Iowa general warranty deed
Here is what Iowa actually requires on a general warranty deed. The witness rules, the notary block, the margins, the forms that have to travel with it, and where to record it, plus what the deed does and does not do.
- Recording office
- County Recorder
- Witnesses
- Notary only
- Transfer tax
- $0.80 for each $500 of consideration
- First-page margin
- 3″ top
- Recording fee
- $7 first page
- E-recording
- Approved submitters
What a general warranty deed does in Iowa
A general warranty deed transfers ownership and adds the full set of title covenants: the grantor promises they own the property, have the right to sell it, that it is free of undisclosed encumbrances, and that they will defend the title against any claim, including claims that arose long before they owned it. It is the standard instrument for an arm's-length sale between private parties.
The Iowa law behind this deed
Start with Iowa Code § 558.19 if you want to read the statute's own language. The table below lists the main statutes behind the rules on this page.
| What it governs | Citation |
|---|---|
| General warranty deeds specifically | Iowa Code § 558.19 |
| Conveyances generally | Iowa Code § 558.19 |
| Recording with the County Recorder | Iowa Code §§ 558.41, 558.42 and 331.606B |
| Homestead and spousal consent | Iowa Code § 561.13 |
| Transfer tax | Iowa Code § 428A.1 |
When Iowa property owners use a general warranty deed
- Sell a property directly to a buyer without an agent
- Transfer a property where the buyer expects full title protection
- Satisfy a purchase contract that calls for a warranty deed
- Convey property where a title company requires warranty covenants
What Iowa requires on the deed
These are the execution and formatting rules county recorders enforce. Getting any of them wrong is the usual reason a deed comes back in the mail.
| Requirement | What Iowa says |
|---|---|
| Recording office | County Recorder |
| Notarization | Required. Each signer must appear before the notary and acknowledge the signature. Signing in front of the notary is the safest practice. |
| Witnesses | None required. A notarial acknowledgment is enough. |
| Legal description | Required, copied exactly from the prior recorded deed. A street address is not sufficient. |
| Grantee's address | Not required by statute, though Deedly prints it. Page 1 must show every grantee's name, and the taxpayer's name and complete mailing address (Iowa Code § 331.606B(2)). Deedly prints both. |
| Return address | Include a 'when recorded, return to' block so the original comes back to you. Deedly always prints one. |
| Preparer statement | Required. Page 1 must show the name, address, and telephone number of the person who prepared the deed (Iowa Code § 331.606B(2)(a)). Deedly asks for the telephone number and prints it with the name and address. |
| Prior deed reference | Not required, though it keeps the chain of title clean. |
| Page setup | 8.5 × 11 in, 3-inch clear space at the top of page one, 0.75-inch margins elsewhere, nothing under 10pt. This is the profile Deedly applies. |
| Accompanying form | Real Estate Transfer - Declaration of Value (Iowa Department of Revenue form 57-006) for a sale, with a Groundwater Hazard Statement (Iowa DNR Form 542-0960) only if the property has a well, septic system, private burial site, underground storage tank, solid waste disposal site, or hazardous waste. None for a deed that states its exemption on its face, such as a gift (Iowa Code §§ 428A.1(2), 428A.4(1)). |
A spouse may have to sign even if they are not an owner
If you are married, your spouse should sign the deed even if they are not on the title. A homestead conveyance is not valid without the spouse's signature (Iowa Code § 561.13), and for any Iowa real estate the spouse keeps a one-third elective share unless they give it up in writing (Iowa Code § 633.238).
How to complete and record it in Iowa
- Find your current deedYou need the legal description from it, word for word. If you can't find your copy, the County Recorder can provide one, usually for a few dollars.
- Identify everyone by full legal nameNames must match the current deed and government ID exactly, middle names included. A mismatch creates a gap in the chain of title that shows up years later at closing.
- Complete the deedDeedly builds it with the wording, notary certificate, and 3-inch first-page margin used for Iowa deeds.
- Sign in front of a notaryBring photo ID. Wait to sign until you are in front of the notary: you have to appear before the notary anyway, and signing there leaves no question about who signed.
- Complete the Declaration of Value, if this is a saleIf this is a sale, complete the Declaration of Value (and a Groundwater Hazard Statement only if the property has one of the listed conditions). If it is exempt, your deed states the exemption and no form is needed.
- Record it with the County RecorderFile in the county where the property is located and pay the recording fee. All 99 Iowa county recorders accept electronic submission through Iowa Land Records, the counties' statewide system. It is used mainly by abstractors, lenders, title companies and attorneys; if you prepared the deed yourself, record in person or by mail. Keep the stamped receipt. It fixes your priority date.
- Update insurance and tax recordsA change of ownership can affect your homeowner's policy, your homestead or senior exemption, and in some states the assessed value. Do this within a few weeks.
What it costs in Iowa
| Cost | Typical amount |
|---|---|
| Recording fee | $7 for the first page and $5 per additional page |
| Transfer tax | Real estate transfer tax: $0.80 for each $500 of consideration (or fraction of $500) above the first $500, about $1.60 per $1,000 |
| Notary | Iowa sets no maximum notary fee: its notary law has no fee schedule, so a notary may charge a reasonable fee (Iowa Code ch. 9B; Iowa Secretary of State, Notary Handbook). |
| Deedly | $49, one time (launch price, regular $69) |
| Attorney (for comparison) | $150–$700 for the same statutory document |
Iowa charges a real estate transfer tax of $0.80 for each $500 of consideration (or fraction of $500) above the first $500, about $1.60 per $1,000.
Exemptions that commonly apply to a transfer like this: deeds between spouses or between parent and child without actual consideration (Iowa Code § 428A.2(11)), gifts and other deeds for $500 or less, such as a transfer into your own trust for no payment (§§ 428A.1(1)(a)(1), 428A.2(21)), distributions from a trust to its beneficiaries without consideration (§ 428A.2(22)), and deeds between former spouses under a divorce decree (§ 428A.2(16)). You have to claim the exemption. The recorder won't apply it for you.
Where to record it in Iowa
Iowa deeds are recorded with the County Recorder in the county where the property sits, not where you live. There are 99 counties in Iowa.
All 99 Iowa county recorders accept electronic submission through Iowa Land Records, the counties' statewide system. It is used mainly by abstractors, lenders, title companies and attorneys; if you prepared the deed yourself, record in person or by mail.
Recording offices we cover in Iowa: Polk, Linn, Scott, Johnson, Black Hawk, Woodbury, Dubuque, Story. See all Iowa recording offices.
What a general warranty deed does NOT do
Being honest about the limits is more useful than a sales pitch. Every one of these catches somebody out.
- The covenants only bind the grantor personally. If they have no assets, a covenant claim may be worth little.
- It does not replace title insurance or a title search. It gives you a claim after the fact, not clean title today.
- It does not avoid probate and cannot be revoked once delivered and recorded.
- Signing one when you don't actually know the property's history exposes you to real liability. Where that is a concern, a special warranty deed is the safer instrument.
Quirks of Iowa law that catch people out
- If your transfer needs a Declaration of Value (most sales), the deed must either carry Iowa's no-known-hazards statement on its first page or be accompanied by a Groundwater Hazard Statement. Recorders refuse deeds that have neither. Gifts and other transfers exempt from the Declaration of Value need neither.
- A Declaration of Value is required unless the transfer is exempt; exempt deeds must cite the exemption.
- A sale of a home served by a septic system cannot be recorded until the system has had a certified time-of-transfer inspection, or the buyer has filed a binding acknowledgment with the county board of health (Iowa Code § 455B.172(11)).
- Take the deed straight to the County Recorder. The recorder collects the county auditor's $5 transfer fee for each parcel with the recording fee and sends the recorded deed to the auditor for the transfer books.
- Iowa co-owners hold as tenants in common or joint tenants (Iowa Code § 557.15). Dower was replaced by the surviving spouse's elective share, so a married owner's spouse should sign every deed to release homestead and elective-share rights, even for property that is not the homestead.
- Iowa does not recognize transfer-on-death deeds.
How to hold title in Iowa
When two or more people take title in Iowa and the deed says nothing more, the law presumes a tenancy in common, which means no automatic survivorship. If you want the survivor to take the whole property, the words have to be on the deed. Forms of co-ownership available in Iowa: joint tenancy with right of survivorship and tenancy in common.
Married couples
A deed to two grantees identified as married to each other presumes joint tenancy with right of survivorship unless it says otherwise (Iowa Code § 557.15); other co-owners are presumed tenants in common. Deedly states the form of ownership on the deed so nothing is left to presumption.
$49, one time. Your finished deed appears in full before you pay, with Iowa's witness rules, margins, and recording instructions already applied.
Common questions
No. Iowa has no requirement that an attorney prepare a deed. What matters is the correct statutory language, an accurate legal description, proper notarization, and recording with the County Recorder. Deedly produces all of that for $49, versus roughly $150–$700 for an attorney to draft the same document. If ownership is disputed, the current owner has died without probate, or the transfer is tax-sensitive, use an attorney.
Expect $7 for the first page and $5 per additional page. Iowa also charges real estate transfer tax of $0.80 for each $500 of consideration (or fraction of $500) above the first $500, about $1.60 per $1,000, though whether a gift or family transfer is exempt depends on this state's exemptions, listed on this page. Iowa sets the recorder's fees by statute: $5 for each page plus $2 for each document (Iowa Code § 331.604), which is $7 for the first page and $5 for each additional page. The county auditor charges a separate $5 transfer fee for each parcel, up to $50 for one deed (§ 331.507(2)(a)). A two-page deed for one parcel costs $17 in all. A deed that does not meet Iowa's formatting standards costs $10 more (§ 331.606B(7)).
No. Iowa requires only that the grantor's signature be acknowledged before a notary public. Forms that show witness lines are usually generic templates borrowed from another state.
With the County Recorder in the county where the property is located, not where you live, and not where the buyer lives. Iowa has 99 counties. All 99 Iowa county recorders accept electronic submission through Iowa Land Records, the counties' statewide system. It is used mainly by abstractors, lenders, title companies and attorneys; if you prepared the deed yourself, record in person or by mail.
No, and this is the single most common misunderstanding about deeds. A deed changes who owns the property. The mortgage is a separate contract with the lender, and only a refinance or a written release from the lender removes a borrower. Someone can be off the deed and still fully liable on the loan.
Often, yes. If you are married, your spouse should sign the deed even if they are not on the title. A homestead conveyance is not valid without the spouse's signature (Iowa Code § 561.13), and for any Iowa real estate the spouse keeps a one-third elective share unless they give it up in writing (Iowa Code § 633.238). That surprises people, because the spouse is not becoming an owner. They are releasing rights the law gives them automatically. Deedly adds a joinder block for the signature when it applies.
Keep reading
- Iowa quitclaim deedTransfers whatever interest you have in a property, with no promises about the title.
- Iowa special warranty deedTransfers ownership, but only guarantees the title for the period you owned it.
- Iowa life estate deedYou keep the right to live in the property for life; named remaindermen own it after you.
- Iowa gift deedTransfers property to someone as an outright gift, for no payment.
- All deed rules for IowaRecording offices, transfer tax, witness rules, and fees.
- Iowa recording officesWhere to file in each county.
Deedly is not a law firm
Its software and documents are not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. We provide self-help software and state-specific deed forms; you make your own decisions about your property. Using Deedly does not create an attorney-client relationship, and nothing here is legal advice. If your situation is complex or contested, talk to a licensed attorney in your state.