Warranty clause on mineral lease

General Mineral Rights Discussion
1

Received contract to sign that has warranty clause in it. Everything that I've read says to mark through that clause before sending back to landman. If the landman has done their research then why do we need this warranty clause?

2

Dear Mr. Bishop.

A thorough explanation is located here:

http://www.mineralrightsforum.com/profiles/blogs/warranty-of-title-oil-gas-lease

Best,

Buddy Cotten
3

Dear Mr. Cotton,

Thanks for your quick reply. This is all new to us and it would be very easy to make mistakes on signing a legal document. It would seem that Landmen, etc. just drop a contract in the mail to you and expect you to just sign it with little or no explanation and just return it. Looks like to me that if the drilling company is really serious about drilling on the property next door and need to put our interest in a pool that they would just send us the $80.00 lease bonus check. I know $80.00 is $80.00 dollars but really none of us are going to miss it or need it. Thought about just filing the lease agreement in our interesting file.

4

What do you think about the Warranty that says "By, thru and under"?

Charles Cunningham

Buddy Cotten said:

5

what does warranty clause mean?

6

Ralph, It means you are warranting title is good.

7

Dear Charles,

That is what is referred to as a Special Warranty of title. You are warranting title by through and under yourself and not otherwise.

That means you are only warranting title after it has come into your possession.

Buddy



Charles Cunningham said:

What do you think about the Warranty that says "By, thru and under"?

Charles Cunningham

Buddy Cotten said:

Dear Mr. Bishop.

A thorough explanation is located here:

8

As the blog post Buddy linked in his first reply indicates, striking through a warranty clause doesn’t accomplish anything. If you don’t want to warrant title then you need an express statement in your lease saying that you don’t warrant title.

9

I would strike through the warranty clause then add an indemnification clause stating that in no way are you responsible for any costs incurred by the drilling company, including court fees, accidents, destruction, etc.