• A title plant is a database of real estate-related information, particularly property ownership, managed and maintained by a title company.
• The most common is a geographically indexed title plant, organized by location instead of the owner’s name.
• A title plant is a centralized location where title insurers and companies can access land titles, a necessary part of due diligence in a real estate transaction.
• A full title search could take up to 14 days to finish, producing a report that includes information about the property’s owner and legal description and all encumbrances against it and restrictions that apply to it.

Title plants (also known as abstract plants) are used to support title searches and title insurance policies for real estate transactions. Title companies manage and maintain these records themselves, or they can lease a title plant from another company[1].

A title plant provides a centralized location for a title search, making it easier and more efficient for the title company or agency to obtain the necessary information.

Title plants are typically indexed by location instead of the property owner’s name. Title companies collect information for their title plants from various sources, including public records, property owners, and real estate professionals (among others), and update them regularly as well.

Title plants can be physical or digital, but many modern title plants have recently switched to the latter[2]. This migration has significantly sped up searches and reduced maintenance and storage costs (as opposed to housing paper-based records).

Benefits of a Title Plant

Title plants are crucial in any real estate transaction as part of due diligence. They help streamline title searches since they can go back at least 25 years from the date of lookup.

Title plants can come in handy when a judgment against a person does not appear on property records owned by the same individual. They can also be useful when distinguishing multiple persons with a common name.

Other than having all relevant documents in one place, title plants help minimize errors in searches. They make it easy to find records that correctly apply to specific persons or properties by design.

All in all, title plants help ensure that the property transfer goes smoothly and all parties have reliable and up-to-date information as a result of a title search.

A full title plant search (or simply title search) is a probe into all transactions involving property, which is important when someone is purchasing a home, a piece of commercial real estate, or vacant land.

Title companies undertake a title search, usually by looking into their title plant or leasing one from another party. You can do a title search yourself, if you know what you’re looking for, as described in the following video.

If in doubt, consult a title company instead.

Components of a Title Search

The title report can have several sections detailing the health and status of the property. Typically, its contents include the following:

• Owner and property information – This section discusses the property’s current owner, address, and county-issued tax number.
• Legal description – This portion is a more in-depth version of the address. The county uses the legal description to locate the property and record all encumbrances against it.
• Liens – This section lists all liens owed on the property, from the largest to the smallest. A property whose sale price is lower than what is owed on it will look like a risky bet for an investor or title insurance company.
• Tax delinquencies – This reveals the current owner’s unpaid taxes[3]. The transfer of title will not push through until they are zeroed out, and the government gets to be paid first before all other lien holders.
• Easements -This section refers to easements, or certain property sections accessible to others.
• Historical rules – These rules list the restrictions on property improvements to help preserve the character of historic districts[4].

To do a comprehensive search to find these items, a title search can go as far back as necessary, sometimes as far as 50 or 60 years ago. This is one reason a title search can take 10 to 14 days to complete; the older the property, the lengthier the title search.

When the title company has completed the title search, it will issue a preliminary title report to the requesting party in a real estate transaction. This report contains their findings and whether there are any missing documents or a break in the chain of title.

What Is a Break in the Chain of Title?

A break in the chain of title is a missing deed in the property’s ownership history.

Property ownership can generally be considered an unbroken chain, from its original owner to the next and so on to the current owner. If there is a missing link in this chain, it becomes unclear how the property was transferred and under what circumstances.

Chain of title breaks could happen for different reasons[5], such as a fraudulent transfer or one purposefully hidden from the title insurance industry. For example, an owner might have given the property to a creditor to settle a debt[6].

Likewise, errors like misspellings or inaccurate legal property descriptions on the deed can cause a break in the chain of title.

Is an Abstract of Title the Same as a Title Search?

An abstract of title is a historical record of all transactions associated with a piece of land or other real property, while a title search is a lookup of a property’s legal ownership (the real estate equivalent of a background check).

An abstract of title shows every instance the property has changed hands, identifying all past and present legal owners.

Apart from grants[7] and conveyances[8], an abstract of title also includes other types of claims like liens[9], easements[10], encroachments[11], and wills[12].

Titles and deeds are similar in that they are important in real estate transactions. The primary difference is that a title refers to the legal ownership of a property, while a deed is a legal document that transfers ownership of the property from one party to another.

In other words, a title is a concept of property ownership, while a deed is a document that transfers that ownership to another[13].

Having a title to real estate means being able to use it in any way in accordance with the law and resell it in the future. If only one person holds the title to a property, it is called sole ownership. If multiple parties have ownership rights, it is joint tenancy.

A deed, on the other hand, is a legal document. It records the property transfer between parties, showing its previous and present owners. In short, the deed documents who has the title to the property.

Titles and deeds are also equally important. After all, anyone can verbally declare title to a property, but it will not hold up in court without a deed to prove it.

Types of Deeds

There are many deed types with different levels of title protection.

For instance, a general warranty deed guarantees the property is completely free and clear of all encumbrances. In comparison, a special warranty deed can only protect the buyer against claims that might have arisen when the seller became the property owner.

Perhaps the least reliable is the quitclaim deed, which effectively waives all ownership interest in the property being transferred. It offers no legal protections against encumbrances that may exist on a property.

1. Doma. (n.d.) What is a title plant? Retrieved from https://www.doma.com/helpie_faq/what-is-a-title-plant/
2. What Is a Title Plant? (n.d.) CourthouseDirect. Retrieved from https://info.courthousedirect.com/blog/what-is-a-title-plant
3. Glink, I. & Tamkin, S. (2019.) Understanding the taxes you owe when buying a home. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/06/04/understanding-taxes-you-owe-when-buying-home/
4. Edmonds, M. (2022.) How Historic Districts Work. HowStuffWorks. Retrieved from https://home.howstuffworks.com/historic-district.htm
5. Deeds.com. (2019.) What is the Chain of Title in Real Estate? Retrieved from https://www.deeds.com/articles/what-is-the-chain-of-title-in-real-estate/
6. HG.org. (n.d.) How to Determine if a Transfer was Fraudulent. Retrieved from https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/how-to-determine-if-a-transfer-was-fraudulent-44470
7. Dellinger, A. (2022.) Grantor vs grantee: What’s the difference? Bankrate. Retrieved from https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/grantor-vs-grantee/
8. Silverglate, R. (2021.) An Easy Guide To Understanding How Conveyancing Works. California Business Journal. Retrieved from https://calbizjournal.com/an-easy-guide-to-understanding-how-conveyancing-works/
9. O’Neill, C. (2012.) Types of Property Liens. Nolo. Retrieved from https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/types-property-liens.html
10. Justia. (2022.) Easements. Retrieved from https://www.justia.com/real-estate/home-ownership/owning-a-home/easements/
11. Folger, J. (2022.) Is the buyer of a property subject to an encroachment able to remove the encroachment? FirstTuesday. Retrieved from https://journal.firsttuesday.us/is-the-buyer-of-a-property-subject-to-an-encroachment-able-to-remove-the-encroachment/85992/
12. FindLaw. (2021.) Who Can Challenge a Will? Retrieved from https://www.findlaw.com/estate/wills/who-can-challenge-a-will-.html
13. McGurran, B. (2022.) What’s the Difference Between a Deed and a Title? Experian. Retrieved from https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/deed-vs-title-whats-the-difference/