FILING REQUIREMENTS AND DOCUMENT CHECKLISTS

Document Quality
Avoid presenting faxed pages for recording because they are largely non-reproducible.

Do not use photocopied Registry of Deeds descriptions as attachments to deeds, mortgages or other documents.

Unit deed plans, including the sizes of lettering and numbering appearing on submitted plans, must be legible; and photocopies made from floor plans will be rejected if they are not in compliance.

Document Checklists

There are differences in filing requirements between recorded land and registered land.  

     Recorded Land Checklist              Plan Regulations                 Registered Land Checklist

Massachusetts and Norfolk County Indexing Standards

The Massachusetts Registers and Assistant Registers of Deeds Association Indexing Standards encourage uniformity in recording and land records practices in Massachusetts.  It is important to recognize, however, that because of historical development of local and regional practices over many years, there are specific instances in which local registry policy and practice may be different from the general rules set forth in the Indexing Standards.  The links below provide the current text, respectively, of the Massachusetts Indexing Standards and the Norfolk County Variations.   

  
Massachusetts Indexing Standards           Norfolk County Variations

There are two categories of land records: recorded and registered. All land is in one category or the other, but it is possible for a single parcel to include land of both types.  Each system has its respective advantages and differences.

The Recorded Land system is the traditional common law system of land records. Each document filed is entered in order of receipt, and referenced by its sequential book and page number of recording. Recorded land constitutes the majority of the properties in Norfolk County.        

Under the Registered Land system, there is a numbered current owner's certificate of title for each registered land property.  When the property is sold or transferred, a new certificate is issued. The registered land system is also referred to as the Torrens or Land Court system.  It was introduced in Australia in the 1850's and is used in a number of countries and American states, including Massachusetts, where it was introduced in 1901.  Registered Land records are supervised by the Land Court. Each document receives a sequential document number, and documents affecting a title certificate are referenced in an encumbrance list for that certificate. 

Registered land titles sometimes are referred to by book and page numbers, because title certificates are also maintained in numbered books. However, current Registered Land book numbers are much lower than Recorded, because there are many fewer of them. Norfolk County has no Registered Land book numbers greater than one thousand, whereas there are now more than twenty thousand recorded land books. A recorded land book numbered less than one thousand would reference documents from 1905 or earlier.

Registered land condominium certificates are maintained in a separate set of volumes, all with numbers that begin with the letter "C."