Recording a deed in Arapahoe County, Colorado

Recording a deed in Arapahoe County

Deeds affecting property in Arapahoe County, Colorado are recorded with the County Clerk and Recorder. Recording is what puts the world on notice of your ownership and fixes the priority date. An unrecorded deed can still transfer title between the parties, but it leaves you exposed to anyone who records first.

The recording rules the office applies come from C.R.S. § 38-35-109. Deeds themselves are governed by C.R.S. § 38-30-113.

What to bring

• The original signed and notarized deed. Recorders do not record photocopies handed over the counter.
• A completed notarial acknowledgment, with the date, the place where you signed, and the commission expiry all filled in.
• When the deed's consideration, counting any mortgage or other lien on the property, is more than $500: a Real Property Transfer Declaration (Form TD-1000), signed by the grantor or the grantee. It is not notarized or recorded; the clerk and recorder sends it to the assessor (C.R.S. § 39-14-102). A gift deed and a beneficiary deed need none.
• Payment for the recording fee, about $43 per document. Many offices do not take personal checks.

Formatting

• Colorado requires a top margin of at least 1 inch and left, right, and bottom margins of at least half an inch on every document; the clerk may refuse a nonconforming document (C.R.S. § 30-10-406(3)(a)). The statute sets no minimum type size; Deedly prints nothing smaller than 10 points.
• Deedly's layout, which suits this office: 8.5 × 11 inch paper, a 1-inch clear space at the top of page one for the recording stamp, 0.5-inch margins on the other edges, a 1-inch top margin on later pages, and type no smaller than 10 point. Deedly formats every document this way automatically.
• A legal description. A street address alone is not enough.
• A 'when recorded, return to' block so the stamped original comes back to you.

How to file

1. 1In personTake the original to the County Clerk and Recorder in Littleton. This is the fastest route. You usually walk out with the recording information the same day.
2. 2By mailSend the original with a check or money order for the fee and a self-addressed stamped envelope. Allow one to three weeks for the stamped original to come back.
3. 3E-recordingTitle companies, attorneys, and other approved submitters file electronically through services such as Simplifile, CSC, or ePN. Some offices accept filings from the public through those services; check the office's website. If you prepared the deed yourself, in person or by mail is usually simpler.