land records
Real estate files
Land records are official documents that establish ownership, boundaries, and legal claims to real property.
They include deeds, titles, surveys, mortgages, liens, and tax assessments—typically maintained by county or municipal governments.
Searching land records is essential when buying property, settling estates, or researching genealogy: The land records showed the farm had been in the family since 1847.
- deedWritten property conveyance
- metes and boundsLand demarcation by landmarks
- lienClaim securing debt
- zoning ordinanceRules governing property development
- revenue collectionSecuring payments owed
title certificate · transfer of ownership · boundary marker · title search · property records · residential zoning · commercial zoning · grantee · encumbrance · collector · parcel · real property · mortgage · tax assessment · county clerk · conveyance · recording · title
- Indian lawHigh Court, district courts, civil courts, criminal courts, family courts
- historical recordsdiary, annual reviews, letter, government records, census data
- recordsbirth records, Guinness, documents, world records, album
- colonial recordscolonial maps, military records, property deeds, judicial records, court documents
- county governmentcounty clerk, county commissioner, county council, county executive, county board
- farm recordscrop reports, crop yields, field surveys, corn yields, milk production
land recordsoral contracts
Unwritten binding promises
handshake deals · gentleman's agreements · squatter's rights · adverse possession · folk memory