How to Get a House Title in Your Name: Deeds, Recording, and Taxes

To get a house title in your name, you record a properly executed deed at the county office that keeps land records. That single act creates the public record of your ownership. The type of deed, the supporting paperwork, and the tax and mortgage consequences all depend on how the property is coming to you: a purchase, a gift, an inheritance, a divorce, or a change in who is listed as owner. The core path is the same each time. Prepare the right deed, sign and notarize it, and file it with the county recorder.

Title and Deed Are Not the Same Thing

A title is the legal concept of ownership, the bundle of rights you hold over a property: the right to live there, rent it out, renovate it, or sell it. A deed is the physical document that moves title from one person to another. The deed is what you sign, notarize, and record. The title is what you end up with.

Which Deed Fits Your Situation

The deed you need depends on how the property is being transferred to you.

Purchase. A warranty deed is standard, and most mortgage lenders require one because it guarantees the seller holds clear title and has the right to convey it. Closing usually involves a title search, title insurance, and a settlement agent who handles the paperwork.
Gift. A quitclaim deed is the common choice. It transfers whatever interest the current owner has, without promising that interest is free of liens or competing claims. It works between family members who trust each other, but it gives no protection against title problems.
Inheritance. Property passing through a will, or without one, generally goes through probate. The executor or personal representative receives court authority to sign a deed transferring the property to the rightful heirs. You will typically need a certified death certificate and the probate court’s order alongside the deed.
Divorce. The divorce decree or marital settlement agreement determines who keeps the property. The spouse giving up their interest signs a quitclaim or interspousal transfer deed, and a certified copy of the decree is often recorded with it.
Adding or removing a co-owner. A new deed is prepared with the updated owners listed. That may be a quitclaim deed if someone is voluntarily giving up their interest, or a special warranty deed if the parties want some level of title protection.

Run a Title Search First

Before any purchase, and ideally before other transfers, someone should confirm the current owner actually has clear title to hand over. A title company or real estate attorney examines public records — past deeds, mortgages, court judgments, tax liens, easements — for anything that could cloud your ownership.

The search usually takes about two weeks. Complicated histories can take longer. If it turns up an unpaid contractor’s lien, an old mortgage that was never released, or a boundary dispute, those need to be resolved before the transfer goes forward. A lien you didn’t find doesn’t disappear because you didn’t find it.

Preparing the Deed

Every deed needs the full legal names of the grantor (the person transferring ownership) and the grantee (the person receiving it), a legal description of the property that matches the existing records exactly, and a statement of consideration — the purchase price, or for gifts a note that the transfer is made “for love and affection” or for nominal consideration.¹

The legal description is not the street address. It is the formal description using lot and block numbers, metes and bounds, or another survey method that appears in prior recorded documents for the property. Copy it exactly from the most recent deed in the chain of title. A wrong lot number or a transposed digit in a boundary measurement can create a defect that later requires a corrective filing.

Blank deed forms are available from county recorder websites and legal document services, but forms vary by jurisdiction. In nearly every case, the grantor’s signature must be notarized before the deed can be recorded, and some jurisdictions also require witnesses. Certain transfers need supporting documents: an inheritance transfer may require a certified death certificate and probate court order, a divorce transfer needs a certified copy of the decree, and some counties require a supplemental change-of-ownership report or transfer tax declaration filed alongside the deed.

Recording the Deed With the County

Once the deed is signed and notarized, file it with the county office that maintains land records, called the County Recorder’s Office, Register of Deeds, or Clerk of Court depending on where you are. Recording creates the official public record of the ownership change and establishes your priority against anyone who later claims an interest in the property.

You can submit the deed in person, by mail, or through an online portal where available. Recording fees vary by county and typically depend on the number of pages, with most falling somewhere between $25 and $150. In roughly 36 states and the District of Columbia, you will also owe a real estate transfer tax calculated as a percentage of the sale price or property value.² The remaining states impose none. Rates range from fractions of a percent to several percent of the property value, and depending on the state the buyer pays, the seller pays, or the parties split it.

After submission, the recorder’s office reviews the document for completeness, stamps it with a recording date and instrument number, and enters it into the public record. Processing takes anywhere from a few business days to several weeks. The original deed is returned to you once recorded, and that stamped deed is your definitive proof of ownership.

Fixing a Mistake on a Recorded Deed

Errors happen, and spotting a typo or a wrong middle initial on a deed you have already recorded is not unusual. For small clerical errors, a scrivener’s error affidavit may be enough. The person who drafted the deed signs a sworn statement identifying the mistake and clarifying what the deed should have said, and the affidavit gets recorded alongside the original.

Bigger errors require a corrective deed. A wrong legal description, an incorrect grantee name, or a missing notarization needs a new deed that references the original, identifies the errors, and states the correct information. It has to be signed, notarized, and recorded like the first one. Address these promptly. Title problems compound, and fixing them gets harder and more expensive with each passing year.

The Mortgage Trap: Due-on-Sale Clauses

Transferring title does not transfer the loan. The mortgage stays with whoever signed the promissory note. And nearly every mortgage written in recent decades includes a due-on-sale clause, which lets the lender demand the entire remaining balance immediately if the property is transferred without the lender’s consent.³

Federal law carves out specific exceptions where a lender cannot enforce that clause on residential property with fewer than five units, even if the mortgage contract includes one:³

Title passes to a surviving joint tenant or tenant by the entirety on the death of a co-owner.
A relative inherits the property because the borrower died.
The borrower’s spouse or children become owners.
A spouse receives the property through a divorce decree or settlement agreement.
The borrower moves the property into a living trust where they remain a beneficiary and continue living there.
A subordinate lien, like a second mortgage or home equity line, is placed on the property.
A lease of three years or less with no purchase option is granted.

If your transfer does not fit one of these categories — selling to an unrelated buyer, moving the property into an LLC, transferring to a friend or business partner — the lender can legally demand full repayment. In a purchase, this gets handled at closing when the seller’s mortgage is paid off with the buyer’s funds. For informal transfers, the risk is real and often missed. Call the lender before recording the deed if there is any question.

Tax Basis: Inheritance Versus Gift

How the property reaches you sets your tax basis, the number the IRS uses to calculate capital gains when you eventually sell. Getting this wrong can mean an unexpected five- or six-figure tax bill years later.

Inherited Property Gets a Stepped-Up Basis

When you inherit property, your basis resets to the fair market value on the date the previous owner died.⁴ If your parent bought a house for $80,000 in 1990 and it was worth $400,000 when they died, your basis is $400,000. Sell it for $420,000 and you owe capital gains tax on $20,000. This stepped-up basis is one of the most valuable tax features in real estate, and it is the main reason estate planners often advise against gifting property during your lifetime if the heirs plan to sell.

Gifted Property Carries Over the Donor’s Basis

When someone gives you property while they are still alive, you inherit their original cost basis, not the current market value.⁵ Using the same numbers, if your parent gifts you a house they bought for $80,000 that is now worth $400,000, your basis is $80,000. Sell for $420,000 and you owe capital gains on $340,000. The difference between inheriting and receiving a gift can easily be tens of thousands of dollars in tax.

One wrinkle: if the fair market value at the time of the gift is lower than the donor’s basis, your basis for calculating a loss is the lower fair market value, not the donor’s original cost.⁵ This keeps donors from passing built-in losses to someone else for tax purposes.

Gift Tax Reporting

Giving someone a house, or a share of one, is a gift for federal tax purposes. If the value exceeds the $19,000 annual exclusion for 2026, the donor must file IRS Form 709, even when no tax is owed.⁶⁷ Since most houses are worth far more than $19,000, nearly every real property gift triggers a filing. No tax comes due unless the donor has used up the lifetime gift and estate tax exemption, which sits at $15,000,000 for 2026.⁸ But failing to file Form 709 creates problems later, because the statute of limitations on gift tax does not start running until the gift is properly reported.

Title Insurance

A title search catches most problems. Not all. Forged signatures in the chain of title, unknown heirs with a legal claim, recording errors in old documents — these are defects that do not show up in public records until someone asserts a claim against your property years after you bought it.

Most lenders require a lender’s title insurance policy before funding a mortgage, but that policy protects only the lender’s financial interest, not yours.⁹ An owner’s title insurance policy is optional and covers your equity if a pre-existing claim surfaces after closing. It is a one-time premium paid at closing, and the coverage lasts as long as you or your heirs own the property.

For a purchase, owner’s title insurance is worth the cost in almost every case. For transfers between family members, through inheritance, or in a divorce, the risks are generally lower and the history is usually well known, so the decision is closer.

After the Deed Is Recorded

Once the recorded deed comes back, store it somewhere safe — a fireproof safe, a bank safe deposit box, or a secure digital backup. Losing your copy does not erase your ownership, since the county’s records are the official version, but having it on hand avoids trouble if you need to prove ownership quickly.

Then handle the administrative side. Notify the local property tax assessor’s office so future tax bills go to the right person at the right address. If there is a mortgage, let the lender know. Update your homeowner’s insurance policy to reflect the new ownership, and move utility accounts into your name. If the property is your primary residence, check whether you qualify for a homestead exemption from your local tax authority; it can meaningfully reduce your annual property tax bill, but you usually have to apply for it rather than receiving it automatically.

Consider setting up title fraud monitoring as well. Many county recorders offer free alert services that notify you whenever a document is recorded against your property. Recorder’s offices do not verify the authenticity of documents before filing them, so a fraudulent deed can be recorded without your knowledge. An early alert gives you time to act before the damage compounds.

1
Cornell Law School. Deed
2
National Association of REALTORS. Summary of Real Estate Transfer Taxes by State
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 U.S. Code 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 1014 – Basis of Property Acquired From a Decedent
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1015 – Basis of Property Acquired by Gifts
6
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 709 (2025)
7
Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances
8
Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax
9
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is Owner’s Title Insurance?