[External] Bartholomew County Recorder Rejecting Documents for Non-Conformity

Message Regarding Bartholomew County Recorder Rejecting Documents for Non-Conformity

As you all know, one of the items we addressed in our predictable recording fee bill, was clearly establishing the circumstances under which a County Recorder can reject documents.  Any issues that affect the validity or legibility of a document, are acceptable grounds for rejection.  We have stressed that it actually benefits our industry for documents that are either invalid or illegible to be rejected.  However I have been receiving numerous complaints that the Bartholomew County Recorder has been rejecting documents for non-conformity issues.  While we encourage County Recorders to make recording parties aware of conformity issues for future reference, if a document is valid and legible, it MUST be recorded.  I have reached out to the President of the Recorders’ Association, and asked that they address the Bartholomew County Recorder, and get them on the same page as everyone else.  I also told them that the channel of communication we have established works both ways, so if they have any issues they are seeing from our industry on a consistent basis, to let me know so that we can address and fix them as well.you all know, one of the items we addressed in our predictable recording fee bill, was clearly establishing the circumstances under which a County Recorder can reject documents.  Any issues that affect the validity or legibility of a document, are acceptable grounds for rejection.  We have stressed that it actually benefits our industry for documents that are either invalid or illegible to be rejected.  However I have been receiving numerous complaints that the Bartholomew County Recorder has been rejecting documents for non-conformity issues.  While we encourage County Recorders to make recording parties aware of conformity issues for future reference, if a document is valid and legible, it MUST be recorded.  I have reached out to the President of the Recorders’ Association, and asked that they address the Bartholomew County Recorder, and get them on the same page as everyone else.  I also told them that the channel of communication we have established works both ways, so if they have any issues they are seeing from our industry on a consistent basis, to let me know so that we can address and fix them as well.

As I have mentioned on a few occasions before, it is VERY important for me to have specific examples of issues to be able to use and address with the county officials.  Merely telling me a specific recorder is doing something wrong, doesn’t do much good without specific examples of what they are doing wrong.  The ONLY way to prevent a situation where it is our word against an already defensive County Recorder’s, is if we have hard evidence of the issue to present with our complaint.  If you have any issues with a County Recorder, please email me all the details, and even a copy of the documents if possible, so that I have all the necessary tools when I’m fighting for you. 

We worked hard to establish a functional and positive dialogue with the Recorders, and in order to take advantage of that asset we now have, I need more data on the issues than an email simply stating there is an issue.  If there is an issue, I need specific examples of that issue in order to properly address it.  Thank you.

Daniel Christian, ILTA Government Affairs Co-chair
President, Integrated Search Technologies, LLC &
Indiana Search Technologies, LLC
Ph: (317) 752-9228 
Daniel.Christian@insearchtech.com