General warranty deed
A general warranty deed is a deed that conveys land with a covenant of general warranty, under which the grantor and the grantor's heirs will forever warrant and defend the property against the claims of all persons. In Virginia the words with general warranty in the granting clause create that covenant.
Three words that stand in for a promise to defend the title
A Virginia deed does not need a paragraph of warranty language. Three words in the granting clause, with general warranty, carry the whole promise, because the Code of Virginia reads a fixed meaning into them.
The reading happens in two steps. Va. Code 55.1-356 turns the short phrase into a covenant:
The words "with general warranty" in the granting part of any deed shall be deemed to be a covenant by the grantor "that he will warrant generally the property hereby conveyed."
Va. Code 55.1-356
Va. Code 55.1-354 then says what that covenant does. It has the same effect as if the grantor had covenanted that he and his heirs and personal representatives would forever warrant and defend the property for the grantee and the grantee's heirs, personal representatives and assigns, "against the claims and demands of all persons."
Each part of that sentence answers a question a buyer would otherwise have to ask. Who makes the promise: the grantor, and it binds the grantor's heirs and personal representatives too. Who receives it: the grantee and those who come after the grantee. How long it lasts: forever, in the statute's word. And against whom it runs: all persons, not only those claiming through the grantor. That last phrase is the one that sets this deed apart.
A deed may use a different formula. The words with English covenants of title import a separate group of covenants that the Code sets out in other sections, plus a covenant that the grantor is seized in fee simple. Those covenants are named here only by reference; what they require on a particular deed is for the attorney reading it.
- Words in the deed
- with general warranty
- What they are deemed to be
- A covenant that the grantor will warrant generally the property conveyed
- Who is bound
- The grantor and the grantor's heirs and personal representatives
- Against whose claims
- All persons
Wider than a special warranty, different from a release
The reach of a general warranty is easiest to see beside the other forms a Virginia deed can take.
A special warranty deed uses nearly the same statutory machinery with one change: its promise runs only against claims of the grantor and persons claiming by, through or under the grantor. A claim that does not trace through the grantor falls outside it, where under a general warranty it would fall inside. A quitclaim works differently again; Virginia construes the statutory release words in a deed as a quitclaim of all right, title and interest, and the full side-by-side of those two deeds is in quitclaim vs general warranty deed.
Title insurance is a separate kind of protection altogether: insurance against loss from liens, encumbrances and defects in title, rather than a promise made by the grantor.
Whatever deed a sale uses, its covenant reaches only as far as the words written into its granting part. The form, the covenants and the recording steps are worked through in Virginia deeds explained.
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Questions about this term
Does a general warranty have to be written out at length in the deed?
No. Va. Code 55.1-356 deems the words with general warranty in the granting part of a deed to be a covenant that the grantor will warrant generally the property conveyed, and Va. Code 55.1-354 gives that covenant its full effect. The short phrase carries the promise. How a particular deed's wording should read is for the attorney preparing it.
Are the grantor's heirs bound by a general warranty after the grantor dies?
The statute writes them into the promise. Va. Code 55.1-354 gives a covenant of general warranty the same effect as if the grantor had covenanted that he and his heirs and personal representatives will forever warrant and defend the property against the claims of all persons. Whether a claim can be pursued against a particular estate or heir is a question for an attorney.
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 55.1-356: words with general warranty, with special warranty and with English covenants of title construed Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-354: effect of covenant of general warranty Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-355: covenant of special warranty Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-363: effect of certain words of release in a deed Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 38.2-123: title insurance defined Code of Virginia