The official record that details the ownership history of a piece of property.

Chain of title is a history of all documents affecting and transferring title of a property, beginning with the original transfer from government to private ownership, and ending with the latest document transferring title. Additional documents recorded in the chain include conveyances, liens, and encumbrances.

The chain of title also is necessary to determine what dates , various liens were put onto a property. This is done in order to determine the order of priority of any one lien -vs- another lien of the same legal priority.

The chain of title is required by most lenders today to discourage fraudulent flipping of property. Chain of title shows who has owned a particular and for how long. Length of ownership identifies the possibility of a fraudulent flip transaction, when the length of ownership is for a very short period(i.e. 1 day or 2 weeks) the potential for fraud increases.

Requested by the lender, usually dating back a minimum of twelve months, a chain of title is n analysis of the transfers of title to a certain property over the a period of time.

 

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