Quitclaim Deed Versus Warranty Deed, What to Use?
When it comes to transferring property, such as rental properties into LLCs or your personal residence into a Trust, it can be confusing understanding whether you should use a quitclaim deed or a warranty deed. Here is a brief description of each type of deed and when they should be used.
Warranty Deed – A warranty deed transfers ownership and explicitly promises the buyer that the transferor has clear title to the property, meaning it is free of liens or claims of ownership. The terms of a warranty deed should state that the transferor “warrants” and conveys the property. The warranty deed may make other promises as well, to address particular problems with the transaction. But generally, the use of the word “warrant” means that seller/transferor guarantees the new owner as to clear title. Because the seller “warrants” clear title under a warranty deed, it is a preferred method of title transfer and should be used by real estate investors and property owners as the default method of transferring title. When transferring title from your own name to your LLC or Trust, the use of a warranty deed typically allows the title insurance you bought when you acquired the property to remain in effect.
Quitclaim Deed – A quitclaim deed transfers whatever ownership interest a person has in a property. It makes no guarantees about the extent of the person’s interest. If you are buying a property from a third-party, you would never want to use a quitclaim deed because they aren’t making any guarantee as to whether they own it or not, or if they have clear title. It would be like paying someone on the street for a set of keys to a car. Who knows whether they own the car or not? You gave them money for it, and if they do own it, you just bought it. But, if they don’t own it, then you’re out of luck and you’ll have to resolve the ownership issue with the person who legally owns it. There are limited situations where a quitclaim deed is used. In some instances, a quitclaim deed is used when the buyer and seller are aware of legal issues or defects to title, so the seller transfers their interest and the new buyer has to resolve the title issues. Another situation, perhaps more common, arises in states that have a transfer tax. For example, some states will exempt transfer taxes on the transfer of title from the owner to their own LLC, but only if it is by quitclaim deed (e.g. Tennessee). When transferring title to your own LLC, we generally aren’t worried about title issues, so the savings on transfer taxes make the quitclaim deed a better option.
Most states don’t have a transfer tax, but to make matters more complicated, some states use the term “grant deed”, California being one of the most prominent. The reality is that a grant deed can be used as a quitclaim deed OR a warranty deed. It essentially depends on the verbiage used inside the terms of the deed itself. If you see words like “warrant” and “convey,” then you probably have a warranty deed. Bottom line: Make sure that you look at the language used in the deed itself. Don’t think that because you have a grant deed you have all of the benefits of a warranty deed.
Our Recommendation – Always double check the local state and county laws regarding the type of deed to use when transferring property, and what the different types of deeds actually provide. HOWEVER, as a general rule of thumb, we recommend the warranty deed when transferring property to yourself, your trust, or your own company because we want to make sure that the Title Policy and all of its benefits transfer to the Grantee of your deed.
