A lawsuit filed to establish ownership of real estate when ownership is in question. Real estate owners want to ensure that they have a clear title, meaning that there are no liens or levies against the title and no disputes over the property's ownership. These possible problems are known as clouds on the title and can be resolved by an action to quiet title.
Investopedia Says:
A clear title is required to close a real estate transaction and is established by title companies, who do a title search to confirm a property's legal owner and check for claims against the property. Title insurance protects interest in a property against legal defects, since title searches are not infallible.
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| Property law |
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| Part of the common law series |
| Acquisition |
| Estates in land |
| Conveyancing |
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| Future use control |
| Nonpossessory interest |
| Related topics |
| Other common law areas |
An action to quiet title is a lawsuit brought in a court having jurisdiction over land disputes, in order to establish a party's title to real property against anyone and everyone, and thus "quiet" any challenges or claims to the title.
This legal action is "brought to remove a cloud on the title" so that plaintiff and those in privity with him may forever be free of claims against the property.[1] The action to quiet title resembles other forms of "preventive adjudication," such as the declaratory judgment.[2]
This genre of lawsuit is also sometimes called either a try title, trespass to try title, or ejectment action "to recover possession of land wrongfully occupied by a defendant."[3] However, there are slight differences. In an ejectment action, it is typically done to remove a tenant or lessee in an eviction action, or an eviction after a foreclosure.[citation needed] Nonetheless, in some states, all terms are used synonymously.
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It comprises a complaint that the ownership (title) of a parcel of land or other real property is defective in some fashion, typically where title to the property is ambiguous – for example, where it has been conveyed by a quitclaim deed through which the previous owner disclaims all interest, but does not promise that good title is conveyed. Such an action may also be brought to dispel a restraint on alienation or another party's claim of a nonpossessory interest in land, such as an easement by prescription.
Other typical grounds for complaint include:
Unlike acquisition through a deed of sale, a quiet title action will give the party seeking such relief no cause of action against previous owners of the property, unless the plaintiff in the quiet title action acquired its interest through a warranty deed and had to bring the action to settle defects that existed when the warranty deed was delivered.
Quiet title actions do not “clear title” completely. They are actions for the purpose of clearing a particular, known claim, title defect, or perceived defect. Contrast title registration which settles all title issues, both known and unknown. Quiet title actions are always subject to attack and are particularly vulnerable to jurisdictional challenges, both subject matter and personal, even years after final court decree in the action. It usually takes 3–6 months depending on the state where it is done.
A quiet title action is also subject in many geographic jurisdictions, to a Statute of Limitations. This limitations of action is often 10 or 20 years.[citation needed]
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