District Of Columbia Warranty Deed

In the District of Columbia, a deed carries only the title covenants its own words invoke. No warranty is implied from the word grant standing alone; the covenant class of a District deed turns entirely on the express phrase that rides with the granting words. This District of Columbia Warranty Deed for one individual grantor places that phrase, with general warranty, directly in the granting clause and pairs it with the express covenant that the grantor will warrant generally the property hereby conveyed, so the conveyance carries the full covenant D.C. Code section 42-604 attaches to those words: a promise to warrant and defend the property against the claims and demands of all persons whomsoever.

One grantor, one seal, one certificate

The form recites a single individual grantor who holds record title alone. One signature line appears, beside a printed [Seal], because District law has the deed signed and sealed under section 42-306(b) and the printed scroll of the statutory forms satisfies the seal. One acknowledgment certificate follows, worded on the District's statutory short form: This record was acknowledged before me on (date) by (name). No subscribing witnesses appear anywhere in the execution matrix, and no non-owner spouse signs; the District abolished dower and curtesy in 2001, and no statute requires a spouse or domestic partner to join a lifetime conveyance of solely titled property. A sole owner selling a rowhouse, a relative passing solely titled property within the family, and an owner conveying solely titled land into a new vesting all present the single-grantor pattern this deed recites.

A warranty that reaches the whole chain of title

District law draws the line between its two warranty classes with two short phrases. Section 42-605 limits a special warranty to persons claiming by, through, or under the grantor; the general warranty of section 42-604 reaches the claims and demands of all persons whomsoever, whenever the defect arose. The deed's subject-to section is where that broad covenant gets its stated exceptions: recorded easements, covenants running with the land, and any deed of trust listed there ride outside the warranty.

Square, suffix, and lot

District property is described on the square, suffix, and lot system maintained by the Office of the Surveyor, and section 47-1431(a) requires the recorded copy of a deed to include the lot and square number. The form carries dedicated blanks for the square, suffix, lot, and any Assessment and Taxation lot ahead of the full legal description, matching what the Recorder of Deeds requires at intake: printed party names, a return address, and the complete SSL description.

Recording at the District's one land records office

The District has no counties; every deed records with the Recorder of Deeds, within the Office of Tax and Revenue, on paper or through an e-recording provider. A deed never travels alone there. Form FP-7/C, the recordation and transfer tax return, accompanies every deed, executed under oath by the parties. On a taxable sale the two deed taxes total 2.2 percent of the consideration under $400,000 and 2.9 percent at or above that threshold, and where consideration is absent or nominal the taxes fall on fair market value, so a gift deed outside the exempt family relationships is taxed as if the property had sold at market. District law then compels the recording itself: transferees have 30 days after execution to record, a $250 penalty attaches to late recording, and the Recorder does not accept a deed while District taxes, assessments, or charges are owing on the property.

The package contains the general warranty deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing the deed filled in for a Northwest Washington rowhouse sale, and a plain-language guide that walks through every section of the form, the vesting forms District law recognizes for grantees, and the FP-7/C companion filing. The materials describe District of Columbia law in general terms and are informational; they are not legal advice.