What Is a Land Title Company and What Do They Do

A land title company researches property records to confirm ownership, identify liens, locate encumbrances, and document the chain of title. In energy and mineral projects, this work may include surface rights, leasehold interests, mineral ownership, easements, pooling provisions, and curative needs. The goal is to reduce uncertainty before acquisition, leasing, drilling, construction, or development decisions are made.

A land title company reviews public and private records, builds title chains, verifies ownership interests, identifies title defects, and helps prepare documentation needed to clear issues. MAJR Resources focuses on landman and mineral title work for oil and gas, renewable energy, infrastructure, and acquisition projects, helping clients understand risks before committing capital or moving operations forward.

Title research is critical because ownership gaps, unpaid liens, missing heirs, unrecorded transfers, easements, or lease conflicts can delay or derail a project. For energy companies, accurate title work helps confirm who can legally grant rights, whether an asset is developable, and what obligations may affect drilling, solar, wind, pipeline, or surface use plans.

A traditional title company often supports real estate closings and title insurance. A landman-focused title partner, like MAJR Resources, performs deeper ownership, leasehold, mineral, surface, and right-of-way research for energy development. This can include courthouse record review, heirship research, lease checks, curative document coordination, runsheets, and support for legal title opinions.

Title researchers may review deeds, wills, probate filings, grants, mortgages, leases, assignments, releases, tax records, easements, restrictive covenants, plats, and courthouse indexes. For energy projects, the research may also include lease documents, pooling agreements, production information, right-of-way agreements, pipeline easements, and state data sources such as regulatory records when relevant.

Timing depends on acreage, county record access, ownership complexity, and the depth of review required. A cursory lease check may sometimes be completed in just a few hours, while full title research, runsheet preparation, heirship work, or due diligence for a multi-regional acquisition can require a more structured timeline and coordinated review.

When a defect is found, the next step is typically curative work. This may involve drafting curative documents, obtaining ratifications, coordinating probate or heirship research, correcting interest discrepancies, preparing pooling agreements, or resolving missing conveyances. Addressing these items early helps prevent costly delays and gives legal, engineering, and operations teams cleaner information to use.

Yes. Title and land services are valuable for renewable energy projects, especially commercial solar, wind, transmission, and surface use development. MAJR Resources evaluates surface conditions, easements, current leases, pipelines, floodplain issues, transmission access, and existing oil and gas operations to help determine whether a property is suitable for renewable energy development.