Lafayette County Recorder Information

Land records in Lafayette County are recorded by the Recorder of Deeds. The office is held by JoAnn Swartz.

Indexing data and images are available back through May 1991. Records from 1821 through 2004 were hand recorded in books. Online access is offered month-to-month through Tapestry or pay-as-you-go through landrecords.net; business access is through LAREDO by account with the Recorder's Office. Public viewing stations in the office are free; copies $1.00 per copy. Notary Fraud Alert is also offered.

Checked September 2026 against official publications. Sources: RSMo Section 59.310 · Fee Schedule · Lafayette County Recorder of Deeds

These government fees are separate from any Deeds.com service fees. Confirm current charges with the recorder's office.

Other charges

Fee schedule effective August 28, 2026.

StatewideFor a document which releases or assigns more than one item: five dollars for each item beyond one released or assigned in addition to any other charges which may apply. For copying or reproducing any recorded instrument, except surveys and plats: a fee not to exceed two dollars for the first page and one dollar for each page thereafter. For recording a plat or survey of a subdivision, outlets or condominiums: twenty-five dollars for each sheet of drawings or calculations based on a size not to exceed twenty-four inches in width by eighteen inches in height. In a city not within a county (St. Louis City), recorder's fees are set by RSMo 59.313. The $26 first page is the $5 recording fee (RSMo 59.310) plus fees every recorder adds to each instrument: the $6 user fee (59.319.1, $4 before August 28, 2026), the $3 Missouri housing trust fee (59.319.2), $5 under 59.800, and $7 for the county employees retirement fund (50.1190; $6 in counties under 59.321). Additional pages are $3.

Plat/Survey (first page): 18x24 - $46.00; 24x36 - $71.00; each additional page: $25.00. The Recorder's office keeps one original and will stamp up to 3 additional originals per customer. Plat/survey copy: $5.00 first page, $2.00 each additional page.

Paying the office

Effective August 23, 2023, the Recorder's Office no longer accepts personal checks.

Checked September 2026 against official publications. Sources: RSMo Section 59.310 · Fee Schedule · Lafayette County Recorder of Deeds · Document Standards

Confirm current requirements with the recorder's office before submitting documents.

StatewideNonessential information such as form numbers, page numbers or customer notations may be placed in the margin. A document may be recorded if a minor portion of a seal or incidental writing extends beyond the margins.

StatewideEvery document presented for recording, except plats and surveys, shall have on the first page below the three-inch margin: the title of the document; the date of the document; all grantors' names and marital status; all grantees' names; any statutory addresses; the legal description of the property; and reference book and pages for statutory requirements, if applicable. Documents shall not be permanently bound nor in a continuous form. Deeds, mortgages, deeds of trust and similar instruments must contain a legal description of the lands affected. Exempt from format requirements: documents signed prior to January 1, 2002; military separation papers; documents executed outside the United States; certified copies; documents where an original party is deceased or incapacitated; and judgments formatted to meet court requirements.

Signatures must be in black or dark ink. Attachments to a page may not be stapled or taped other than a securely attached bar-coded label or as required by law. Documents may be stapled for presentation. Grantors and grantees must be designated in order to be indexed, using the word 'grantor' or 'grantee'. The address of the property is not accepted as a legal description. A document presented for re-recording must have a new first page or cover sheet with the 3-inch top margin and the first page designations. Fixture filings on the National Approved UCC Forms are exempt from the formatting requirements.

Submitting documents

The recorder's office does not prepare real estate documents. For fewer e-recording rejections, the office suggests blue or black ink for signatures without fine point pens, legible pages that reproduce well, and a notary stamp that is clear to read.

Checked September 2026 against official publications. Sources: RSMo Section 59.310 · RSMo Section 59.330 · Lafayette County Recorder of Deeds · Document Standards · FAQs