Fairfield County Recorder

In Fairfield County, South Carolina, the Register of Deeds is part of the clerk of courts. All instruments conveying an interest in real property located in the county must be recorded in the register's office in order to be valid.

The proper recording of a document provides notice to subsequent purchasers and also establishes a priority of claims against the property in question. Original documents will be mailed back to the proper party within one to two weeks from the date of recording.

Deed: $15 + deed tax (see below)
Agreement, Amendment, some Assignments, Contract, Declaration, Dissolution, Easement, Lease, Mortgage, Restrictive Covenant, UCC Document, Waiver: $25
Affidavit, Article, some Assignments, Mechanics Lien, Release: $10

Unless the document is exempt, both state and county taxes are due upon recording. State documentary stamps are $1.30 per $500, and county documentary stamps are $0.55 per $500, rounding up the per $500 to the nearest whole number. Consult the deed stamps table under supplemental forms for specific amounts.

Contact the Fairfield County Register of Deeds directly for current transfer tax rates. Transfer taxes are paid in the form of documentary stamps.

An instrument must be acknowledged or proved according to law in order to be recorded. An instrument can be 1) acknowledged or proved by the affidavit of a subscribing witness to the instrument, taken before an officer in the state who is authorized to administer oaths; or 2) signed and acknowledged by the grantor in the presence of two witnesses, taken before an officer in the state who is authorized to administer oaths. The notary may use a South Carolina probate or acknowledgment.

The mailing address of the grantee must be included in the instrument.

All deeds conveying an interest in land must include a derivation clause with the property description. When the grantor's title was acquired by deed, the derivation clause must include the name of the grantor and the recording date of that deed.
When the deed from which the grantor derives title has been simultaneously executed and delivered, and has not yet been recorded, it is sufficient to set forth in the deed the name of the grantor of the deed of derivation and the date it is to be recorded. When the grantor's title was obtained by inheritance, the derivation clause must include the name of the person from whom the title was acquired, the approximate date of acquisition and in the case of property acquired under a probated will or administered estate, the probate court in which the estate was filed. A derivation clause is not required for a deed devoted to a railroad or utility purpose, and is also not needed on a quitclaim deed or non-warranty deed.

The clerk of court will not record a deed or mortgage unless it contains a derivation clause as required; provided, however a deed or mortgage may be recorded without such clause upon a showing that is satisfactory to the clerk of court that the necessary information for the derivation clause was not available.

Before a deed conveying real property, including timber deeds, timber leases, and contracts of conveyance of timber can be recorded, it must be endorsed by the county auditor that it has been entered of record in his office.

When any deed conveying or creating an interest in real property refers to the boundaries, metes, courses, or distances of such real estate delineated, the deed should state the office, book, and page of the recording of such plat or blueprint.

When any real property used as a hazardous waste storage or disposal facility permitted by the South Carolina Code of Laws is sold, conveyed, leased, or transferred in any manner, the deed or instrument of transfer should contain the following phrase in the legal description, in the same size type as the rest of the instrument: "The real property conveyed or transferred by this instrument has previously been used as a storage or disposal facility for hazardous wastes."

Any conveyance of property that meets state and local laws requiring payment of recording fees, transfer fees, etc. must indicate the "True Consideration" or value in money's worth for that conveyance. The affidavit must show the value of the realty described in the deed unless the deed is exempt from the deed recording fee pursuant to provisions of Title 12, Chapter 24. If the deed is exempt, the value is not required to be stated in the affidavit, but the affidavit must state the reason the deed is exempt from the fee.


EFFECT OF RECORDING
All deeds, conveyances, and instruments that are required by law to be recorded, are valid so as to affect the rights of subsequent creditors or purchasers for valuable consideration without notice, only from the time they are recorded in the proper county. In the case of a subsequent purchaser of real estate, or in the case of a subsequent lien creditor on real estate for valuable consideration without notice, the instrument evidencing the subsequent conveyance or lien must be filed for record in order for its holder to claim as a subsequent creditor or purchaser for value without notice, and the priority is determined by time of filing.