Introduction to Research

Online research overview

Internet research is available through the Norfolk Deeds website.

For computer access two options are available, “Log in” and “Free Access”. The difference is that the Log-in option requires an annual subscription and is required for printing of official copies of scanned images. There is no charge for printing copies of land documents that have “Not an Official Copy” at top of document.

The initial fee structure for subscribers is a $100 annual subscription fee and $1 per page for print images. Subscribers make payments, in $100 increments, into prepaid accounts, and the system tracks charges against those account balances. Additional information is available on the Registry website, click on Online Research tab, Application/Service Agreement. If you have additional account related questions, call 781-461-6116.

Please note that users should expect that the system is generally not available between midnight and 3 AM weekdays and between midnight on Friday until the afternoon on Saturday. Sometimes it will be unavailable for longer periods on weekends. Please check Registry News for updates.

General Information

The following is intended to provide general information which may be helpful to those who want to use our site to research the records. For a detailed guide to researching our records please download the Advanced Research Guide.

Recorded Land (Registry) Records

The Registry land records include index information and document images from 1793 forward, and a complete plan index with all plan images. This constitutes 100% of all index entries. In addition, scanned records of the index itself are available for 1793 through 1955.

Please note that prior to Book 525 (1881) each numbered “page” is a two sided folio sheet. Because the computer index treats the image of each side as a separate page, the computer page number will generally be one less than twice the page number in the printed volume.

Registered Land (Land Court) Records

The Registry also contains a Land Court District that has records dating back to 1900. The Land Court has about 20% of the property in Norfolk County. If you can’t find any information in the Registry records, then you can check the Land Court. Each parcel has a Certificate of Title number, and the Certificate will list any document that affects the property. The best way to search Land Court is to enter the owner’s name in the search boxes and restrict the search to deeds. The abstract of the deed will give you the owner’s certificate of title number, and you can click on the number to get the listing. See the detailed guide for more information on how to search in Land Court.

Registry Plans

To search for plans you can use the plan index which has categories for Plan Book and Page, Deed Book and Page, Plan Number and Year, Street Name, Owner’s Name, and Surveyor.

Land Court Plans

Land Court Plans filed with Certificates of Title are to be found under Land Court Plans using the plan number. Plans filed with documents are in the Registry Plan Section using LC for the Book and the document number for the page.

County Engineering Plans

We have partnered with the Norfolk County Engineering Department to make available some of the other county records maintained by the Engineers and the Norfolk County Commissioners. If you have any questions concerning this information please contact the Norfolk County Engineers at 781-461-6128.

To use the county indexes as entered by the county engineering department requires either some knowledge of the County Commissioners’ records or some specific information that you would like to research. The records may be searched by using the designated prefixes*, but you need to know the book and page number that corresponds to the prefix. Most people do not have access to the Commissioners’ records, although they are available at the Norfolk County Engineering Office. Since it appears that some of these references were newly created as the plans were entered, using the book and page category is not the ideal way to search. The best way to search is to use the name index.

You may search by street name, the name of the party for whom the plan was prepared, the name of the party who signed the plan, or by the name of the city, town or Norfolk County. You can segregate your search by town and date when you put in a name and the results can be pared down by the prefixes depending on whether you want a highway, a bridge, or a railroad crossing. Most of the railroad information will be found under the name of the railroad. Unfortunately, many of these railroad companies have disappeared as viable entities, thus you really need to know what you are looking for in these searches.

The following prefix codes are used when searching County Engineering records include the following:

• County Bridges CBR
• Count Highways CHW more…..
• County Turnpikes CTP
• County Railroad Crossings CRC
• County Railroad locations CRR

Note: This is not a complete description of all the information that is available at the Registry or on County Plans. You are welcome to visit us here at the Registry for assistance in your research needs or call the Norfolk Registry of Deeds Customer Service Department at 781-461-6101 or the Norfolk County Engineering Department at 781-461-6128.