Bona fide purchaser

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Property law

Part of the common law series
Acquisition of property
Gift · Adverse possession · Deed
Lost, mislaid, and abandoned property
Bailment · Licence
Estates in land
Allodial title · Fee simple
Life estate · Fee tail · Future interest
Concurrent estate · Leasehold estate
Condominiums
Conveyancing of interests in land
Bona fide purchaser · Torrens title
Estoppel by deed · Quitclaim deed
Mortgage · Equitable conversion
Action to quiet title
Limiting control over future use
Restraint on alienation
Rule against perpetuities
Rule in Shelley's Case
Doctrine of worthier title
Nonpossessory interest in land
Easement · Profit
Covenant running with the land
Equitable servitude
Related topics
Fixtures · Waste · Partition
Riparian water rights
Lateral and subjacent support
Assignment · Nemo dat
Other areas of the common law
Contract law · Tort law
Wills and trusts
Criminal Law · Evidence

A bona fide purchaser (BFP) — referred to more completely as a bona fide purchaser for value without notice — is a term used in the law of real property and personal property to refer to an innocent party who purchases property without notice of any other party's claim to the title of that property. A BFP must purchase for value, meaning that he or she must pay for the property rather than simply being the beneficiary of a gift. Depending on the laws of the relevant jurisdiction, when a party fraudulently conveys property to a BFP, such as by selling the BFP property that has already been conveyed to someone else, that BFP takes good title to the property despite the competing claims of the other party so long as the BFP properly records the transaction. Other parties with claim to ownership will have a cause of action against the party who made the fraudulent conveyance.

BFPs are also sometimes referred to as "Equity's Darling." However, as Jeffrey Hackney has pointed out,^[1] the title is somewhat misleading; in cases where legal title is passed to a bona fide purchaser for value without notice, it is not so much that equity has any great affection for the purchaser - it is simply that equity refuses to intervene to preserve any rights held by the former beneficial owner of the property. The relationship between the courts of equity and the BFP are better characterised as benign neglect. However, equity still undoubtedly recognises the right of the beneficial owner to claim against the former legal owner where the sale was improper.

In the United States, the patent law codifies the bona fide purchaser rule, 35 U.S.C. §261. Unlike the common law, the statute cuts off both equitable and legal claims to the title.