Register of Deeds

Responsibilities

• To record, maintain and provide informational access for documents concerning land titles (deeds), certain liens, and other documents related to property transactions in Georgetown County. The Register assures all recorded documents comply with the requirements of federal and state recording statutes and are available for public review.
• File, index and record deeds, mortgages and miscellaneous property related records and plats in a variety of formats.
• In mortgage index, record and index financing statements.
• Record and index federal tax liens as well as various other miscellaneous liens.
• Collect a recording fee based on all documents recorded according to state statutes.
• Provide copies of recorded documents for a fee.
• Provide certified true copies of any documents on record in the office (such as mortgages, powers of attorney, deeds, etc.).
• Offer on-site information and instructions on how to use record books and microfilm.

This office does not do the following:

• Perform title searches or searches for other information.
• Advise, refer or make legal recommendations, provide forms or prepare legal documents.
• Report information to credit bureaus and/or other agencies.

Notice

A person preparing a document for recordation or filing in the official records may not include a social security, driver's license, state identification, passport, checking account, savings account, credit card, or debit card number, or PIN code, or passwords in the document, unless expressly required by law.

An individual has a right to request a register of deeds or Clerk of Court to remove from an image or copy of an official record placed on a publicly available Internet website used by a register of deeds or clerk of court to display public records, any number as above mentioned contained in an official record. The request must be in writing and delivered by mail, facsimile, or electronic transmission or in person, to the register of deeds or clerk of court. The request must specify the identification page number that contains the information to be redacted. There is no fee for the redaction pursuant to request.

Common Terms

• Conveyance is the transferring title of real property (real estate, land) from one person to another.
• Deed or Title is a legal instrument or document used to transfer property to a new owner. A deed names ownership and details a description of the property, previous owners and type of deed, whether it is a tax deed, quitclaim, warranty or other.
• Mechanic's Lien is the record of a contractor's claim against property to secure payment of debt for materials or labor.
• A plat is a scale-sized drawing of parcels or lots of land usually created by a surveyor defining the size and boundaries of the property.
• Restrictive Covenants are the specific rules pertaining to a particular property
• A Title Search, also known as an abstract, is a comprehensive research process which analyzes property status information, including ownership, liens, deed, mortgages and history.
• The Tax Map Sequence Number (TMS Number), also known as a PID, is the reference number containing information necessary to identify and locate a particular property.

History

The Register of Mesne Conveyance Office (now known in many counties as the Register of Deeds) has origins in colonial South Carolina under the state's Office of the Secretary and Register of the Province. Some records of real estate transactions date back to the 1670s (however not in Georgetown County). Continuous records begin in 1719 in some areas. In 1731, a separate land registry began to show all real property transactions for the entire state. In 1839, the State declared the Clerk of Circuit Court as the RMC in each of the state's districts except for Charleston and Georgetown. Then in 1896, the State of South Carolina abolished the RMC offices. The duties devolved upon the Clerks of Court. However, Charleston and Greenville counties retained their RMC offices.

In more recent years other counties have reinstated the offices of the RMC. Georgetown County and the State established the office of the Register of Mesne Conveyance as a separate office from the Clerk of Court in July 1996. However, the Clerk of Court managed the office until January 1998. The State also changed the name officially to the Register of Deeds with an allowance for any current elected official the option of maintaining the historical name of Register of Mesne Conveyance. Presently, there are approximately sixteen counties having separate Registers.

We Now Accept Documents Through E-Recording

Georgetown County Register of Deeds office is pleased to announce that we are accepting documents through E-Recording as of March 14, 2022. Our accepted vendor at this time will be Simplifile. We will add other vendors at a later date. Please note E-Recording documents received after 4:30 pm EST will not be processed until the next business day.

To set up an E-Recording account, you may visit our accepted vendors below at:

Simplifile: www.simplifile.com or call 800-460-5657.
E-Recording: www.erecording.com or call 1-855-200-1150.