Before I start these posts, I always notify to you (the reader) that while I did take and pass my required 63-hr pre-licensing course for the state of Florida; I, however did not continue pursuing real estate as a career. I am merely a fantastic on the intricacies of real estate.
Stay prepared and stay skilled — Chris, from ChristoAnd.com
owning something
Ownership is a right. It is (after all) protected by the law of Federal Government. A title in it of itself means ownership. Ownership of what? of something; literally anything. But usually in terms of property. When a party or person owners property, they have a legal title to said property.
An equitable title is the right to gain ownership interest in the future. This effectively bestows a financial or equitable interest in a property. An estate — which refers to a party that is representive the value that an individual owns (they are usually dead), this is an example of a body that would own such titles. There are multiple types of estates. But we’ll cover that here.
notice of ownership
How can a party prove that they are entitled to own something? By acquiring a notice. Without this type of document before obtaining a property, an opposing claimant could contend for ownership. Two types — actual notice, or constructive notice, are used to provide evidence of ownership.
Although constructive and actual have the same call for legal action — using a constructive notice is the best for legal evidence because it records an instrument in the public records which can be easier to prove.
title protection
Clear, marketable, or merchantable title to real property is title in fee simple (fee simple is another word for saying the landowner’s total and complete ownership of a land and all the properties that are on it.)
Land ownership in fee simple is free from litigation and defects. To conclude whether or not a title is good and vendible, a record of ownership must be tracked back for a necessary period of time. This is to assure that there is no unresolved or outstanding claims that exist against the title. The time period of such title assessment is called the root of title.
Root of title, in Florida extends back 30 years from the recording of the claim. Claims exceeding 30 years old are extinguished. [F.S. 712] Property rights may be traced back to a land grant from the state or federal government; or from a land grant given by the King of Spain. (Starting in 1790, Spain offered land grants to encourage settlement in the colony of Florida — in 1821, Florida was officially transferred from Spanish to American control)
A chain of title is created when searching for all public records to a piece of real-estate, resulting in a timeline of recorded documents that links all past owners of the land from the roots of the title to the present date. Abstracting and title insurance companies compile these pubic records into a title plant.
title insurance
Title defects are any claims or other factors that could cause a title to be declared invalid. This could lead a current title to be called into questioning. To combat this, buyers will usually obtain title insurance. This insurance provides a financial protection against losses endured from a defective title. There is no Florida law that requires a borrower to obtain title insurance.