Iowa Land Records Look to the Future
A recent presentation given to the Webster, Iowa County Board of Supervisors shed light on what Iowa recorders have accomplished and their plans for the future. Uniquely qualified to report on Iowa’s land records, Webster County’s Recorder Lindsay Laufersweiler has been a member of the governing board of Iowa Land Records for seven years.
Iowa Land Records is a website created by the Iowa County Recorders Associate 20 years ago, offering free online access to more than 23 million public land records in the state. Newly recorded documents go directly into the system although recorders are hoping to begin a project bringing historical documents back to 1980 to the site.
While we often think of public records access as being related to citizens being able to discover information, what makes it all work are the relationships with businesses like lenders, utility companies, surveyors and others. By getting these types of stakeholders on board, using a uniform system across the state, anyone looking for access has a one stop shop.
The state does charge a fee of $3 to record a document electronically, in addition to any other standard recording fees that would be charged. The online system ends up being significantly more efficient than waiting for the mail or even in person visits. Submitters receive timely feedback regarding their recorded documents and can also engage in quick back and forth messages with recorders if their document is rejected for any reason.
To get a better sense of how the land records ecosystem interacts with their website, Iowa Land Records completed a survey to better understand constituent thoughts for the system in the future. A major point of focus for the survey involved the fees being charged. While the $3 fee for electronic filings is new, the standard fees for recording documents haven’t changed since 1985.
Luckily for Iowa recorders, service provider responses indicated a fairly positive response to the idea of a fee increase, with 79% supporting an increase and 83% believing it to be a good investment. This is particularly important as recorders continue to see high interest rates and affordability issues cause recording volumes to be low. With increases in inflation, these offices are becoming more reliant on recording volume to meet fixed costs while trying to bring new services to their constituents as well.
In addition to historical documents, Iowa Land Records is working on a property alert system that will notify residents of documents filed regarding their property, hopefully cutting off any potential fraud in the process.
It’s exciting for the state of Iowa and those who use their land records systems to see the progress that has been made in public records availability and the commitment to this system moving forward. Extract always likes to remind those who are filing and viewing documents to be very careful with personally identifiable information. While some Iowa counties use automated software like Extract’s ID Shield, the final responsibility for removing sensitive information usually rests with whomever is filing the document. Care to not commit common redaction errors should be taken as once the information has been made available, it’s difficult to take back.
If you’re interested in learning more about our automated redaction software, please take a look at our product page or send us a message and we’d be happy to show you a demonstration and discuss your particular land records needs.
