Tennessee Title Insurance Company

How Tennessee sets title insurance rates

Tennessee title insurance rates are filed with the Tennessee Commissioner of Insurance. Each underwriter files its own schedule, which means premiums genuinely differ between agencies and a quote is a real quote rather than a recitation of a fixed table.

That is worth knowing before you accept the first number you are given. It also means you should be sceptical of any calculator claiming to produce your exact Tennessee premium — it cannot know which underwriter is writing your policy.

We quote the premium directly once we know the transaction. The two recording taxes below are a different matter: those are set by statute and can be calculated to the cent.

The two taxes Tennessee charges at recording

Realty transfer tax is $0.37 per $100 of consideration, or fraction thereof, collected by the county Register of Deeds. It is paid by the grantee — the buyer. On a $400,000 purchase that is $1,480.

Mortgage tax, the recordation tax on indebtedness, is $0.115 per $100 under T.C.A. § 67-4-409(b), and the first $2,000 of the indebtedness is exempt. It is paid by the debtor. On a $320,000 loan the taxable amount is $318,000, giving $365.70 rather than the $368 an uncorrected calculation produces.

A cash purchase pays only the transfer tax. Run your own numbers on the Tennessee transfer and mortgage tax calculator.

What we handle in Tennessee

Title search and examination, title insurance through our underwriters, escrow and settlement, and closing coordination. We work with lenders, Realtors, investors and for-sale-by-owner sellers.

We handle mail-away and remote closings routinely, which matters for out-of-state buyers and for sellers who have already relocated. If a particular lender or county requires something different, we will tell you at the outset rather than the week of closing.

What a Tennessee title search actually covers

A Tennessee search runs the chain of title back through the county Register of Deeds, and what it turns up differs from state to state. We look for the obvious items — deeds, deeds of trust, releases, judgments, mechanic’s liens, tax liens — and for the ones peculiar to Tennessee land.

Tennessee uses a deed of trust rather than a mortgage, with a trustee holding legal title until the debt is satisfied. That matters at payoff: the release has to come from the trustee or a properly appointed substitute trustee, and a release executed by the wrong party does not clear the lien.

Older Tennessee chains also carry severed mineral rights more often than buyers expect, particularly in the eastern and Cumberland Plateau counties where coal, oil, gas and timber interests were separated from the surface generations ago. A severed mineral estate does not stop a sale, but the buyer should know before closing rather than after.

Two things that delay Tennessee closings

Estates and heirs. Tennessee property frequently passes without probate being completed, and a search will show a deceased owner still on title. Clearing that means an affidavit of heirship, a probate proceeding, or corrective deeds from every heir — and finding all the heirs is the slow part. If a parent or grandparent is still on the deed, tell us at the outset.

Boundary and survey issues. Rural Tennessee legal descriptions are often metes-and-bounds descriptions written decades ago, referencing fences, creeks and trees that have moved or gone. Where the description is old and the acreage large, a survey is worth doing before you are under contract rather than during the inspection period.

Who chooses the closing agent in Tennessee

In Tennessee this is now settled by statute rather than custom. A law effective July 1, 2025 gives the buyer or borrower the exclusive right to choose the settlement agent — the company or attorney handling closing, escrow and title insurance — subject only to their lender’s approval.

Two consequences matter. A seller can no longer require the buyer to use a particular closing company, or condition any part of the deal on that choice. And the protection cannot be waived by agreement, so a contract clause purporting to hand the choice to the seller does not survive.

Sellers keep the right to engage their own attorney to look after their interests at closing — deed preparation, reviewing figures, negotiating fees — but that is a separate role from the settlement agent.

If you are a Tennessee buyer, that means the choice is yours to make and worth making deliberately rather than accepting whoever is suggested. If you are a Realtor or loan officer working with a buyer, you are the person they will ask.

Working with us from out of state

A large share of Tennessee purchases involve someone who is not in Tennessee — relocating buyers, investors, or heirs selling inherited property from another state. We handle those as mail-away or remote closings routinely.

What we need early is simple: government photo identification for every party, the payoff authorisation if there is a loan to satisfy, and wiring details verified by phone on a number we source ourselves rather than from an email. Get those three moving in the first week and an out-of-state closing runs no slower than a local one.

Frequently Asked Questions