Real Estate: Difference Between Grants And Deeds In California?

A Grant Deed is a deed where the Grantor (seller) garantees that Grantee (buyer) that the grantor has not transferred the title to anybody else first. So, if the new owner later discovers that two weeks before the grantor provided the grant deed, the grantor actually sold the title to a third party, the new owner can sue the grantor under this title guarantee to recover the value of the property.

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In California, warranty deeds are called grant deeds. There is only one type of grant deed, but it combines the general warranty deed and the special warranty deed by using a blank space where the term of the warranty would have appeared. The parties fill in the space with the specific term agreed upon. In theory, any date range could be written in, although usually it's either the period covered by a standard general or special warranty deed.

A seller of real estate is the "Grantor" and the buyers are the "Grantees", both of which appear on a deed. The other types of grants are provided by statutes and involve things like taking someone's property for unpaid taxes ("collector's deed") and auctioning it ("sheriff's deed"). A gift grant sounds like a deed in which the parties avoid various transfer taxes by qualifying under a gift exemption.

Add: I think what Glen is talking about is a "warranty deed", which includes a representation that the grantor actually has title and will take any steps necessary to secure the title for the grantee, if a defect is found, or be liable for return of the entire purchase amount.