Washington · RCW 64.04Washington deeds: warranty, bargain and sale, and quitclaim – and why recording matters

Washington's deed statute gives three short forms, and the words used decide what the seller promises. Every conveyance of real estate, or of an interest in it, and every contract creating an encumbrance, must be by deed (RCW 64.04.010), and every deed must be in writing, signed by the party bound and acknowledged before a person authorized to take acknowledgments (64.04.020). A statutory warranty deed – one that 'conveys and warrants' – is a conveyance in fee simple with covenants that the grantor owned the property and had the right to convey it, that it was free from all encumbrances, and that the grantor warrants quiet possession and will defend the title against all persons who may lawfully claim it (64.04.030). A bargain and sale deed – 'bargains, sells, and conveys' – carries narrower covenants: that the grantor owned the fee simple free from encumbrances done or suffered by the grantor, and quiet enjoyment against the grantor and the grantor's heirs and assigns (64.04.040). A quitclaim deed – 'conveys and quitclaims' – passes all of the grantor's then-existing rights, but not title the grantor acquires later unless words say so (64.04.050). Recording: an acknowledged conveyance may be recorded in the county where the property is, and an unrecorded conveyance is void against a later good-faith purchaser or mortgagee for value from the same seller whose conveyance is recorded first; an instrument counts as recorded the minute it's filed (65.08.070). Which deed a sale uses is usually set by the purchase contract, so the TC's job is to make sure the escrow draft matches it.