Deed of Correction – Who Needs to Sign? (AYU Sept 2025)

FACTS: The Special Commissioner of a delinquent tax sale conveyed real estate to George Hisham instead of to Worse Than Philly LLC. Thirty days later, a deed of correction was recorded stating that:

"This Special Commissioner's deed of correction made this 16th day of December 2024, to correct the Grantee from [George Hisham] to [Worse Than Philly LLC] in the Special Commissioner's Deed, dated and recorded December 4, 2024, among the land records of the Clerk's Office of the City of ---------as Instrument No. ---------."

Additional language described where the court order authorizing the sale was recorded, but no further explanation as to why the change was made. The balance of the deed repeated the information in the original deed and was only signed by the special commissioner.

Q: Is this deed of correction sufficient for us to insure a transaction from Worse Than Philly LLC to a third party?

A: No. George Hisham needs to sign, even if he’s a totally unrelated third party to the transaction. Regardless of the reason, George was the owner of record for 30 days. Without looking at the litigation documents, it’s possible George purchased at foreclosure and assigned his interest to his LLC, so this won’t be a particular problem. But it is just as likely that a clerical error was made in the Special Commissioner’s office, and George was the purchaser on the last deed processed by the office, so he has no interest at all in the transaction.

The issue could have been avoided if the deed of correction had given sufficient detail to show the court order authorizing that the sale did not include George. Perhaps, in that case, we would have accepted the deed of correction without George’s signature.  

This is similar to cases where the wrong entity name is used, which we have discussed in a prior Ask Your Underwriter segment. The Code of Virginia requires entity names to be distinct, “not confusingly similar,” but the reality is that there are companies named “Red Rock, LLC” and “Red Rocks, LLC.” As of August 7, 2025, there is a “Blue Rock, LLC,” but not a “Blue Rocks, LLC.” So, what difference does it make? With Red Rock, regardless of the names signed on the documents and the fact it seems to be an obvious error, the incorrect company needs to quitclaim any interest it would have in any real estate erroneously conveyed to it. With Blue Rock, a deed of correction would work because there’s not a second entity, and we all remember that conveying to an entity that doesn’t exist doesn’t convey any interest. 

Title insurance is a risk elimination business. We spend our days identifying risk and then deciding how to eliminate it, so the consumers don’t have continuing problems with title to their real estate (and we don’t have to deal with claims.)