Settlement in Virginia.Who does what between the contract and the recorded deed.

Settlement in Virginia begins in the contract that gets ratified, well before anyone sits at a closing table. For real estate containing not more than four residential dwelling units, Va. Code 55.1-1007 requires every purchase contract to carry the statutory Choice of Settlement Agent language, in at least 10-point boldface type.

Behind that notice is Va. Code 55.1-1006. Within the chapter's reach, the purchaser or borrower has the right to select the settlement agent, and the seller may not require the use of a particular settlement agent as a condition of the sale. The mandated contract language adds that the chapter's provisions may not be varied by agreement and the rights it confers may not be waived. A settlement agent, in the Code's definition, is someone other than a party to the deal who provides escrow, closing or settlement services and is listed as the settlement agent on the settlement statement or closing disclosure.

The seller is not left without counsel. The same section lets a seller retain a Virginia-licensed attorney to represent the seller's interests, and that representation may include deed preparation, fee negotiation and review of the documents.

Who may be named settlement agent in the first place is argued in who can close a real estate sale in Virginia. The short version is that the Code's list is not limited to attorneys.

Once money reaches the settlement agent, the Code treats the agent as a fiduciary. Va. Code 55.1-1008 requires funds deposited with a settlement agent for an escrow, settlement or closing to be handled in a fiduciary capacity and deposited in a separate fiduciary trust account, at a financial institution authorized to do business in Virginia, no later than the close of the second business day.

Two more rules follow the money while it waits. A settlement agent may not keep any interest earned on funds deposited for an escrow, settlement or closing. And nothing in the chapter prevents documents from being recorded before the funds are available for disbursement, provided all parties consent to that recording.

An earnest money deposit held by a real estate firm under the contract runs on separate rules, with its own clock and its own release conditions, and the earnest money and contingencies guide follows it.

The Code lists recording among the settlement agent's services, as handling or arranging it. The clerk records a writing upon payment of the fees and any tax on it, once each signature on it has been acknowledged or proved as Va. Code 55.1-600 prescribes.

Va. Code 17.1-223 and the grantor tax statute add rules about what a deed must show, most of them on its first page:

• Unless a cover sheet is submitted with it, the clerk may reject a deed subject to the state recordation tax unless the consideration and the actual value of the property are stated on its first page.
• The grantor tax statute keeps a deed off the record until its first page shows the consideration and the clerk has certified that the tax was paid.
• The attorney or party who prepares a writing for recording must remove any social security number from it before it is submitted.
• A deed conveying residential property of not more than four dwelling units must state on its first page that it was prepared by the owner or by a Virginia-licensed attorney, with that attorney's name and Virginia State Bar number. The clause does not apply to deeds of trust.

That last rule is a statement about what the first page says, and it names the owner as a possible preparer. It does not make every deed an attorney's work. Which deed a sale calls for, and how it is drafted, are questions for an attorney.

Taxes come due at the same counter. Va. Code 58.1-801 levies a state recordation tax on each deed the clerk records, apart from deeds the law exempts, at 25 cents per $100 or fraction of the consideration or the property's actual value, whichever is greater. The grantor tax is a separate charge, figured in how the grantor tax in Virginia works. Whether a county adds a local recordation tax of its own is the clerk's to say.

Which side of the table pays each of these belongs to who pays closing costs in Virginia. For a Carroll County sale, the office and how it takes documents are covered in where to record a deed in Carroll County.