EquityProtect Grades States on Deed Theft Protections

(Image courtesy of Josh Sorenson/pexels.com)

EquityProtect, Reno, Nev., launched its inaugural Property Protection Scorecard, aiming to grade all 50 states and Washington, D.C., on how well they protect homeowners from deed theft. Sixteen states offer no deed-fraud laws whatsoever, the report found.

Deed theft is as a crime where a perpetrator forges a property transfer, records it at the county level and thereby “steals” the home on paper. The scorecard incorporates data through the end of Q1.

It’s a significant crime, EquityProtect noted–with 58,000 homeowners reporting real estate fraud to the FBI between 2019-2023. That added up to $1.3 billion in combined losses. Even in states with stronger laws, victims spend an average of $50,000-$150,000 in legal fees.

The scorecard provides a five-tier framework. The top marks–major laws enacted–include states with criminal penalties, ID verification or recorder powers, and signed in 2023 or later. Those states include Texas, Georgia, Michigan, New York, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Illinois.

Tier 2 recognizes states with active bills pending, Tier 3 records state with alert systems or partial laws and Tier 4 is for states with studies or monitoring underway.

Tier 5–the lowest–highlights states with no-deed-fraud specific legislative action of any kind. Those are Alaska, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Vermont and Wyoming.