Three Common Types of Property Deeds

Property Deeds
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Heidi Scott, a resident of Illinois, practices estate planning, real estate, and tax law as a CPA and attorney in private practice. She has held this role since 2008 and concurrently serves as the owner of Schuyler Brown Land Title. In the latter capacity, Heidi Scott of Illinois prepares real estate deeds and transfer documents.

There are three common types of deeds seen in Illinois: general warranty, quitclaim, and special warranty deeds. These three types of briefly explained below:

General warranty
Also known as a grant deed, general warranty deeds explicitly promise that a seller holds good title to the property. It is the most common types of deed seen in purchase and sale transactions and contains provisions for notary acknowledge, amount of consideration, and the names and addresses of the grantee and grantor.

Quitclaim
These types of deeds grant ownership interest of a property to the grantee. However, unlike general warranty deeds, they do not come with a guarantee that the title being transferred is good. Nor does it guarantee that the property is free of claims or liens from other parties. Non-sale transactions, such as transfers between spouses, most commonly use quitclaim deeds.

Special warranty
A special warranty, or limited warranty, deed only covers title ownership of a property when the seller owned the property. With this type of deed, sellers guarantee that they did not transfer interest of the property during their ownership. But prior ownership is not covered by these deeds.