Also known as: deed covenant for title · covenants for title · covenant for title · title covenants · warranties of title · deed warranties
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A set of promises made by a grantor in a deed concerning the quality of title conveyed to the grantee. Present covenants address the state of title at delivery and include seisin, the right to convey, and freedom from encumbrances. Future covenants address later interference with possession and include quiet enjoyment, warranty, and sometimes further assurance.
Dawson Steel conveyed a factory parcel to Dover Bank by quitclaim deed after the bank negotiated a discounted price to account for possible title issues. Months later an unrecorded easement asserted by a utility company blocked the bank's planned expansion. Dover Bank had no claim against Dawson Steel because the quitclaim deed created no covenants for title on which to sue.
Demetrius Douglas delivered a general warranty deed for an office building to Destiny Davis. A prior recorded mortgage held by Dixon Foods later resulted in foreclosure and eviction of Davis. Davis recovered damages from Douglas because the general warranty deed's covenants against encumbrances and for quiet enjoyment were breached by the preexisting lien.
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A general warranty deed contains the full set of present and future covenants for title. These covenants protect the grantee against defects existing at the time of conveyance and later assertions of superior title.
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A quitclaim deed creates no covenants for title and conveys only whatever interest the grantor holds. The grantee therefore bears the entire risk of any encumbrances or defects.
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A special warranty deed is breached only when a title defect arises by, through, or under the grantor. Defects created by prior owners fall outside its scope.
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Future covenants such as quiet enjoyment and warranty are breached only upon actual interference with possession. A grantee may therefore sue on those covenants when a preexisting encumbrance is later enforced.
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…uniform, we understand the law upon the subject to be perfectly well settled. Taylor on Landlord and Tenant, 147; Rawle on Covenants for Title, 147. The lessor is responsible upon the covenant for his own acts, and for the acts of others claiming by title paramount to the lease, but he is not responsible for the acts of a mere…