Lake County Recorder Information

Land records in Lake County are recorded by the County Recorder. The office is held by Becky Lynch.

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.

Index information is online from 1986 through the AVA search engine; digital document images are available from 1987 by email request or the search engines. Laredo Select image access requires an account request form. Public computer stations are available in the office at no cost.

Checked September 2026 against official publications. Sources: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 317 Recorder · HOME - Lake County Recorder's Office - Becky Lynch · Record Research Options - Lake County Recorder's Office

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

Added at recording

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.

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.

Separate checks are required for the Recorder's recording fee and the Auditor's transfer fees. Online card payments take three business days to post.

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.

Lake County conveyance fees are $4 per $1,000 of valuation, paid to the Auditor, plus a transfer fee payable to the Auditor of $.50 per parcel (R.C. 319.54; R.C. 322.02).

Checked September 2026 against official publications. Sources: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 317 Recorder · Section 317.32 | Recording fees · Section 319.54 | Auditor fees · Section 322.02 | Real property transfer tax · RECORDING GUIDELINES - Lake County Recorder's Office · Methods of Payment - Lake County Recorder's Office · Record A Deed - Lake County Recorder's Office

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).

Watermarked copies are not accepted for recording. Previously recorded documents should be referenced by document number or book and page and recording date.

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

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.

Last same-day recording is 3:45 p.m. Deeds by mail go to the Lake County Auditor's Real Estate Transfer Office, 105 Main Street, PO Box 490, Painesville, OH 44077, which delivers transferred deeds to the Recorder. Transfer on Death Designation Affidavits can be mailed directly to the Recorder.

Checked September 2026 against official publications. Sources: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 317 Recorder · Real Property Conveyance Fee Statement of Value and Receipt (DTE 100) · RECORDING GUIDELINES - Lake County Recorder's Office · Record A Deed - Lake County Recorder's Office