Warranty Deed vs. Grant Deed vs. Quitclaim: Which Warranties You Actually Got

By Mo Ayadi, Founder of Title Barrier | Published September 8, 2026

---

If you bought a house and never read the deed, here is the short version. A general warranty deed promises that title is good against the whole world, back through every prior owner, and that the seller will defend it. A grant deed promises only that the seller has not already sold the property to someone else and has not saddled it with undisclosed liens. A quitclaim deed promises nothing at all. It transfers whatever interest the signer happens to hold, which might be everything or might be zero.

Which one you received depends mostly on where you live. Warranty deeds dominate in most of the country. Grant deeds are the standard conveyance in California and a handful of Western states. Quitclaims show up everywhere, but mostly in transfers between people who already know each other.

Why this matters: according to ALTA, roughly one in four real estate transactions has a title issue that must be cleared before closing. The deed you received is the seller's written promise about those issues. Knowing what was actually promised tells you where your protection comes from and, more importantly, where it does not.

Disclosure: I run Title Barrier, a property fraud prevention company. I have a commercial interest in this topic. Factual claims are sourced so you can check them.

A deed is a promise, not a proof

The deed is the document that moves ownership from one person to another. Title is the underlying legal right. A deed can say whatever the signer wants it to say; that does not make it true. I covered this distinction in Deed vs. Title, so I will not repeat it here.

What separates the three deed types is the set of covenants, meaning promises, the grantor makes about the title being conveyed. More covenants mean more recourse against the seller if something turns out to be wrong. Fewer covenants mean the buyer is taking the risk.

Every one of these deeds, once signed and recorded, transfers whatever the grantor actually owned. The difference is what happens if it turns out the grantor owned less than the buyer thought.

Warranty deeds: the most a seller can promise

General warranty deed

The general warranty deed carries the traditional six covenants, and the language is centuries old. In plain terms the seller promises:

• Seisin: the seller actually owns the property.
• Right to convey: the seller has legal authority to sell it.
• Against encumbrances: there are no liens, easements, or claims other than those disclosed.
• Quiet enjoyment: no one with a superior claim will disturb the buyer's possession.
• Warranty: the seller will defend the title against lawful claims.
• Further assurances: the seller will sign whatever additional documents are needed to perfect title.

The key word is general. These promises are not limited to the seller's own period of ownership. If a defect was created three owners ago, the seller is still on the hook. That is why this is the deed buyers want in an ordinary residential sale, and why it is standard in most states east of the Rockies.

Special (limited) warranty deed

A special warranty deed uses the same covenants but limits them to the grantor's own time holding title. The typical phrasing is that the grantor warrants against claims arising "by, through, or under" the grantor. Anything that happened before the grantor took title is not covered.

You will see special warranty deeds from banks selling foreclosed property, from builders selling new construction, from estates, and from institutional sellers who have no idea what happened before they acquired the parcel and are not willing to guess. It is not a red flag, but it is a narrower promise, and buyers should know that going in.

Grant deeds: the West Coast middle ground

California and several other Western states use the grant deed as the default form for an arm's-length sale. It reads shorter than a warranty deed because most of the promises are implied by statute rather than spelled out.

Under California Civil Code section 1113, the word "grant" in a deed implies two covenants:

1. The grantor has not already conveyed the same estate to anyone else.
2. The estate is free of encumbrances made or suffered by the grantor.

Notice what is missing. There is no promise about prior owners. There is no promise to defend the title in court. A grant deed is closer to a special warranty deed than to a general one: it covers the seller's own conduct and stops there.

California buyers rarely notice the gap because an owner's title insurance policy is a routine part of closing in that state. The policy, not the deed, is doing the work a general warranty deed would do elsewhere. That is worth understanding, because it means your recourse for a title defect in a grant-deed state runs to the insurer, not the seller.

Quitclaim deeds: no promises at all

A quitclaim deed conveys whatever interest the grantor has, if any, with no covenants of any kind. If the grantor owns the property outright, a quitclaim transfers it completely. If the grantor owns nothing, the buyer receives nothing and has no claim against the grantor for the disappointment.

Quitclaims have legitimate uses. Spouses use them in divorce. Homeowners use them to move a house into a living trust. Family members use them to add or remove a name. In those settings the parties already know the state of title and do not need warranties from each other.

The problem is that the same simplicity that makes quitclaims convenient for families makes them convenient for forgers. A quitclaim is short, requires no representations, and can be drafted from a template in minutes. I wrote at length about this in Quitclaim Deed: Why It's the Most Commonly Forged Property Document, and the Florida case in The Probate Nightmare shows how far a stack of cheap quitclaims can go.

If you are being asked to accept a quitclaim deed in a purchase from a stranger, stop and ask why. There may be a good reason. There often is not.

Side-by-side comparison

How to find out which deed you received

Most people never look. It takes ten minutes.

Pull the deed recorded at your closing from the county recorder's office. Many counties have a free online index; I walked through the process in How to Search the Grantor/Grantee Index. If your county is offline, a copy costs a few dollars in person.

Read the heading first. Most deeds announce their type at the top. If the heading is generic, look at the operative words in the granting clause:

• "Conveys and warrants" or "warrants generally" means a general warranty deed.
• "Warrants specially" or warranty limited to claims "by, through, or under" the grantor means a special warranty deed.
• "Grants" alone, in a Western state, means a grant deed.
• "Quitclaims," "releases," or "remises" means a quitclaim.

Then find your owner's title insurance policy. In practice the policy matters more than the deed for most buyers, because suing a former seller under a deed covenant is slow and depends on that seller still being findable and solvent.

What none of these deeds protects against

Here is the part that surprises people. Every covenant in every deed type, and the standard owner's title policy alongside it, addresses the state of title on the day you bought. The seller promised the past was clean. The insurer wrote a policy as of the recording date.

Neither one says anything about a document someone records against your property next year.

The standard ALTA Owner's Policy, under Exclusion 3(d), excludes matters that arise after the policy date. A forged quitclaim recorded five years after your closing is a new event. Your seller's warranty deed is irrelevant to it. Your owner's policy, in its standard form, excludes it. I covered the mechanics in Title Insurance After Closing: The Coverage Gap, and the newer ALTA 49 endorsements released in August 2025 are starting to address it in some states, though rollout is uneven.

The risk is not evenly distributed. The NAR 2025 Deed and Title Fraud Survey found that 62% of reported title fraud cases involved vacant land and 12% involved owner-occupied homes. The FBI and ALTA warned in Boston of 58,141 victims and $1.3 billion in real estate fraud losses from 2019 through 2023. Absentee owners, free-and-clear owners, LLC-held property, and elderly owners are targeted because a forged deed on those properties is less likely to be noticed quickly.

This is where my company sits. Title Barrier files a notice in the county land records. It makes the property harder to move through a legitimate title search without contacting the owner. Title companies and lenders who run a search see the notice and are instructed to verify with the owner before a transaction proceeds. It is not insurance, it does not reimburse anyone, and it does not stop a county clerk from recording a document that meets form requirements. It costs $199 to set up and $199 per year per property; details are on the pricing page. Many counties also offer free recording alert programs, and the FTC in August 2024 recommended checking those first. I agree with that advice.

What to do with this information

If you are buying: ask for a general warranty deed in an arm's-length sale where that is the local norm. If the seller offers a special warranty deed or a grant deed, that is normal in many markets, but confirm you are getting an owner's title policy and read the exceptions. If a stranger offers a quitclaim deed, ask why, and talk to a real estate attorney in your state before proceeding.

If you already own: pull your deed, confirm what type it is, and locate your owner's policy. Then decide, separately, how you will find out if something is recorded against your property later. Options range from a free county alert to a monitoring subscription to a recorded notice. Our free risk report will tell you which of the high-risk categories, if any, your property falls into.

If you are transferring to family or a trust: a quitclaim is often the right tool, but understand that the recipient gets no warranties from you and that the transfer may affect title insurance coverage. An attorney can tell you whether a grant deed or warranty deed is the better choice for your situation.

The deed you received is a promise about the past. It is a good idea to know what was promised. It is a better idea to know that the promise stops at your closing date, and to plan for the years after it.

This article is educational and is not legal advice. Deed forms and covenants vary by state. Consult a licensed real estate attorney in your jurisdiction about your specific situation. Published September 8, 2026.

Sources

1. American Land Title Association, homeowner resources and industry data: https://www.alta.org
2. California Civil Code section 1113 (implied covenants in grant deeds): https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV&sectionNum=1113
3. National Association of Realtors, research and statistics (2025 Deed and Title Fraud Survey): https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics
4. Rocket Mortgage, "What Is A Warranty Deed?": https://www.rocketmortgage.com/learn/warranty-deed
5. Rocket Mortgage, "What Is A Quitclaim Deed?": https://www.rocketmortgage.com/learn/quitclaim-deed
6. Federal Trade Commission consumer alerts: https://consumer.ftc.gov

See also: Quitclaim Deed: Why It's the Most Commonly Forged Property Document · Deed vs. Title: What's the Difference? · What Is a Property Deed? Types and How They Work · Title Insurance After Closing: The Coverage Gap Explained