To check the title on a property, pull the county recorder’s records for that parcel and trace ownership backward through the grantor-grantee index, then search for mortgages, tax liens, judgment liens, easements, and restrictive covenants recorded against it. Most counties let you do this online for free or for a small per-page fee. A self-run search is useful for a preliminary look, but if you are actually buying, refinancing, or settling an estate, a professional title search and a title insurance commitment are what protect you from claims that surface later.
Information to Gather Before You Search
A street address alone will not get you far. You also need the full legal names of the current owner and, ideally, prior owners so you can follow the property from hand to hand. The legal description, which defines the parcel’s boundaries by lot and block or by metes and bounds, is different from the mailing address and is what the county uses to identify the land.
An Assessor’s Parcel Number or Tax ID connects the physical property to its tax and recording history and makes every database search faster. You can find it on an annual property tax statement or on a previously recorded deed. If you have a prior deed, note the book and page number where it was recorded. County offices and their online systems key on these numbers, and having them ready keeps you from hitting dead ends.
Where to Search Public Records
Most county recorder or register of deeds offices maintain searchable online databases. You can usually search by owner name, address, parcel number, or document type. Some counties let you view images of recorded documents for free; others charge a small per-page fee. Coverage varies. Some jurisdictions have digitized a century of records; others only have the last ten or twenty years online, with older material on microfilm or in bound ledger books.
If the records you need are not online, go to the recorder’s office in person. There are usually public terminals in the lobby that access the same database, and clerks can help you locate older records. Certified copies typically cost a few dollars per page, older files may take a day or two to retrieve, and payment is usually required upfront.
How to Build the Chain of Title
Start with the current owner’s name in the grantee index, which lists people who received property. The deed you find there names the person who conveyed it to them. Take that prior owner and look them up in the grantee index too, and keep working backward. Each transfer should connect cleanly to the next, with no unexplained gaps.
Then run each owner’s name through the grantor index, which lists people who transferred property away. This confirms they did not also convey the same property to someone else during their ownership, and it surfaces liens and other instruments filed against them while they held the title. A break in the chain, a duplicate conveyance, or a lien filed against a prior owner and never released is exactly the kind of thing this two-index sweep is designed to catch.
What to Look For in the Recorded Documents
Deeds
Read the deeds themselves, not just the index entries. A warranty deed carries the strongest protection because the seller guarantees that the title is free from undisclosed liens and encumbrances, and remains legally responsible if a valid claim surfaces later.1Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Warranty Deed A quitclaim deed transfers only whatever interest the seller happens to hold at that moment, with no guarantees.2eCFR. 7 CFR 1927.52 – Definitions Quitclaim deeds are common in family transfers and divorces, and seeing one in the chain is a signal to look closer at what was actually conveyed.
Mortgages and Other Liens
Mortgages and deeds of trust show the loans secured by the property. Any of these that are still open must be paid off and released before the seller can deliver clear title. Beyond voluntary mortgages, watch for involuntary liens. A federal tax lien attaches to all property of anyone who neglects or refuses to pay a tax debt after the IRS demands payment.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 6321 – Lien for Taxes A mechanic’s lien secures payment for contractors, laborers, or suppliers who improved the property and were not paid.4Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Mechanic’s Lien Judgment liens from lawsuits and municipal liens for unpaid water or sewer bills also appear regularly. Any of these can lead to foreclosure if left unresolved and must be cleared before closing.
Easements and Restrictive Covenants
An easement gives someone else a limited right to use part of the property without owning it. Utility companies commonly hold easements to run power lines or maintain underground pipes across private land.5Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Easement Restrictive covenants are recorded agreements that limit how the property can be used, such as barring certain construction or requiring maintenance of shared amenities. They bind future owners, not just the person who first agreed to them.6Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Covenant That Runs With the Land An easement or covenant you did not notice can wreck plans you already have for the property.
Probate Gaps
When property passes by inheritance rather than sale, the chain runs through probate court. A probate judge appoints a personal representative who is authorized to collect the deceased person’s property, pay debts, and distribute what remains. A transfer made outside probate without proper court authorization may not hold up. If you see an owner die in the chain, look for probate filings, letters of administration, or an affidavit of heirship that bridges the gap to the next recorded deed.
Recording Order
Recording statutes decide who wins when two people claim the same property. Most states follow a race-notice rule, which gives priority to the first buyer who records their deed, but only if that buyer had no knowledge of an earlier unrecorded claim.7Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Race-Notice Statute Delayed recording can cost priority to a competing claim you did not know about.
What to Do If You Find a Problem
Finding a defect does not necessarily kill the transaction, but it does need to be resolved before closing. A cloud on title is any claim or encumbrance that could discourage a buyer or cast doubt on ownership, and it does not have to be a valid claim to matter; it just has to be plausible enough to create uncertainty.8Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Cloud on Title
Minor defects, like a misspelled name on a deed, a missing notarization, or a paid-off lien that was never formally released, can usually be fixed with a corrective deed, a lien release, or an affidavit recorded in the same county office as the original. A title company will typically identify what is needed and get it recorded.
More serious disputes may require a quiet title action, a lawsuit asking a court to determine who actually owns the property.9Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Quiet Title Action Anyone with a competing claim is named as a defendant, and a ruling in the filer’s favor blocks further challenges. Quiet title actions take time and money, and they are usually the point where a do-it-yourself search runs out of runway.
When to Hire a Professional
Doing your own search makes sense for a preliminary look before making an offer, for researching a property you already own, or for tracing ownership history in estate planning. County records are cheap or free to access, and you can learn a great deal by reading through the recorded documents directly.
For an actual purchase, a professional search is effectively mandatory. Lenders require a title commitment before funding a loan, and title insurance companies will not issue a policy based on personal research. A professional search also builds in accountability: if the abstractor misses something, the title insurance policy covers the loss. If you miss it, you absorb the cost yourself. Professional searches for standard residential property typically cost between $75 and $200 and are completed within three to five business days.
The result is usually a title commitment, sometimes called a preliminary title report, spelling out the terms under which the title insurer will issue a policy. It identifies the current owner and legal description, lists the requirements that must be satisfied before the policy issues (paying off existing liens, recording the new deed, paying taxes), and lists exceptions the policy will not cover. Read the exceptions section carefully. Anything sitting there is a risk you are accepting without insurance behind it, and dense language is not a reason to skip past it.
Title Insurance and What It Covers
Title insurance protects against financial loss from defects that existed before you bought the property but were not discovered in the search, such as a forged deed in the chain or an undisclosed heir with a valid claim. Unlike other insurance, it covers past problems that surface later rather than future events. Premiums are paid once at closing.
There are two policies, and they do different jobs. A lender’s policy is required by most mortgage lenders and protects only the lender’s interest up to the loan amount; coverage shrinks as you pay down the loan and eventually ends.10Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Your Home Loan Toolkit An owner’s policy is optional and protects your equity for as long as you or your heirs own the property. If a title defect wipes out your ownership and you only have the lender’s policy, the lender is made whole and you lose your down payment and any equity you built.
A standard policy covers defects visible from public records, along with forgery and issues of legal capacity. Extended coverage adds protection against problems that do not appear in the records: rights of people physically occupying the property, unfiled mechanic’s liens, and boundary issues that only a survey would reveal. For vacant land or property with recent construction, extended coverage is worth considering, because those are the situations where unrecorded claims are most likely to appear.
Federal law also bars a seller from requiring you to buy title insurance from a specific company when the transaction involves a federally related mortgage, and a seller who does so is liable to the buyer for three times the charge.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 US Code 2608 – Title Companies; Liability of Seller You choose the title company.