Deed recording
Recording a deed enters it into the public record. It is what makes a conveyance effective against the world rather than only between the two people who signed it.
Why it matters#
A delivered deed generally conveys between grantor and grantee without being recorded. The problem is everyone else.
An unrecorded deed is invisible. A later purchaser searching the record finds nothing, a creditor filing a judgment lien finds nothing, and priority can be determined against the person who recorded rather than the person who bought first.
Recording converts a private agreement into a public fact, and public facts are what the priority rules operate on.
Recorder or registrar#
Minnesota runs two systems and the choice is not optional — it follows the property.
Abstract property records with the county recorder under Minn. Stat. ch. 386.
Torrens property files with the registrar of titles under chs. 508 and 508A, where the instrument becomes a memorial on the certificate of title.
The same official generally holds both offices, but the capacities are legally distinct. On registered land, an interest that never becomes a memorial may simply not bind a later purchaser — which turns a filing error into a lost claim rather than a correctable oversight.
What has to accompany it#
Deed tax, calculated on the consideration.
An eCRV, generally required where consideration exceeds $3,000, filed with the county auditor when the document is presented for recording.
Compliance with formatting requirements — margins, legibility, the legal description, the drafter's name, the address for tax statements. Requirements vary in detail by county and a document that does not comply is rejected.
A rejected deed is an unrecorded deed. The transaction happened, the money moved, and the record does not reflect it until someone notices and corrects the defect.
The gap period#
Recording is not instantaneous.
Between submission and the document appearing in the searchable index there is a gap, which on Torrens property can be substantial — instruments received but not yet entered as memorials on the certificate.
Title companies handle this by searching to a date and insuring the gap. It is one of the practical reasons title insurance exists, and one of the reasons a search alone is not sufficient protection.
Confirming it happened#
Worth checking a few weeks after closing that the deed appears in the record and that the seller's prior mortgage was released.
Both are the closing agent's responsibility and both occasionally do not happen. Discovering it now is inconvenient; discovering it at the next sale, years later, with the original lender merged out of existence, is considerably worse.