Title insurance is the only insurance most people buy once, never think about again, and may need decades later. It is also the most misunderstood line on a settlement statement, because buyers reasonably assume that a search which found nothing means there is nothing to insure. This guide answers the questions I actually get asked, in the order they usually come up, for buyers and owners across Virginia and West Virginia.
Written by Anthony I. Shin, Esq., Principal and real estate attorney at Prime Title & Escrow
- A title search looks backward at the public record. Title insurance covers what the record could not reveal, which is a different and larger category than most buyers expect.
- The lender’s policy protects the lender’s loan, not your equity. Owner’s coverage is a separate purchase, made at closing, and generally not available afterward.
- Schedule B of your policy lists the exceptions, meaning everything found, disclosed, and expressly not insured. It decides most claim outcomes and almost nobody reads it.
- An owner’s policy is paid once, does not renew, and generally continues for as long as you hold an interest in the property.
- In most owner’s policies the insurer’s duty to defend your title is worth more than any payout, because legal fees on a contested claim routinely exceed the premium many times over.
What is title insurance and what does it actually protect?
Title insurance protects your ownership of real estate against defects that already existed when you bought it. Unlike homeowner’s insurance, which looks forward and covers events that happen after the policy is issued, a title policy looks backward and covers problems in the chain of title, the recorded liens, and the rights of others that were already in place on the day you took title.
That backward-looking design is the single most important thing to understand about it, and it explains almost everything else. Your hazard policy covers a fire next winter. Your title policy covers a forged deed signed in 1994, an heir nobody knew about, a clerk who indexed a judgment under the wrong name, or a prior owner’s spouse whose signature was legally required and missing. Those events already happened. What has not happened yet is somebody discovering them and asserting a claim against your home.
The insured estate is your ownership interest, which is why the policy amount is normally the purchase price. If a covered defect reduces or destroys that interest, the policy responds up to that amount. If a covered claim is asserted against your title, the policy generally obligates the insurer to defend it. Both halves matter, and the second one is the half people underestimate.
Why does a title search not make the policy unnecessary?
Because a search reads the public record, and a significant share of title defects are invisible in the public record. A forged signature looks exactly like a genuine one on a recorded deed. An unknown heir leaves no trace. A recording or indexing error at the courthouse is by definition something the index will not surface. The search eliminates the discoverable risks. The policy covers the rest.
A thorough title search is still the foundation, and it removes most of the exposure. We trace the chain of title back to a solid root, pull every deed of trust and lien recorded against the parcel, search the judgment docket against each owner’s name, and collect the easements, covenants, and reservations binding the land. That work resolves the overwhelming majority of problems before closing.
What it cannot resolve is a defect that was never recorded or was recorded in a way no examiner would find. Capacity is another example: a deed signed by someone who lacked the mental capacity to understand it appears entirely normal in the record and can be challenged years later. So can a deed signed under a power of attorney that had already been revoked. Those are the residual risks, and the premium is the price of transferring them to an underwriter.
Search and insure are complementary, not alternatives
The examination reduces risk. The policy absorbs what the examination cannot reach. A firm that does the search carefully and a policy that covers the remainder are two halves of the same protection, and skipping either one leaves you holding risk you did not price.
What is the difference between an owner’s policy and a lender’s policy?
A lender’s policy insures the lender’s security interest in the loan and reduces as the loan is paid down. An owner’s policy insures your ownership and your equity. If you take a mortgage, a lender’s policy is issued regardless of what you do. Owner’s coverage is a separate policy, a separate premium, and a separate decision you make at closing.
The consequence is the one buyers find most surprising when it is explained plainly. Suppose a defect surfaces that defeats your ownership. The lender’s policy makes the lender whole on the loan balance. Nothing in that transaction returns your down payment, your principal payments, or your appreciation. Those were your equity, the lender’s policy never insured them, and without an owner’s policy nothing does.
The comparison people are never shown before they are asked to decline the second column.
This is why whether you need an owner’s policy is the most consequential single decision a buyer makes about title, and it is asked at the end of a long day when everyone is tired. It cannot generally be bought later.
How much does title insurance cost in Virginia and West Virginia?
Premiums are based on the amount of coverage and are set through rate filings made by the underwriters with each state’s insurance regulator, rather than by a single statewide schedule you can look up. That is why an honest answer to this question is a quote for your specific transaction rather than a number on a web page.
Two things about the structure are worth knowing regardless. First, it is a one-time premium paid at closing, not an annual cost. Compared over the life of ownership against any recurring insurance, the arithmetic looks very different from what the number at the table suggests. Second, buying owner’s and lender’s coverage together at the same closing is generally more economical than the two would be separately, which is one reason declining owner’s coverage saves less than buyers assume.
The premium is also distinct from the other charges on your statement. The title search, the examination, the settlement fee, and the recording costs are services and government charges rather than insurance, and they are itemized separately. Our breakdown of the whole picture is in Virginia title and settlement fees, and the recording taxes specifically are in Virginia recordation tax.
Be careful with online estimates
Calculators frequently mix insurance premiums, settlement services, and transfer taxes into a single figure, and many are built for one state’s rules. West Virginia uses a state and county excise tax rather than Virginia’s grantor’s tax, so a Virginia calculator produces the wrong answer for a West Virginia purchase in a way that is hard to spot. The comparison is in closing costs in West Virginia.
Can you pay less if the property was insured before?
Often yes. A reissue rate is a reduced premium available when the property was insured under a prior policy within a defined period, on the reasoning that part of the chain has already been examined and insured. It is not automatic. It generally has to be requested and supported, usually by producing the prior policy.
The two situations where it comes up most are a refinance, where you are insuring a new loan on property you already own, and a purchase from a seller who bought relatively recently and kept their policy. In both cases the saving can be meaningful and it is entirely lost if nobody asks.
So keep your policy. It is one of the documents worth filing carefully, as covered in which closing documents to keep, and producing it years later can reduce what you pay on your next transaction. The mechanics of the credit are in the reissue rate.
What is Schedule B and why does it decide every claim?
Schedule B is the list of exceptions: the specific matters your policy does not cover because the search found them and disclosed them to you before closing. Easements, recorded covenants and restrictions, mineral reservations, and similar recorded rights typically appear there. When a claim is denied, Schedule B is usually the reason.
The logic is consistent even when the outcome feels harsh. Title insurance covers what could not be discovered. Something the search did discover and told you about was never an unknown risk, so it was never insured. You were given the information and you closed anyway, which is your right, and the exception records that.
Which is why the exceptions page is the part of the closing package most worth reading at the moment you can still ask about it. If an easement crosses the ground where you intend to build, that is a question with a very different answer on the day of closing than three years later with a foundation poured. Restrictions specifically are covered in restrictive covenants, and easements in easements in Virginia.
Ask us to walk you through Schedule B
Nobody minds the question and it takes a few minutes. The exceptions are the complete list of what you are taking the property subject to, and reading them with someone who can explain what each one does is more useful than reading them alone later.
What specific defects does an owner’s policy cover?
The categories vary by policy form, but an owner’s policy typically covers loss from someone else owning an interest in your title, defects or errors in the chain, unmarketability of title, and lack of a right of access, together with the cost of defending against a covered claim.
In practice the recurring examples look like this. A forged or fraudulent deed somewhere in the chain. An heir who was never accounted for when an estate passed the property, which is the situation that produces heirs property. A prior owner who was married, whose spouse had rights that were never released. A deed executed by someone without legal capacity or under a power of attorney that had been revoked. An error in the courthouse index that hid a lien from a competent examiner. A defective legal description or a survey conflict where survey coverage applies.
Access is worth calling out separately because it is easy to underestimate. A parcel with no legal right of access to a public road is worth a fraction of the same parcel with one, and that scenario is more common on rural land than buyers expect. It is covered in landlocked property and legal access.
Extended coverage is available for matters an accurate survey would disclose, which is a meaningful upgrade on land where boundaries are uncertain. Whether you need a survey at all is discussed in whether you need a survey.
What is not covered, and why?
Standard exclusions commonly include zoning and government regulation, matters created or agreed to by the insured owner, matters known to the owner and not disclosed to the insurer, defects arising after the policy date, and eminent domain. Each exists because the risk is either not a title risk or is one the owner controls.
Zoning is the clearest illustration and the most frequent source of disappointment. A title policy insures ownership, not permitted use. If the locality will not let you operate a business, build an addition, or rent short term, that is a regulatory question and no title policy addresses it. Short-term rental restrictions in particular sit across three separate layers, discussed in short-term rental restrictions.
Physical condition is the other. Title insurance is not a home warranty and does not cover a roof, a furnace, or a foundation, no matter how expensive the repair. The distinction is set out in home warranty versus title insurance. Similarly, work done without permits is a code and insurance issue rather than a title defect, as explained in selling a home with unpermitted work.
Defects arising after the policy date are excluded for the same reason a hazard policy does not cover a fire that happened before it was written. If you grant an easement in year six, that is your act, not a pre-existing defect.
What are endorsements and which ones matter?
Endorsements are additions to a standard policy that extend coverage to specific risks. Which ones are appropriate depends on the property type and on what the search and survey turned up, which is why they are discussed rather than applied by default.
On residential purchases the ones that come up most often address survey matters, access, restrictions and encroachments, and, on units, the condominium or planned unit development regime. On a condominium the declaration, the percentage interest, and the association’s assessment authority all interact with your title, which is why buying a condo or home in an association is a distinct conversation.
On commercial files the list expands considerably, and coverage becomes a negotiated part of the transaction rather than a standard package. That is covered in commercial title insurance. The general principle holds in both settings: an endorsement should respond to something identified in the file, not be added because it exists.
Do you need a new policy when you refinance?
Your existing owner’s policy continues and is not replaced. What your new lender requires is a new lender’s policy, because the old one insured a loan that is being paid off. That is a cost of refinancing and it is usually where the reissue rate becomes relevant.
The search is run again as well, and this surprises owners who assume nothing can have changed. Judgments can be docketed against you, liens can attach, and a prior payoff may never have been released. That last item is common enough to have its own article: the missing lien release. The refinance sequence generally is in what happens at a refinance closing.
Priority is the other reason the work is repeated. Your new lender expects the same first position the old lender had, and anything recorded in between has to be dealt with to restore it. Where a subordinate line of credit exists, that is its own negotiation, described in subordinating a home equity line.
Do cash buyers need title insurance?
Cash buyers arguably need it more than financed buyers, because there is no lender requiring a search and no lender’s policy standing behind any part of the transaction. Every risk in the record and beyond it is absorbed by the buyer alone.
The reasoning that leads people the other way is understandable and wrong. Without a lender, nobody insists on the search, nobody insists on the policy, and the closing can feel simpler. But the underlying risks are identical. A forged deed does not care how the purchase was funded, and an unknown heir does not check whether there was a mortgage.
The exposure is also larger in the way that matters. A financed buyer who loses title has a lender absorbing part of the loss on the loan. A cash buyer has put the entire purchase price into the property with nothing standing behind it. The full argument is in buying with cash and title insurance.
How does a title insurance claim work?
You notify the insurer promptly, in the manner the policy requires, and you do not respond to the person asserting the claim or sign anything they send. The insurer investigates, determines whether the matter falls within coverage and outside the exceptions, and then clears the defect, defends you, negotiates, or pays the loss up to the policy amount.
Which of those routes the insurer takes is generally its decision rather than yours. The policy insures against loss from covered defects; it is not a commitment to pursue whatever outcome the owner would prefer. That distinction rarely matters until it does.
Prompt notice matters more than people realize. Policies generally require notice within a reasonable time and can limit coverage where late notice prejudices the insurer’s ability to respond. If you cannot find your policy, the settlement agent who closed your purchase can usually identify the underwriter and the file. The full process is in how a title insurance claim works.
How long does coverage last, and does it transfer?
An owner’s policy is paid once at closing, has no renewal and no recurring premium, and generally continues for as long as you hold an interest in the property. It does not transfer to your buyer when you sell, because their coverage insures their purchase, but it can continue to protect you afterward with respect to warranties you gave.
That last point is the reason not to discard the policy when you sell. If you conveyed by a deed containing warranties and a defect from your ownership period surfaces later, your buyer may look to you, and the policy that covered you may still respond. Keeping it costs nothing.
Coverage can also extend to certain successors in defined circumstances, including some transfers to heirs or to a trust the owner created. Whether it reaches a particular transfer depends on the policy language, which is a reason to ask before restructuring ownership. Transfers within a family are covered in transferring property to a family member.
Who chooses the title company, and does it change the price?
In Virginia the buyer generally selects the settlement company. The premium is filed by the underwriter, so the insurance itself is not where firms compete. What differs is the quality of the examination, the care taken in clearing what it finds, and whether anyone explains the exceptions to you.
That is worth taking seriously precisely because the price of the insurance is not the variable. Two firms can issue the same policy from the same underwriter at the same premium, and one of them found the problem in March while the other found it three days before settlement. The difference does not show up on a rate sheet.
Independence matters for the same reason. A settlement company affiliated with a lender, a brokerage, or a builder has a relationship to consider when something inconvenient turns up. We do not. The choice and the rules behind it are covered in who chooses the title company.
How do Virginia and West Virginia differ?
The insurance operates on the same principles in both states. What differs is the surrounding machinery: where deeds are recorded, what transfer taxes apply, and which office you deal with.
Recording and tax differ. The policy itself does not.
For anyone buying across the line, particularly in the Eastern Panhandle where a great many buyers commute into Northern Virginia, the practical advice is to stop translating between the two. Ask what the charge is in that county rather than what the equivalent would be at home. The Virginia recording process is in recording a deed in Virginia and the West Virginia process in recording a deed in West Virginia.
Questions about your policy or your coverage?
Send us the property and your situation and we will explain what is covered, what appears as an exception, and what it costs. Independent, attorney-led title and escrow across Virginia and West Virginia.
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Questions Virginia buyers ask me about title insurance
Is title insurance required in Virginia?
A lender’s policy is required by essentially every lender as a condition of the loan. An owner’s policy is not required by anyone. It is optional, it is your decision at closing, and it is generally not available afterward.
What is the difference between a title search and title insurance?
The search investigates the public record and finds what is discoverable. The insurance covers what the record could not reveal, such as forgery, unknown heirs, capacity problems, and indexing errors. One is investigation, the other is protection.
Why is my premium different from a friend’s?
Premiums are based on the amount of coverage, and rates are set through underwriter filings with each state’s regulator. Differences in purchase price, in whether a reissue rate applies, and in which endorsements were added all move the figure.
Can I buy an owner’s policy after closing?
Generally no. It is purchased at closing, which is why the decision matters at that moment. Declining it to save money at the table is the most consequential shortcut available to a buyer.
Does title insurance cover boundary disputes?
It depends on the policy and whether survey coverage was obtained. Standard policies often except matters an accurate survey would disclose, and extended coverage addresses some of them. On land with uncertain boundaries the survey and the endorsement are worth discussing together.
Does it cover zoning problems or unpermitted work?
No. Zoning and government regulation are standard exclusions, and unpermitted work is a code and insurance question rather than a title defect. Neither affects your ownership, which is what the policy insures.
What happens to my policy if I put the house in a trust?
Coverage may extend to certain successors depending on the policy language, and some transfers to a trust the owner created are addressed. Ask before restructuring ownership rather than afterward.
If the title company found nothing, why am I paying for insurance?
Because the search found nothing discoverable, which is different from nothing existing. Forged signatures, unknown heirs, and courthouse indexing errors are invisible to a competent examination, and those are precisely the risks the premium transfers.
Sources
Statutory and regulatory references relevant to this guide are listed below. Where a figure would have required a source I could not verify, I have left it out rather than estimate. Rates, statutes, and regulations change, so confirm current provisions before relying on them.
Code of Virginia, Title 55.1, property and conveyances: law.lis.virginia.gov
Code of Virginia, Title 38.2, insurance, including the regulation of title insurance: law.lis.virginia.gov
Virginia State Corporation Commission, Bureau of Insurance: scc.virginia.gov
West Virginia Offices of the Insurance Commissioner: wvinsurance.gov
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, guidance on title insurance for consumers: consumerfinance.gov
This guide is general information about title insurance in Virginia and West Virginia. It is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Coverage under any policy depends on its specific terms, exceptions, and exclusions, and rates and statutes change. Read your own policy and confirm current provisions with us directly.