Also known as: recordation acts · recording act · recording acts · recording statute
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A statutory mechanism that governs the priority of competing interests in real property by requiring the recording of deeds and other instruments affecting title. The mechanism operates through race, notice, or race-notice rules that determine whether a subsequent purchaser without notice who records prevails over a prior unrecorded interest. Chain-of-title principles limit the scope of constructive notice to instruments appearing in the sequence through which the purchaser claims ownership.
Virginia conveyed a city block to South Carolina in January but left the deed unrecorded for six months. Oklahoma later purchased a two-acre parcel from Virginia after a clean title search, recorded its deed promptly, and began development. South Carolina recorded only in July. Under the recording act, Oklahoma's prompt recording and lack of notice secure priority over South Carolina's earlier unrecorded deed.
Ravi Reddy purchased land from a grantor whose chain traced to a 1970 patent. An easement granted by the same grantor to a stranger before the patent appeared in a separate recorded instrument. Reddy had no actual knowledge of the easement. The recording act charges Reddy only with notice of instruments in his own chain of title, so the easement does not bind him.
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Riley Rivera bought property from a seller who had granted an unrecorded mortgage to Reliance Insurance two years earlier. Rivera paid value, conducted a clean title search, and recorded immediately. The recording act protects Rivera as a subsequent purchaser without notice who recorded, giving his interest priority over the prior unrecorded mortgage.
Rina Rahman contracted to buy land under a race-notice statute. Visible signs of prior use by a third party appeared on the property at closing. Rahman recorded first but had inquiry notice of the unrecorded prior interest. The recording act denies her bona-fide-purchaser protection because inquiry notice prevents priority over the earlier claim.
Roger Ramirez received a forged deed from a seller who had no title. A later buyer, Roland Rhodes, purchased for value without notice of the forgery and recorded. Under the recording act, Rhodes may prevail against the true owner in a jurisdiction that protects bona-fide purchasers who record, depending on the statute type and chain-of-title rules.
Rocky Mountain Mining paid forty percent under an installment land contract and took possession. A prior unrecorded claimant then appeared. The recording act permits the court to award the land to Rocky Mountain Mining, recognizing its status as protected to the extent of its equitable interest, while granting the prior claimant a lien on the property to secure the balance of the purchase price still owed under the contract.
Race statutes award priority to the first party to record regardless of notice. Notice statutes protect a subsequent purchaser who takes without notice even if the prior interest records first. Race-notice statutes require both lack of notice and first recording by the subsequent purchaser.
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A purchaser is charged with notice only of instruments that appear in the chain of title through which the purchaser claims. An instrument recorded outside that chain, such as a deed from a common grantor to a stranger, does not provide constructive notice.
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Inquiry notice arises when facts known to the purchaser would prompt a reasonable person to investigate further. A purchaser with such notice cannot claim bona-fide-purchaser status and therefore cannot prevail under notice or race-notice recording acts.
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A forged deed is void and conveys no title. In some jurisdictions a subsequent bona-fide purchaser who records may still obtain protection against the true owner depending on the type of recording statute and applicable chain-of-title and shelter rules.
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…lot and all lots within its scope, and defendants and their predecessors in title were bound by constructive notice under our recording acts. The original plan was repeatedly declared in subsequent sales of lots by restrictions in the deeds, and while some lots sold were not so restricted the purchasers thereof, in every…