Also known as: good faith purchaser · good-faith purchaser · good-faith purchasers · bona fide purchaser · BFP
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A purchaser who acquires property for value without actual or constructive notice of prior claims or title defects. Such a purchaser receives priority under recording acts and related doctrines that protect reliance on the state of title at the time of acquisition.
Giselle Guerrero purchased Blackacre from a seller who had previously conveyed the same parcel to another buyer. The earlier deed remained unrecorded. Guerrero paid value, recorded first, and had no actual or constructive notice of the prior deed. Under the jurisdiction's race-notice statute, Guerrero prevails over the earlier grantee.
Grace Gupta bought land from a grantor whose neighbor openly used a path across the parcel. Gupta paid value and recorded promptly but ignored visible signs of the neighbor's use. Because the visible use placed Gupta on inquiry notice of the unrecorded claim, she does not qualify as a good faith purchaser and loses priority.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Gregory Gates obtained a painting by fraud and sold it to Gateway Bank for value. The bank had no knowledge of the fraud. The original owner may recover the painting from Gates but cannot recover it from the bank because the bank qualifies as a bona fide purchaser.
Gino Giordano and Gwen Gallagher signed a contract containing a mutual mistake about an exclusivity clause. Before either sought reformation, Golden Gate Logistics purchased rights under the written contract for value without notice of the mistake. A court may reform the writing between the original parties but cannot impair the logistics company's rights as a good faith purchaser.
A forger executed a deed to Guadalupe Gallegos, who paid value and recorded without notice of the forgery. In a jurisdiction whose recording act protects subsequent purchasers, Gallegos holds good title against the true owner despite the void deed.
Gable Construction paid forty percent of the price under an installment land contract and took possession. An earlier unrecorded contract later surfaced. The court awards title to the prior claimant but grants Gable Construction an equitable lien for the amount already paid, treating the company as a good faith purchaser only to the extent of its payments.
The purchaser must take in good faith, give valuable consideration, and lack actual or constructive notice of the prior unrecorded interest at the time of acquisition. Failure on any element defeats bona fide purchaser status.
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Yes. Open and notorious use that would prompt a reasonable buyer to inquire constitutes inquiry notice. A purchaser who ignores such facts cannot claim protection under recording acts.
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In some jurisdictions a subsequent purchaser who takes without notice and records may be protected even against a forged deed, depending on the type of recording statute and chain-of-title rules.
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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 title to the prior claimant while granting the installment buyer an equitable lien for amounts already paid.
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…ed. 1971) § 2-403:6 at 41 ( Anderson ). Nonetheless, the U.C.C. permits a person with voidable title to transfer good title to a good faith purchaser for value in certain circumstances. N.J.S.A. 12A:2-403(1). If the facts developed at trial merit application of that section, then Frank may have transferred good title to Snyder, thereby…