Also known as: bona fide emptors · bona fide purchaser
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A purchaser who acquires property for value in good faith without notice of prior adverse claims or defects in title. The status shields the buyer from unrecorded interests under applicable recording statutes and defeats certain claims based on fraud or lack of authority in the chain of title.
Brenda Booth purchased a parcel from a seller whose deed remained unrecorded. She paid value, searched the records, found nothing, and recorded her deed the next day. When a prior grantee later recorded, Brenda's status as a bona fide emptor gave her priority under the state's recording act.
Brianna Burke bought land after seeing a neighbor using a path across the parcel. The prior unrecorded easement holder prevailed because Brianna's visible use of the path put her on inquiry notice, preventing her from qualifying as a bona fide emptor.
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Beacon Bank obtained a truck by fraud from its owner. When the bank sold the truck to Byron Bishop, a good-faith buyer for value, the original owner could not recover the vehicle from Bishop because his bona fide emptor status cut off the conversion claim.
Benson Motors received a forged deed to a lot and later conveyed it to Beatrice Brown. Brown paid value, had no notice of the forgery, and recorded first. In the jurisdiction applying the recording act to protect such buyers, Beatrice's bona fide emptor status defeated the true owner's claim.
Bobby Brady paid forty percent under an installment land contract and took possession. When a prior unrecorded claimant appeared, the court awarded title to the earlier party but granted Bobby an equitable lien for the amount paid, treating him as a bona fide emptor only to that extent.
Bright Path Foods acquired a business from a seller subject to an NLRB order. Because the buyer had no notice of the labor violation and paid value, its status as a bona fide emptor shielded it from successor liability for the predecessor's unfair labor practices.
The purchaser must take in good faith, pay valuable consideration, and lack actual or constructive notice of the prior unrecorded interest at the time of acquisition. A buyer with inquiry notice fails the test and cannot claim priority.
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A forged deed is void and passes no title from the true owner. In some jurisdictions a later bona fide emptor who records may still prevail against the true owner under the recording act, depending on whether the statute is race, notice, or race-notice.
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A purchaser who has paid only part of the price receives protection only to the extent of payments made. The court may award the land to the prior claimant but grant the installment buyer an equitable lien for the amount already paid.
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…from a private party would be well-advised to inquire whether a work of art has been reported as lost or stolen. However, a bona fide purchaser who purchases in the ordinary course of business a painting entrusted to an art dealer should be able to acquire good title against the true owner. Under the U.C.C. entrusting possession of…