
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Courts may award title to the prior claimant while granting the installment purchaser an equitable lien measured by payments already made or alternatively award the land to the installment purchaser subject to a lien securing the unpaid balance.
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