District Of Columbia Quitclaim Deed

A District of Columbia quitclaim deed signed by one individual grantor transfers whatever right, title, and interest that grantor holds, and nothing more. This form prepares that deed for a single owner conveying District of Columbia real property: one grantor, one signature line with the traditional seal scroll, and one acknowledgment certificate, ready for the Recorder of Deeds.

A deed defined by the words it leaves out

The District has no statutory quitclaim form; the instrument works through the negative space of the covenant statutes. Under D.C. Code sections 42-604 through 42-608, a warranty exists in a District deed only when express statutory words create it, so a deed that remises, releases, and quitclaims the grantor's interest, and includes none of those phrases, conveys without warranty. Section 42-702 still passes the grantor's whole present estate unless the deed limits it. The form states this posture on its face: the conveyance carries no covenant of title, express or implied, and passes exactly what the grantor owns at delivery.

One grantor, one seal, one certificate

The form recites a single individual grantor holding title in that grantor's own name. District law asks for a deed signed and sealed (section 42-306(b)), and the signature line carries the printed seal scroll in the style of the section 42-601 statutory forms. Because the District abolished dower and curtesy in 2001 and has no spousal joinder statute for lifetime conveyances, a married grantor conveying solely titled property signs alone; a spouse who is not on title has no signature line on this form. Property held by two owners, including tenants by the entirety, presents a two-grantor pattern that a different configuration recites. Acknowledgment before a notary is the gate to the record under section 42-407(1), and the certificate accommodates an acknowledgment taken in the District or in any state, since the District gives effect to other jurisdictions' notarial acts.

One recording office and the FP-7/C

Every District deed records at a single office, the Recorder of Deeds within the Office of Tax and Revenue; there are no counties and no county-by-county variations. The deed travels with the Real Property Recordation and Transfer Tax Form (FP-7/C), signed under oath by the parties, and the recordation and transfer taxes are collected on it at recording: a combined 2.2 percent of consideration under $400,000, or 2.9 percent at or above that line. On a quitclaim with nominal consideration the taxes fall on fair market value instead, unless an exemption applies; no-consideration transfers between spouses, domestic partners, parents and children, and grandparents and grandchildren carry statutory exemptions, while a gift outside those relationships is taxed on value. District law also expects the deed on record within 30 days of signing, on pain of a $250 penalty, and the Recorder will not accept a deed while District taxes are owing on the property. The guide walks through each of these intake rules in plain language.

Built for the District's land records

The legal description section follows the District's square, suffix, and lot system, with a dedicated blank for each element and room for the full Office of the Surveyor description, the details the Recorder requires and section 47-1431(a) makes part of the recorded copy. The completed example shows an entire transfer worked through on a realistic Washington fact pattern, from the named parties and the Square 2837 description to the notary block and the return address, so each blank on the form has a filled-in counterpart to compare against.

The purchase delivers the blank deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing the form filled in for a realistic District of Columbia transfer, and a plain-language guide that explains each section, the signing formalities, and recording at the Recorder of Deeds. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.