Cuyahoga County Recorder Information

Land records in Cuyahoga County are recorded by the Fiscal Office. The office is held by Michael W. Chambers, CPA.

StatewideBy June 30, 2026, each county recorder is required to post on its website electronic indexes and electronic versions of all instruments recorded on or after January 1, 1980, except veteran discharge papers and legally protected information. A username and password may be required, but no fee may be charged for access.

Checked October 2026 against official publications. Sources: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 317 Recorder · Transfer and Recording · About Us

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

Other charges

Fee schedule effective October 24, 2024.

StatewideEach fee in R.C. 317.32 is made up of a base fee for the recorder's services and a housing trust fund fee collected under R.C. 317.36. The recorder may charge and collect a document preservation surcharge of up to five dollars, deposited to the county general fund. Pages are measured at 8.5 x 14 inches or fraction of a page, including the caption page. Plats, maps, and prints recorded by photostatic or similar process: base fee of five cents and housing trust fund fee of five cents per square inch, with minimums of twenty dollars each. Zoning resolutions: $25 base plus $25 housing trust fund fee; zoning amendments: $10 plus $10. Notices of federal liens: $5 per notice; certificates of discharge or release: $3 (R.C. 317.09). The fees do not apply to instruments recorded by a county land reutilization corporation.

County fee list: Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, $34.00 for one or two pages, $36.00 for three pages, $40.00 max for four or more pages. Recording or re-recording a map, plat, or print: $.10 per sq. in., $40.00 minimum; certifying a copy of a map, plat, or print: $17.28 (18" x 24"). Partnerships (original, amendment, cancellation): $34.00 for the first two pages, $8.00 each additional page. UCC fixture filings: $12.00 plus $4.00 per party indexed. Motor Vehicle Bond Lien: $10.00. Release of Personal Property Tax Lien: $4.00. Veterans discharge: no fee. Certified copy: add $2.00.

Paying the office

StatewideFees are paid upon presentation of the instruments for record; payment of fees for electronic recording may be made by electronic funds transfer, automated clearing house, or other electronic means after presentation.

Transfer tax

Real property conveyance fee. One dollar, or ten cents for each one hundred dollars or fraction of one hundred dollars, whichever is greater, of the value of the real property transferred. The tax is collected when the document is recorded. (statewide, R.C. 319.54(G)(3))

StatewideThe conveyance fee is paid to the county auditor, and a deed of absolute conveyance is not recorded until it bears the auditor's stamp showing compliance with R.C. 319.202 and is indorsed "transferred" or "transfer not necessary" (R.C. 317.22). Counties may also levy a real property transfer tax under R.C. 322.02 at a rate not to exceed thirty cents per hundred dollars of value conveyed, paid to the county auditor prior to presentation of the deed to the recorder. R.C. 319.54(G)(3) lists transfers on which no fee is charged.

Cuyahoga County conveyance fee: $1.00 state fee and $3.00 county fee per $1,000 of property value, $4.00 per $1,000 in total (R.C. 319.54(G)(3); R.C. 322.02). Separate $0.50 transfer fee. When several parcels are transferred, a parcel exempt from the permissive fee under R.C. 322.02(A) is conveyed on a separate instrument and DTE 100.

Checked October 2026 against the sources below. Some of them are not official publications, so confirm with the recorder's office. Sources: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 317 Recorder · Section 317.32 | Recording fees · Section 319.54 | Auditor fees · Section 322.02 | Real property transfer tax · Transfer and Recording · Fees and Filings · Cuyahoga County Property Transfer & Recording (unofficial guide)

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

StatewideRight half of the 3-inch first-page top margin is reserved for the county recorder's indorsement. A 1.5-inch margin of blank space is required across the top of each remaining page.

StatewideNonconforming instruments are accepted with an added fee; no fee for incidental items such as page numbers, initials, or bar codes in side or bottom margins. The format standard does not apply to documents from courts, taxing authorities, or state or federal agencies, to plats, or to documents executed before July 1, 2009. Illegible signatures must have the name legibly printed, typewritten, or stamped beneath them unless the name appears elsewhere in the instrument (R.C. 317.11). Instruments must be of a quality that allows legible reproduction (R.C. 317.112). Personal information such as Social Security numbers may not be included (R.C. 317.082). Instruments in a language other than English need a certified English translation (R.C. 317.113).

Transfer documents: no handwritten text except signatures of grantors, affiants, or notary; no cut and pasted text; bonded 75g/square meter standard white paper, and no fax paper, onion skin, or transparent mediums; original signatures in black or (preferred) blue ink, with no red ink; notary seals in permanent black ink or raised embossed type. Transfer documents must reference the prior instrument of record and give complete grantor and grantee names.

Forms filed along with a transfer

• DTE 100 Real Property Conveyance Fee Statement of Value and Receipt Statewide Ohio Department of Taxation; filed with the county auditor
  Conveyances of real property presented to the county auditor
• Residential Rental Property Disclosure form (or rental registration exception form) Cuyahoga County Fiscal Office
  If question 10 on DTE 100 or question 8 on DTE 100EX is checked NO on conveyances of residential property

Submitting documents

StatewideBy June 30, 2026, each county recorder is required to make available to the public a method for electronically recording instruments related to conveyances of real property and other instruments listed in R.C. 317.08(A) or (D), except plats and maps.

Checked October 2026 against official publications. Sources: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 317 Recorder · Real Property Conveyance Fee Statement of Value and Receipt (DTE 100) · Transfer and Recording · Transfer and Conveyance Standards