Title CIV — California Civ. Code

Instruments entitled to be recorded must be recorded by the County Recorder of the county in which the real property affected thereby is situated. (Enacted 1872.) Section Eleven Hundred and Seventy. An instrument is deemed to be recorded when, being duly acknowledged or proved an…

Grants, absolute in terms, are to be recorded in one set of books, and mortgages in another. (Enacted 1872.)

The duties of county recorders, in respect to recording instruments, are prescribed by the Government Code.

The mode of recording transfers of ships registered under the laws of the United States is regulated by Acts of Congress. (Enacted 1872.)

The proof or acknowledgment of an instrument may be made at any place within this state before a justice, retired justice, or Clerk/Executive Officer of the Supreme Court, a justice, retired justice, or clerk of any court of appeal or judge or retired judge of a superior court, o…

The proof or acknowledgment of an instrument may be made before a notary public at any place within this state, or within the county or city and county in this state in which the officer specified below was elected or appointed, before either: (a) A clerk of a superior court. (b)…

(a) Section 1181 shall not be construed to authorize any person, other than a notary public authorized by the Secretary of State to perform online notarizations pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 8231) of Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code, to t…

The proof or acknowledgment of an instrument may be taken without this state, but within the United States, and within the jurisdiction of the officer, by any of the following: (a) A justice, judge, or clerk of any court of record of the United States. (b) A justice, judge, or cl…

(a) The proof or acknowledgment of an instrument may be taken without the United States, by any of the following: (1) A minister, commissioner, or chargè d’affaires of the United States, resident and accredited in the country where the proof or acknowledgment is made. (2) A consu…

Any officer on active duty or performing inactive-duty training in the armed forces having the general powers of a notary public pursuant to Section 936 or 1044a of Title 10 of the United States Code (Public Law 90-632 and 101-510) and any successor statutes may perform all notar…

When any of the officers mentioned in Sections 1180, 1181, 1182, and 1183 are authorized by a law to appoint a deputy, the acknowledgment or proof may be taken by such deputy, in the name of his principal.

(a) The acknowledgment of an instrument shall not be taken unless the officer taking it has satisfactory evidence that the person making the acknowledgment is the individual who is described in and who executed the instrument. (b) For purposes of this section, “satisfactory evide…

An officer taking the acknowledgment of an instrument shall endorse thereon or attach thereto a certificate pursuant to Section 1189.

(a) (1) Any certificate of acknowledgment taken within this state shall include a notice at the top of the certificate of acknowledgment in an enclosed box stating: “A notary public or other officer completing this certificate verifies only the identity of the individual who sign…

The certificate of acknowledgment of an instrument executed on behalf of an incorporated or unincorporated entity by a duly authorized person in the form specified in Section 1189 shall be prima facie evidence that the instrument is the duly authorized act of the entity named in …

Officers taking and certifying acknowledgments or proof of instruments for record, must authenticate their certificates by affixing thereto their signatures, followed by the names of their offices; also, their seals of office, if by the laws of the State or country where the ackn…

(a) Proof of the execution of an instrument, when not acknowledged, may be made by any of the following: (1) By the party executing it, or either of them. (2) By a subscribing witness. (3) By other witnesses, in cases mentioned in Section 1198. (b) (1) Proof of the execution of a…

A witness shall be proved to be a subscribing witness by the oath of a credible witness who provides the officer with any document satisfying the requirements of paragraph (3) or (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 1185.

The subscribing witness must prove that the person whose name is subscribed to the instrument as a party is the person described in it, and that such person executed it, and that the witness subcribed his name thereto as a witness. (Enacted 1872.)

The execution of an instrument may be established by proof of the handwriting of the party and of a subscribing witness, if there is one, in the following cases:

An officer taking proof of the execution of any instrument must, in his certificate indorsed thereon or attached thereto, set forth all the matters required by law to be done or known by him, or proved before him on the proceeding, together with the names of all the witnesses exa…

Officers authorized to take the proof of instruments are authorized in such proceedings:

When the acknowledgment or proof of the execution of an instrument is properly made, but defectively certified, any party interested may have an action in the superior court to obtain a judgment correcting the certificate.

Any person interested under an instrument entitled to be proved for record, may institute an action in the superior court against the proper parties to obtain a judgment proving such instrument.

A certified copy of the judgment in a proceeding instituted under either of the two preceding sections, showing the proof of the instrument, and attached thereto, entitles such instrument to record, with like effect as if acknowledged. (Enacted 1872.)

The legality of the execution, acknowledgment, proof, form, or record of any conveyance or other instrument made before this Code goes into effect, executed, acknowledged, proved, or recorded is not affected by anything contained in this Chapter, but depends for its validity and …

All conveyances of real property made before this Code goes into effect, and acknowledged or proved according to the laws in force at the time of such making and acknowledgment or proof, have the same force as evidence, and may be recorded in the same manner and with the like eff…

Any instrument affecting the title to real property, 90 days after the same has been copied into the proper book of record, kept in the office of any county recorder, imparts notice of its contents to subsequent purchasers and encumbrancers, notwithstanding any defect, omission, …

Every conveyance of real property or an estate for years therein acknowledged or proved and certified and recorded as prescribed by law from the time it is filed with the recorder for record is constructive notice of the contents thereof to subsequent purchasers and mortgagees; a…

Every conveyance of real property or an estate for years therein, other than a lease for a term not exceeding one year, is void as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee of the same property, or any part thereof, in good faith and for a valuable consideration, whose convey…

The term “conveyance,” as used in Sections 1213 and 1214, embraces every instrument in writing by which any estate or interest in real property is created, aliened, mortgaged, or incumbered, or by which the title to any real property may be affected, except wills. (Enacted 1872.)…

No power contained in an instrument to convey or execute instruments affecting real property which has been recorded is revoked by any act of the party by whom it was executed, unless the instrument containing such revocation is also acknowledged or proved, certified and recorded…

An unrecorded instrument is valid as between the parties thereto and those who have notice thereof. (Enacted 1872.)

A certified copy of an instrument affecting the title to real property, once recorded, or a certified copy of the record of such instrument may be recorded in any other county, and, when so recorded, the record thereof has the same force and effect as though it was of the origina…

Oil and gas leases may be acknowledged or proved, certified and recorded in like manner and with like effect, as grants of real property. However, an oil and gas lease may be recorded and constructive notice of the same and the contents of that lease given in the following manner…

Contracts for the purchase or sale of standing timber or trees, for severance or otherwise, and all instruments in writing by which any estate or interest in, or right to cut, standing timber or trees is created, aliened, mortgaged or encumbered or by which the title to any stand…

The Legislature hereby finds and declares that: (a) It is necessary and essential that the state provide and promote alternative means of supplying affordable housing to the citizens of the state. (b) High interest rates have caused payment schedules for new long-term, fixed-rate…

For purposes of this chapter: (a) “Adjusted fair market value” means all of the following: (1) The net sale price, in the case of a bona fide sale made in good faith prior to the maturity date of the shared appreciation loan, but excluding any sale upon a foreclosure or trustee’s…

Lenders may make shared appreciation loans pursuant to this chapter for the purchase of real property improved with one- to four-family dwelling units, including structures ancillary to such dwelling units and including attached single-family dwelling units, single-family mobileh…

A shared appreciation loan shall include the following terms and conditions: (a) The term of the loan, excluding refinancing under Section 1917.033, shall be at least seven years, but not more than 30 years. (b) The repayment schedule for the loan, excluding refinancing under Sec…

(a) The borrower shall have the right to prepay, at any time, in full or in part, the principal loan balance of the shared appreciation loan, together with accrued interest, including deferred contingent interest. (b) Nothing in this chapter shall prevent a borrower from obligati…

(a) If the shared appreciation loan is not prepaid in full or the real property securing the loan is not sold or transferred prior to maturity of the loan, the lender shall offer to the original borrower refinancing of the unpaid balance of the loan and all contingent deferred in…

Nothing in this chapter shall preclude the borrower from obtaining any other financing, in lieu of the refinancing provided for in Section 1917.033, including refinancing on other terms that are mutually agreeable to the borrower and lender.

The fair market value of the real property securing a shared appreciation loan shall be determined annually as provided in this article. The lender shall select an independent appraiser annually to perform an appraisal of the property subject to a shared appreciation loan. The ap…

If the borrower disputes the amount of the appraisal, the borrower, within 30 days of the anniversary date of the loan, may procure an appraisal of the property at the borrower’s expense by a qualified independent appraiser, and a copy of the appraisal shall be sent by first-clas…

If the appraisal by the appraiser selected by the borrower is lower in amount than the appraisal by the appraiser selected by the lender, the amount to be used to calculate the annual adjustment shall be one-half of the sum of the two appraisals.

The appraisal amount, as determined pursuant to Section 1917.040 if the borrower does not dispute the appraisal amount, or 1917.042 if the borrower disputes the appraisal amount, shall constitute the value of the property from and after the anniversary date of the loan for the pu…

The qualifications of the appraisers may be specified by the terms of the shared appreciation loan for purposes of this article and Article 5 (commencing with Section 1917.050).

The borrower may have the cost of capital improvements to the security property completed within any 12-month period, and with an appraised value in excess of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), added to the borrower’s cost of the property, for purposes of determining the…

The relationship of the borrower and the lender, as to a shared appreciation loan, is that of debtor and creditor and shall not be, or be construed to be, a joint venture, equity venture, partnership, or other relationship.