Real estate title glossary
What is grantee?
Definition
The grantee is the person or entity that receives an interest in real property: the buyer on a deed, or the lender on a mortgage.
Title passes to the grantee named in the deed. A misspelled or incomplete grantee name does not usually void a deed, but it can make the next owner hard to find in the index and is a common source of title questions.
How it shows up in a title search
A search runs each owner's name as grantee to find how they took title, and follows the chain backward from grantee to grantor through each earlier deed.
Guides that go deeper
- Chain of Title: What It Is, an Example, and How It Differs From an Abstract of TitleA chain of title is the ordered record of every transfer of a property. A worked example, how gaps appear, and how it differs from an abstract of title.
- Deed vs Title: What Each One Is and How They Work TogetherA deed is the document that transfers ownership. Title is the ownership itself. How the two differ, what legal and equitable title mean, and where to find each.
- How to Find the Deed to Your House and Get a CopyWhere the deed to your house is recorded, how to search for it by name or parcel when you only have an address, and what plain and certified copies cost.
Related terms
GrantorConsiderationFee simpleMarketable record title actAbstract of titleTorrens titleGrantor-grantee indexInstrument numberAll terms
Source: Legal Information Institute, Wex: grantee. Plain-English summary of general US usage; state law varies, and this is not legal advice.