Getting a property title report in California
Where a property title report comes from in California: who writes it, when escrow orders it, what title insurance costs, and what the county recorder sells.
- Shelf
- IIIThe Escrow
- Call number
- ESC-005
- Filed
- Reading
- 8 min
Where does a person get a property title report in California, and can she get one before she is actually buying the house? That was the whole slip. The short answer: a title report is written by a title insurer or an underwritten title company, both licensed by the California Department of Insurance, and in a sale it is ordered through escrow shortly after escrow opens. Before a sale nobody owes you one, but the recorded documents a report is built from are public, and in Los Angeles County any member of the public can search and request them from the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
The long answer matters too, because the words title report cover several papers written by different hands for different reasons. We read the consumer guides of the California Land Title Association, the Department of Real Estate's reference book and the county recorder's published rules, and filed what they agree on.
Who writes a title report in California?
The report comes out of the title industry. The California Land Title Association, the nonprofit trade group that represents the title industry in California and develops its title forms, counts as its regular members the California underwritten title companies and the title insurance companies licensed by the California Department of Insurance, which is also the agency that regulates them. Escrow companies answer to a different regulator, the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. What the title company brings is its plant: a private library of recorded matters, posted daily and arranged so that a search on one parcel can be pulled quickly, reaching back many years. The association's own consumer guide says that maintaining those plants, along with searching and examining title, is where most of the premium dollar goes.
When the report gets ordered
The association's guide to preliminary reports puts it plainly: shortly after escrow is opened, an order is placed with the title company, which then assembles and reviews the recorded matters touching both the property and the parties. The state's real estate reference book adds the next step. The escrow holder examines the report for anything the escrow instructions did not contemplate, and an item of that kind is typically the seller's to clear. The purchase contract designates which party pays for the report and for the policy that follows.
Around the same time, the title company asks buyer, seller and borrower for a Statement of Information: full name, year of birth, birthplace, marriages, residences and employment. Liens and judgments are recorded under names, and the form lets the examiner set aside the ones that belong to someone else with the same or a similar name; without it, those matters can end up listed as exceptions. The slip on who holds the deposit while escrow runs walks through the rest of that calendar.
What does "preliminary" mean here?
It means the report is an offer, not a verdict. California's Insurance Code, as summarized in the Department of Real Estate's reference book, defines a preliminary report as an offer to issue a title policy subject to the exceptions it sets out. It is not an abstract of title, and it is not a representation as to the condition of title. The association's guide draws the practical consequence: no contract and no liability exist until the policy issues, and the policy protects the person named in it and nobody else.
That is also why a report can leave things out. It reports current ownership and the matters the company will exclude from coverage, and a printed list of standard exceptions and exclusions may be attached, including government rules on building and zoning. If a report is already on the kitchen table, our earlier slip shows how to read the exceptions line by line, easements first.
Can you get a title report without buying the house?
Not the same document, because a preliminary report exists to set the terms of a policy that someone is about to buy. Title companies do sell narrower products outside a sale. The reference book calls them guarantees: written assurances, not insurance, with coverage usually limited to a particular condition of title, a certain period of time and a certain kind of information. Whether a given company will issue one on a house you do not own, and at what charge, is a question for that company. The other route costs mostly time. The deeds, deeds of trust, liens and easements a title search reads were recorded at the county, and in Los Angeles County the county will sell you a copy.
The recorder's counter in Norwalk
The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk says it without hedging: any member of the public can search and request real estate records, and deeds are public record in California. Three facts shape the search. The records are filed by grantor name, grantee name and year of recording, so there is no search by street address. They are not online, a choice the office ties to a Government Code ban on posting officials' home addresses on the internet without their written permission. And copies are sold whole, never page by page. The index is read in person, by appointment, at the headquarters at 12400 Imperial Highway in Norwalk, and copies can also be ordered online, by fax or by mail.
| Service at the county recorder | Fee |
|---|---|
| Certified copy, first page | $6 |
| Certified copy, each additional page | $3 |
| Plain copy, first page | $5 |
| Plain copy, each additional page | $3 |
| Search fee, per name and per year | $0.50, $1 minimum |
A search by name and year means starting from a name. Work back from the current owner, deed by deed, and the chain of grantees and grantors becomes a rough, uninsured sketch of what the title plant already holds. Building permits live in another file: the recorder sends those requests to the Department of Building and Safety, and the zoning and overlays sit on the city's ZIMAS parcel report.
Five papers, five jobs
| Paper | Who issues it | What it settles |
|---|---|---|
| Preliminary report | Title company, after escrow opens | Terms on which a policy will issue |
| Owner's policy | Title insurer, at closing | Covered claims against the buyer's title |
| Lender's policy | Title insurer, at closing | Priority of the lender's lien |
| Copy of a recorded deed | County recorder, on request | What was recorded, uninsured |
| ZIMAS parcel report | LA City Planning, online | Zoning and overlays, not ownership |
What does title insurance cost, and who pays?
No California law requires a buyer to purchase title insurance, but virtually all lenders require it for the face amount of their deed of trust, according to the association's guide to closing costs. The same guide says the premium may amount to less than one percent of the purchase price and less than ten percent of total closing costs, paid once at the close of the transaction, with no continuing premiums. Who pays is not uniform in California. It varies from county to county, and in every case it is a matter of agreement between buyer and seller, usually following the customary practice of the county where the property sits. When a sale closes with no title insurance at all, escrow has the buyer sign a printed notice saying that a policy may be advisable.
Owner's policy, lender's policy
Title companies routinely issue two policies. The owner's policy insures the buyer for as long as the buyer and the buyer's heirs own the house. The lender's policy insures the priority of the lender's mortgage over claims that others may have in the property. A standard policy covers the recorded risks plus some that never reach the record, such as forgery, impersonation or a party's lack of capacity, and it pays to defend a covered claim. It does not cover easements or liens missing from the public record, the unrecorded rights of people in possession, what a correct survey would show, or zoning. Extended coverage, built on policy forms of the American Land Title Association, reaches further at added premium.
Where the record stops
A title report answers who owns, and subject to what. It does not inspect the house, the retaining wall or the slope behind the garage, and the standard policy leaves out what a survey or a walk around the lot would reveal. The county's copies show what was recorded and nothing more: no examiner has read them for you, and no insurer stands behind your reading. The association also reminds consumers that title and escrow officers are not legal counsel and cannot give legal advice.
Three questions from the counter
Can I order a preliminary title report on a house I am not buying?
A preliminary report is an offer to insure a particular transaction, so it is normally ordered once escrow is open. Outside a sale, ask a title company what it will issue, such as a guarantee of limited scope, or pull the recorded documents yourself from the county recorder.
Can I look up a Los Angeles County deed online?
No. The Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk does not offer online access to its real estate records or indexes. Copies can be requested online, by fax or by mail, and the index itself is searched in person in Norwalk, by name and year of recording.
Does the preliminary report list everything wrong with the title?
No. The California Land Title Association says it is not a written representation as to the condition of title and may not list every lien, defect or encumbrance. It lists the matters the company will exclude from coverage if it issues a policy.