:: New Procedure for California Reconveyances

April 16, 2009. When recording reconveyances in the State of California, it has been our practice to always have the recorded original mailed to the borrower by the county and to request a conforming copy to be mailed back to Nationwide Title Clearing by adding the typical $1.00 conforming copy fee to the recording fees on your bill. Once we received the conforming copy, it served as verification that recordation took place and an image was made available to our clients. If the conforming copy was not received back, NTC would follow up until received back to us.
 
Recently the fees for conforming copies have gone up and California County Recorders now charge up to $4.00 per conforming copy when requested with the reconveyance.
 
Per California Civil Code 2941 (under Title 14, Chapter 2, Mortgage), in order to prove recordation of the reconveyance, you must merely send the reconveyance document together with recording fees to the County Recorder using an independent courier service that utilizes tracking, receipt, delivery and signature of the recipient.
 

(Click to view Civil Code)
  
NTC currently sends all California recordation documents through a courier service that utilizes full tracking and documentation and we will continue to do so for the benefit of speed and legal protection of our clients.
 
After careful review of the civil codes in regards to California reconveyances, we have determined that we will offer our clients a choice of the following two options:
 
Option (1), continue to have NTC request conforming copies on all California reconveyances. The original recorded reconveyance will continue to be mailed directly to the borrower by the County Recorder. As covered above, the cost for the conforming copy will be a pass-through in the recording fee, which is currently between $1.00 to $4.00 per document. For those clients that require an image or copy of the recorded document in most or all cases, this is the best option. No changes will be made to your current follow up process to confirm recording or retrieve a copy.
 
Option (2), no conforming copy will be requested. The original recorded reconveyance will continue to be mailed directly to the borrower by the County Recorder. With this option, should you request follow up you will incur a nominal follow up charge per each requested confirmation of recording and/or copy, as well as any pass-though costs. For clients who occasionally need confirmation of recording and/or copies retrieved, this is by far the most economical method that still fully complies with state statutes.

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