What title insurance covers, and what it doesn’t
The policy you pay for once that protects you from everything that happened before you got here.
Closing · 13 points
Who it’s for
For the buyer who saw “title insurance” on their estimate and has no idea what they’re paying for.
What’s on the list
- 1
Title is the legal proof that the seller can actually sell you this property, free of surprises.
- 2
The title search runs the property’s whole history through the county’s public records.
- 3
Covered: a previous owner resurfacing with a claim, forged deeds, heirs whose signatures were never there.
- 4
Covered: contractor liens for work some prior owner never paid for.
- 5
Covered: taxes and utility debts that stayed stuck to the property.
- 6
Covered: errors in the public records, and legal descriptions that were written badly.
- 7
Covered: unrecorded easements that limit how you get to use your own property.
- 8
These are two different policies. The lender’s protects the bank for the loan balance. The owner’s protects you for your value. Having one is not having the other.
- 9
Not covered: problems you created yourself after closing.
- 10
Not covered: physical defects in the house. That’s what the inspection was for.
- 11
Not covered: zoning changes or new government restrictions.
- 12
Generally not covered: whatever a survey would have caught if you skipped it — fences crossing the line, structures built over the property line.
- 13
Ask for the title commitment the second it’s issued and read the Schedule B exceptions. That’s where the policy tells you, in black and white, what it won’t cover.
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