{"id":4107,"date":"2024-06-09T21:56:20","date_gmt":"2024-06-10T01:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/?p=4107"},"modified":"2024-06-16T10:00:44","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T14:00:44","slug":"ohios-county-deed-recorders-on-the-verge-of-digitization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/ohios-county-deed-recorders-on-the-verge-of-digitization\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio\u2019s County Deed Recorders on the Verge of Digitization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Plus, New Provisions to Prevent Deed Fraud<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Senate Bill 94, sponsored by the two Republican State Senators Al Landis and Andrew Brenner, has successfully passed in the Ohio Senate. Its goal? Modernizing the 88 county recorders\u2019 offices throughout Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

If the new law goes into effect as proposed, then by June 30, 2026, counties will need to digitize the documents they\u2019ve recorded at any point since 1980. They\u2019ll also need to enable eRecording<\/a> for real estate deeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Senate\u2019s bill also adds a very important anti-fraud mechanism. Deed recording offices would be authorized to inspect the documents presented to them. The officials could refuse to record any documents that appears to be forged or fraudulent. We\u2019ve bolded the relevant text here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The county recorder may refuse to record an instrument of writing presented for recording if the instrument is not required or authorized by the Revised Code to be recorded or the county recorder has reasonable cause to believe the instrument is materially false or fraudulent.<\/strong><\/em><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Sponsor Al Landis says it was the Covid pandemic that prompted Ohio lawmakers \u201cto understand how important it was to have access to documents electronically.” The proposed law, Landis says, will empower Ohio residents to \u201caccess their real estate transactions at any time, from any place.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Proposed: \u201cCounty Recorder Electronic Record Modernization Program\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Under Ohio\u2019s new proposal, each county recorder, auditor, or engineer would need to provide an e-Recording method. The digitized records would be free and open to the public. Through the proposed program, the state treasurer\u2019s office would disburse $6 million in funds to counties to assist them in complying with the updated law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At this time, the Ohio House of Representatives is considering the bill, which also:<\/p>\n\n\n\n