Any deed containing the names of the grantor and grantee, a description of the property sufficient to identify it with reasonable certainty, and the interest or estate intended to be granted, is sufficient, if executed, acknowledged, and, where required, recorded. Any lease is sufficient even though it is not acknowledged if it otherwise complies with paragraph (1) of this subsection. If a deed is signed by the grantor in accordance with the requirements of Title 5 of this article, the absence of a seal or attestation does not affect the validity of the deed. A corporate seal is not required for the execution of any deed or other instrument, notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the corporation’s charter, bylaws, or other documents. The masking of personal information in accordance with § 8–504 of the State Government Article does not affect the validity of a deed or other recordable instrument.

If a deed contains a covenant by the grantee or a reservation of an incorporeal interest in the property granted by the deed and is signed only by the grantor (deed poll), the acceptance of delivery of the deed by the grantee binds the grantee to the provisions in the deed as effectively as if he had signed the deed as a grantee.

If a deed is executed, acknowledged, and, if required, recorded, the validity of the deed in respect to its execution and delivery by the grantor to the grantee is presumed. Subsection (a) of this section applies to a lease even though it is not acknowledged.

Neither livery of seisin nor indenting is necessary to the validity of any deed.

No words of inheritance are necessary to create an estate in fee simple or an easement by grant or by reservation. Unless a contrary intention appears by express terms or is necessarily implied, every grant of land passes a fee simple estate, and every grant or reservation of an easement passes or reserves an easement in perpetuity.

No mortgage or deed of trust is valid except as between the parties to it, unless there is contained in, endorsed on, or attached to it an oath or affirmation of the mortgagee or the party secured by a deed of trust that the consideration recited in the mortgage or deed of trust is true and bona fide as set forth. No purchase-money mortgage or deed of trust involving land, any part of which is located in the State, is valid either as between the parties or as to any third party unless the mortgage or deed of trust contains or has endorsed on, or attached to it at a time prior to recordation, the oath or affirmation of the party secured by the mortgage or deed of trust stating that the actual sum of money advanced at the closing transaction by the secured party was paid over and disbursed by the party secured by the mortgage or deed of trust to either the borrower or the person responsible for disbursement of funds in the closing transaction or their respective agent at a time no later than the execution and delivery of the mortgage or deed of trust by the borrower. However, this subsection does not apply where a mortgage or deed of trust is given to a vendor in a transaction in order to secure payment to him of all or part of the purchase price of the property. The affidavit required by this subsection is required for only that part of the loan that is purchase money and, if the requirements of this subsection are not satisfied, the mortgage or deed of trust is invalid only to the extent of the part of the loan that is purchase money. The lender may deliver net proceeds, deducting charges, interests, expenses, or advance escrow and charges due from the borrower, if the following conditions are met: The charges, interests, expenses, and other deductions listed above have been agreed upon in advance, in writing; and The lender provides a schedule of the deductions along with the net proceeds delivered. Any affidavit required by this section may be made by one of the several mortgagees or parties secured by the deed of trust and has the same effect as if made by all. The affidavit may be made by any trustee named in the deed of trust, by an agent of the trustee, or by an agent of a mortgagee or of a party secured by the deed of trust. If the affidavit is made by an agent, he shall make affidavit to be contained in, endorsed on, or attached to the mortgage or deed of trust, that he is the agent of the mortgagee or party secured by the deed of trust, or any one of them, or of the trustee. This affidavit is sufficient proof of agency. The president, other officer of a corporation, or the personal representative of the mortgagee or party secured by the deed of trust also may make the affidavits. This section does not apply to any mortgage or deed of trust where the loan secured is one in which it is lawful to charge any rate of interest under § 12-103(e) of the Commercial Law Article.

Every power of attorney executed by any person authorizing an agent or attorney to sell and grant any property shall be executed in the same manner as a deed and recorded: Before the day on which the deed executed pursuant to the power of attorney is recorded; On the same day as the deed executed pursuant to the power of attorney; or Subject to subsection (b) of this section, after the day on which the deed executed pursuant to the power of attorney is recorded. A power of attorney may be recorded after the day on which the deed executed pursuant to the power of attorney is recorded, if: The power of attorney is both dated and acknowledged on or before the effective date of the deed executed pursuant to the power of attorney; The power of attorney has not been revoked with respect to the period of time up to and including the date of recording of the deed in accordance with the provisions of subsection (c) of this section; and The deed, or a recorded instrument of writing supplementing the deed contains an affidavit or certification by the agent or attorney in fact named in the power of attorney, stating substantially, that the agent or attorney in fact did not have, at the time of the execution of the deed pursuant to the power of attorney, actual knowledge of the revocation of the power of attorney, by death of the principal or, if applicable, by the subsequent disability or incompetence of the principal. Any person executing a deed as agent or attorney for another shall describe himself in and sign the deed as agent or attorney. A power of attorney is deemed to be revoked when the instrument containing the revocation is recorded in the office where the deed should be recorded.

Any interest in property may be granted by one or more persons, as grantors, to themselves alone, or to himself or themselves and any other person, as grantees, in life tenancy, with or without powers, joint tenancy, tenancy in common, or tenancy by the entirety without the use of a straw man as an intermediate grantee-grantor. These grants, regardless of when made, are ratified, confirmed, and declared valid as having created the type of concurrent ownership that the grant purports to grant. Any interest in property held by a husband and wife in tenancy by the entirety may be granted, (1) by both acting jointly, to themselves, to either of them, individually, or to themselves and any other person, in joint tenancy or tenancy in common; (2) by both acting jointly, to either husband or wife and any other person in joint tenancy or tenancy in common; and (3) by either acting individually to the other in tenancy in severalty, without the use of a straw man as an intermediate grantee-grantor. These grants, regardless of when made, are ratified, confirmed, and declared valid as having created the type of ownership that the grant purports to grant.

If an instrument was recorded before January 1, 1973, any failure of the instrument to comply with the formal requisites listed in this section has no effect, unless the defect was challenged in a judicial proceeding commenced by July 1, 1973. If an instrument is recorded on or after January 1, 1973, whether or not the instrument is executed on or after that date, any failure to comply with the formal requisites listed in this section has no effect unless it is challenged in a judicial proceeding commenced within six months after it is recorded. For the purposes of this section, the failures in the formal requisites of an instrument are: A defective acknowledgment; A failure to attach any clerk’s certificate; An omission of a notary seal or other seal; A lack of or improper acknowledgment or affidavit of consideration, agency, or disbursement; An omission of an attestation; A failure to name any trustee in a deed of trust; or A lack of or defective witness attestation to a power of attorney.

Notwithstanding § 5–302 of the Land Use Article or any similar public local law or ordinance, every deed executed or recorded before June 1, 1974, conveying land in a subdivision a plat of which had not been approved by a planning commission is fully valid and effective according to its terms if the deed would have been valid and effective but for § 5–302 of the Land Use Article or a similar public local law or ordinance.

In this section the following words have the meanings indicated. “Lender” means a person holding an interest in or lien on property pursuant to a mortgage or deed of trust. “Subordination agreement” means an agreement establishing priorities: Between or among lenders; or Between or among a lender and any other person or persons holding an interest in property. A lender may subordinate its interest under a mortgage or deed of trust to the interest of another lender or to the property interest of a person, through execution of a subordination agreement on behalf of the subordinating lender by: As to a lender secured by a mortgage, the mortgagee or assignee; or As to a lender secured by a deed of trust, the trustee or successor trustee or the holder of the note or other obligation secured by the deed of trust. This section applies to all subordination agreements existing on or after October 1, 1997.