Got a letter from the County Recorder? What a recording notice means

If you own property in California, you may receive a letter from your County Recorder saying that a document was recorded that affects your property. In most cases the letter simply confirms something you already know about: you refinanced, added a family member to title, moved the house into a trust, or sold. The letter exists for the cases where you don't know about it.

Why counties send these letters

A state law, SB 255, added Section 27297.7 to the California Government Code. It asks every county to run a recorder notification program by January 1, 2027. When a deed, quitclaim deed, mortgage or deed of trust is recorded, the Recorder mails a notice within 30 days to the people who signed it. Los Angeles County has run a similar program for years under a separate section of the code.

The goal is fraud prevention. A forged deed can be recorded without the owner's knowledge and sit unnoticed in the public record for months. A letter that arrives within a few weeks gives the real owner a chance to act early. For more on that problem, see Deed fraud and title theft: why owner notification matters.

Why the letter came to you

The notice goes to the people who signed the recorded document, at the address where the county mailed property tax bills before the document was recorded. That detail matters. If someone records a fake deed and then changes the tax-bill address to their own, the notice still goes to the address the county had on file beforehand, which is usually the real owner's.

It also explains a few common surprises:

• You sold the property and the letter reached you at your old tax-bill address, or was forwarded.
• You received several letters because one transaction recorded more than one document, such as a grant deed and a deed of trust on the same day.
• The letter names a document type you don't recognize, such as an "interspousal transfer deed" or "trust transfer deed." These are all forms of deed and are common in ordinary family and estate planning.

What the letter usually contains

Formats vary by county, but a notice generally shows the type of document, the recording date, the document or instrument number, the parcel (APN) or property address, and a phone number or web page at the Recorder's office. It does not ask you to pay anything or to send personal information.

A real county notice will never ask for a payment, a bank account number or your Social Security number. If a letter about a "recorded deed" asks you to pay a fee to get a copy of your deed or a "property profile," it is not from the Recorder. Those are private solicitations, and some are scams.

If you recognize the document

No action is needed. Keep the letter with your property records if you like. The recorded document itself is part of the public record, and you can order a copy from the Recorder's office if you need one.

If you don't recognize the document

Act promptly, but start by checking the facts:

1. Ask anyone who might know. A spouse, co-owner, trustee, or the lender or title company from a recent refinance.
2. Get a copy of the recorded document from the Recorder's office, using the document number on the letter. Look at who signed it, who notarized it, and who it transfers the property to.
3. If it still looks wrong, follow the steps in What to do if a deed was recorded on your property without your knowledge.

Getting alerts by email

The statute also lets a Recorder offer electronic notifications. Many counties pair the mailed letter with a free sign-up where residents can watch their property, or their name, and get an email when a matching document records. Email alerts can arrive faster than a letter, and they keep working if your mail is being redirected. Check your County Recorder's website for a property alert or fraud alert program.