What happens if someone steals the deed to your house?
What happens if someone steals the deed to your house?
What Happens If A Property Title Is Stolen? If someone steals your property title, a lot can happen. The thief could sell your property or refinance it, not pay the mortgage and allow it to enter foreclosure. The theft of your deed is the result of identity theft.
Does grant deed need to be recorded?
Understanding a Grant Deed The purpose of a deed is to transfer title, a legal document proving ownership of a property or asset, to another person. These types of deeds do not necessarily need to be recorded or notarized, although it is generally in the best interests of the grantee to ensure that this is done.
What does it mean when a document is recorded against your property?
When you buy a home, the transaction is public. Recording means filing your deed and / or mortgage with your county. The document is date and time stamped, and may be uploaded to a web site for the public. You pay recording fees at closing when you sign your final documents.
What is an illegal deed?
A court may find a deed delivery illegal in any situation in which there is evidence that the seller did not have immediate intent to transfer ownership of the property. Such evidence includes that of seller hesitation or uncertainty.
What do you need to know about deed fraud?
If you are wondering what a deed even is, it’s the legal document that shows who owns any particular property. Whoever is listed on the deed is an owner. With an asset as large as a home, there’s unfortunately an incentive for criminals to target homeowners with deed fraud.
Can a fraudulent grantor sell a real estate property?
Once the records are changed, the fraudulent grantor sells the property to an innocent third party. These transactions often involve quitclaim deeds, which offer no warranties of title.
Can a fraudster use a quitclaim deed on a property?
Thus, a fraudster with a quitclaim deed can quietly take away a rightful owner’s property. Often, the victim’s loss only becomes apparent much later, when an effort to sell the property hits a wall during the title examination.
What happens if there is a forged signature on a deed?
Forged deeds are exactly what the name suggests: a fraudulent scheme that creates a property deed, forges the homeowner’s signature, and uses the forged document to claim that title to the property has been transferred. Fraudsters typically manage to have the deed notarized using false identification.
Once the records are changed, the fraudulent grantor sells the property to an innocent third party. These transactions often involve quitclaim deeds, which offer no warranties of title.
How does a person commit property deed fraud?
There are several methods used by perpetrators to commit deed fraud resulting in a homeowner’s worst nightmares: The first method used by perpetrators is forging their names on a deed and ACRIS forms, and then filing the new forged deed and ACRIS documents at the City Register.
Is it possible to re-record a fraudulent deed?
Depending on the individual state’s rules on correcting recorded documents, it might be possible to change some non-material details on the original deed and re-record it with the updated (but fraudulent) information. IV. Public Records Forgery brings other issues, too.
What can you do with a fraudulent quitclaim deed?
Having recorded a fraudulent document, a scammer can sell the property without a warranty, rent it out to unsuspecting tenants, or obtain a loan on its value. Today, online sources offer scammers ample information about properties and their owners’ identities to facilitate such activity.