Deed
A deed is the written instrument by which a grantor conveys an estate in land to a grantee. In Virginia an estate of inheritance or freehold can be conveyed only by deed or will, and recording the deed where the land lies protects the grantee against purchasers for value without notice and lien creditors.
Why a handshake conveys no freehold estate
A handshake over a fence line, a parent's spoken promise that the back field is yours, a gift of land made at a kitchen table: none of those conveys a freehold estate in land on its own. In Virginia that takes paper: a deed, or a will.
No estate of inheritance or freehold in lands shall be conveyed unless by deed or will
Va. Code 55.1-101 A
The same section closes the obvious back door. A gift or promise of a gift of land that is not in writing gives the person promised no right to a conveyance, "even if such gift or promise is followed by possession and improvement of the land by the donee".
That is why the deed matters so much on land that has changed hands by understanding rather than by paper. What happens when the understanding and the paper disagree is a question for an attorney, not a real estate agent.
What a deed moves is not always one owner's whole tract. A deed can pass an interest tied to a life estate, or a co-owner's share of land held as a tenancy in common. How a particular deed divides an estate is for the attorney reading it.
A described tract, its covenants, and what stands on it
The Code of Virginia supplies a model deed. A deed may follow it word for word or be written "to the same effect", and the model shows what the instrument is built to hold.
At its center is a description of the property or the interest in it being conveyed, including the name of the city or county where the property lies. The same place in the form is where covenants and any other provisions go. The covenants are the promises the grantor makes about the title, and the words chosen for them decide how far those promises reach. How a general warranty, a special warranty and a quitclaim differ is set out side by side in quitclaim vs general warranty deed.
The deed also carries more than it names. Virginia reads a conveyance of land broadly:
Every deed conveying land shall be construed to include all buildings, privileges, and appurtenances of every kind belonging to such land unless an exception is made in the deed.
Va. Code 55.1-303
A barn, a well house or a right that belongs to the tract goes with the land whether or not the deed lists it. Anything the grantor means to hold back has to be written into the deed as an exception. So on a tract with outbuildings, the exceptions paragraph is worth as much attention as the description.
Acknowledgment, the deed book, and who recording protects against
A signed deed goes to a circuit court clerk's office to be recorded, and two statutes shape what happens there.
The first is acknowledgment by the person who signed. The second is the book. Deeds, deeds of trust, deeds of release, quitclaim deeds and contracts in reference to real estate, acknowledged as the law requires, go into the deed book unless another rule applies. A deed of trust shares that book and part of the name, but it is a different instrument doing a different job.
Recording is where the protection comes from. Until a deed is recorded where the land lies, Va. Code 55.1-407 leaves it void as to two groups: outside buyers who paid value without notice, and lien creditors. A deed left in a drawer is exposed to both.
For land in Carroll County, which office records the deed, where it is and what it asks for at the counter are laid out in where to record a deed in Carroll County.
Why the words on a particular deed go to an attorney
Questions about drafting a deed, and about reading one, go to a Virginia attorney. The statutes above say what a deed does once it exists; what the words on a particular deed accomplish is the attorney's call.
Reading a deed well means reading the ones before it: the description that has come down through earlier conveyances, the exceptions an earlier owner kept, the covenants and easements recorded against the tract. That is title work. A real estate agent can find the deed book reference and notice when a description and the ground do not seem to match, and should say so plainly; what the deed actually conveys, and what it leaves out, is the attorney's call.
Not sure what the deed you hold to your land actually conveys?
Send the tax map number or the deed book and page, and Lowell will read the tract against its record and tell you which questions belong with an attorney. No cost, no obligation.
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Questions about this term
Does a Virginia deed have to follow the form printed in the Code?
No. Va. Code 55.1-300 says every deed may be made in the form it sets out "or to the same effect". That form describes the property, including the city or county where it lies, and is where covenants and other provisions are inserted. Whether the wording of a particular deed does what the parties intend is a question for the attorney preparing or reading it.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Va. Code 55.1-101: when a deed or will is necessary to convey an estate; no parol partition or gift valid Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-300: form of deeds Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-303: appurtenances included in a deed of land Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 17.1-227: instruments recorded in the deed book Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-407: contracts and deeds void as to creditors and purchasers until recorded Code of Virginia