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Title Search
Practical Law Glossary Item 4-501-7606 (Approx. 3 pages)
Glossary
Title Search
An examination of title records performed as part of the due diligence for a transaction involving real estate. The title search is designed to ensure that the true owner of the parcel in real estate in question is:
- For a purchase and sale transaction, the seller.
- For a loan financing secured by a parcel of real estate, the borrower, or guarantor that is granting the lender a lien on the parcel as collateral for its loan obligations.
The title search is also intended to determine whether there are any third parties that have pre-existing liens or other claims to the parcel.
Each state has its own title search procedure. For more information on multistate title searches, see Practice Note, Multistate Real Estate Ownership: Overview: Purchasing, Owning, and Selling Multistate Real Estate
For information on title insurance policies, which a purchaser or lender can obtain to insure the validity and priority of its interest in the parcel based on the title search results, see Practice Notes:
For checklists to use in reviewing a title insurance policy (including the title search results contained in the policy), see Title Insurance Policy and Survey Review Checklist (Commercial Real Estate) (Purchaser) and Title Insurance Policy and Survey Review Checklist (Commercial Real Estate) (Lender).