Recording Statutes

Question 1

Recording Statutes

Answer 1

Recording statutes generally protect all BFPs from “secret” interest previously created and provide a mechanism for either grantees to give notice through recordation. Proper recordation gives constructive notice of the first conveyance to everyone, so there can be no BFPs.

Question 2

Race

Answer 2

Under a pure race statute, whoever records first wins. Notice is irrelevant. Very few states have such a statute. Here,

Question 3

Notice

Answer 3

Under a notice statute, a subsequent BFP prevails over a prior grantee who failed to record. The key is that the BFP had no notice at the time of the conveyance as to the other grantees. Here,

Question 4

Race Notice

Answer 4

Under a race-notice statute, a subsequent BFP is protected only if she takes without notice and records before the prior grantee. Here,

Question 5

BFP - Bona Fide Purchaser

Answer 5

A BFP is a person who purchased the property without notice and paid valuable consideration

Question 6

Notice

Answer 6

The purchaser must not have had actual, constructive (record), or inquiry notice of a prior conveyance at the time he paid consideration to be regarded as a BFP.

Question 7

Actual Notice

Answer 7

A buyer is on actual notice if he actually knows or has been told that a prior conveyance has occurred. Here,

Question 8

Record Notice

Answer 8

A buyer is on record notice if the subsequent purchaser has recorded their deed or interest with the recording office, regardless of whether or not the purchaser actually looked into the records. Here,

Question 9

Inquiry Notice

Answer 9

A buyer is on inquiry notice if, upon reasonable inspection of the property, the buyer would have known that a prior conveyance had occurred. Here,

Question 10

Valuable Consideration

Answer 10

To be protected by the recording statute, the grantee must prove that he is a purchaser, not a donee. The consideration must be of some monetary value. Here,

Question 11

Indexes/Title Search

Answer 11

In Tract index jurisdictions, the searcher looks at the page indexed by block or description of the property. In a grantor/grantee index jurisdiction, the searcher established a chain of title by searching back in time in the grantor index. From that point, he then searches forward in time to see if any grantor conveyed an interest to someone outside the backward chain.