Purdy purchased real property from Hart and received a warranty deed with full covenants. Recordation of this deed is
A. Not necessary if the deed provides that recordation is not required.
B. Irrelevant if the subsequent party claiming superior title had actual notice of the unrecorded deed.
C. Required primarily for the purpose of providing the local taxing authorities with the information necessary to assess taxes.
D. Necessary to vest the purchaser’s legal title to the property conveyed.
Answer:B
B is corrent because recordation of a deed gives constructive notice “to the world” that title to the property has been conveyed.  Therefore, the primary purpose of recording is to protect the grantee against subsequent purchasers by putting subsequent purchasers “on notice.”  If the subsequent party claiming superior title had actual notice of the unrecorded deed, then the recordation objective would have been met and recordation of the deed would be irrelevant with regard to this particular party.  An unrecorded deed is binding upon all persons having actual notice of its existence.
A is incorrect because recording of a deed is necessary to protect the grantee against subsequent purchasers even though the deed provides that recordation is not required.
C is incorrect because the primary purpose of recording a deed is to protect grantee against subsequent purchasers, not to provide local taxing authorities with information necessary to assess taxes.
D is incorrect because recordation is not essential to the validity of the deed, as between the grantor (Hart) and grantee (Purdy). A deed is effective when delivered and vests the purchaser’s legal title to the property conveyed without recording.