Matters affecting title are those instruments either: (i) that are properly indexed so as to appear in the public records maintained by the Clerk of the Superior Court in which the property is located and that can be found by a routine examination of the title to the property; or (ii) about which the party against whom enforcement is sought had actual knowledge. Public record notice is referred to a "constructive notice" and "actual notice" means exactly what it says.

Parties are deemed to have constructive notice about matters which appear of record and would be discovered by a routine examination of the chain of title, whether they actually know about them or not (i.e., if a matter appears of record but a party's title examiner fails to find it, the party is deemed to have notice of the matter notwithstanding the fact that his title examiner did not bring it to his attention). A party can only have actual knowledge about a matter of title not appearing in the public records, however, when the party is aware of the matter independently of what otherwise would constitute constructive notice. If something does not appear of record in the chain of title to a piece of property, there can be no constructive notice of it.