Hudson Valley Law Firm Frequently Asked Questions Videos
What is a title search?
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Title search is where you hire a company to go back through and look at the what we call the chain of title. It’s a search where you go back through all the previous owners and what you’re looking for is to ensure that if you’re the purchaser, that the person selling you the property has good, what they call marketable title.
The search will go back through, it will look at deeds, also as far as it may go into the circuit courts, because with property, action can be conveyed in New York by deed or actually by somebody’s will. With a title search, they will also from the seller look at the person’s name, check bankruptcies, see if the person has ever filed one, will also as far as will look to liens, judgements, making sure that there’s no tax warrants that are filed against the person. We’ll also look to make sure there’s no mortgage foreclosures pending, land taxes are paid, school taxes are paid. We’ll also look to see what if any items affect the property, such as utility easements, such as right of ways, drainage easements, it will also look to see if there is any outstanding assessments. It’s basically looking to see if there is any encumbrances on the property.
So with the search, again they are looking to make sure that the ownership that you are buying is good. Also, it gives you history of the property, to let you know if, Central Hudson, as an example in this area, has a utility line running across the property or adjacent to the property. So it’s giving you a history of the property, so it lets you know what you are purchasing and the importance of it, whereas the title company then takes that search and will issue an insurance policy for you.
