I recently bought some land on e-bay in Lancaster, CA, and I received a “Quit-Claim” deed. Wiki says the darn thing is almost worthless. I have received a bill for property taxes, so the county seems to think it is mine, at least for tax purposes.
Have I been swindled?
A quit claim deed basically is a deed whereby the grantor surrenders any and all rights they have to the property to you. But, unlike a warranty deed, they aren’t guaranteeing they have any rights to give.
So, depending on what was conveyed, you may have been swindled. Who was the record owner of the property at the time you received your QCD? Was it the same person who gave you the deed?
Yes, the owner of record was the same person. I checked that before I sent money.
You need to spend some time at the Registry of Deeds investigating the history of ownership of this land, its liens, encumbrances, mortgages and their settlements, applicable rights-of-way, etc. Indeed, everyone who buys real property should always do this.
I could offer you a quit claim deed for the same property. As folk have mentioned, you need to check what claim the seller had to the property and what claims anyone else might have to the property.
Did you order a title search or title insurance? Did you pay cash?
And you’ll want to register your quit claim deed.
Title search showed the seller as owner. I paid cash. The seller has a longstanding website, http://www.lacountyland.com/ and good feedback from ebay. Will going to the assessor’s office let me find if he had clear title?
Around my parts, the assessor’s office would not be the correct place to go. Figure out who is the “recorder of deeds.”
I’m not a real estate atty and I also don’t know the recording requirements where you are. A paper title search will not reveal any unrecorded interests. In most - but I believe not all - jurisdictions, aclaim against real property must be recorded to be valid.
The only way to be sure about your title might be to pursue a “quiet title” suit. You also could check with a title insurance company. Not sure which would be cheaper.
Good luck.
There are occasions when a quitclaim deed is the proper way to go, and ethically sound. An example, partially hypothetical and partially valid from my own experience:
My grandparents sold an undivided half interest in their double house to my parents – two couples, tenants by the entireties within the couples and tenants in common as between them. Each family lived in one half of the double house. My maiden aunt lived with and cared for my grandparents.
When my grandfather died (having outlived my grandmother), my parents and aunt discovered that when he wrote his will, both he and his lawyer were senile, and he’d left bequests he’d long since disposed of. By common consent of his possible heirs – Dad, Aunt June, and ten-year-old me – we agreed not to enter his will into probate and let his property pass under intestacy provisions, which would accomplish what both he in his right mind and they wanted to do with the property. (That family conference was the first time for me to be treated as an adult by my parents and aunt, and I felt really big and grown-up. :)) The net result was the property was then owned 50% by Dad and Mom together (what they’d bought), 25% by Dad as Grandpa’s heir, and 25% by Aunt June as Grandpa’s other heir. Aunt June lived off her joint bank account with Grandpa and his insurance – she was beneficiary – until it ran out, and then got a small cash grant from Social Services until she had a stroke and went into the nursing home, under Medicaid.
Some years later my parents died, followed a few years after by Aunt June. Title to the house coalesced in me as Dad’s heir (he having outlived Mom by four months) and as Aunt June’s heir – but her share was subject to a lien from Social Services, capped by her interest in the property. So I owned full title to the house, but with a lien on 25% of its value held by the County.
Had I wanted to sell the house, I would not have been able to vend clear title, because of the lien. I could have sold by quitclaim deed, with 25% of the appraised value going to the County to discharge the lien – but I could not have granted a warranty deed except by paying off the lien, which I didn’t have enough liquid assets to do. The deal wouild have been that I gave full disclosure of the lien on the title and a quitclaim deed in exchange for 75% of the sale price, the County took 25% and gave the buyer a discharge of its lien, and then he could quiet title by filing both, since the only interested parties would have been me and the County, and we would have both signed off.
There is still the possibility that he issued quitclaim deeds to more than one person.
Have you recorded your deed?
Disclaimer: I am not your lawyer. This comment does not, and is not intended to, create an attorney-client relationship. This is not legal advice; this is just anonymous chat.
My family has used a quit claim several times.
My greatgrand father used a quit claim deed to deed the ranch to my grandmother. she used one to deed it over to my Dad. And dad used severaal to deed a section to his children.
I used a quit claim deed to put the property into our family living trust. When I sold my section the Title insurance co did a title search to be sure there were no outstanding leins. The buyer ended up with a clear deed. But a recorded QCD is good but means that there can be a lein on the property.
It appears this is the one: http://www.lavote.net/Recorder/Real_Estate_etc.cfm
As others have said, the value of the quit claim deed depends on the context. If you have an owners title policy and related title work California Department of Insurance that shows the grantor as holding an unemcumbered fee simple absolute interest in the property, the quit claim deed is quite valuable. If not, well, have fun with that quiet title action. Quiet Title Action - Property, Plaintiff, Claim, and Real - JRank Articles 
ETA: The quiet title action is really a worst case scenario. You might be perfectly fine. The point is that due diligence is more important if you are getting a quit claim deed. If the grantor’s interest is flawed or non-existent, he hasn’t made any representation that it’s better than that.