Recording in Pennsylvania

Generally

• Marital Status Stated -- Not Required (but customary)
• Address for grantor/grantee/property -- Required for grantee and mortgagee
• Witnesses -- Not required
• Names typed/printed -- Yes-under all signatories
• Prepared by/return to -- Required
• Notary Stamp/requirements -- Ink stamp with name of municipality and county in which notary maintains an office and the expiration date of the notary’s commission
• Parcel or tax index number -- Required
• Recitation of Consideration -- Required
• Derivation Clause -- Not required but customary
• Corporate Signatures/Attestation -- Corporate Officer
• Ink Color/Font -- No specific requirement
• Legal Description -- State, County, Municipality, Uniform Parcel ID, (filed map or metes & bounds description generally required for insurability).
• Margins -- Most counties require 1 inch margin on all sides with first page of document also having a 3 inch margin at the top.

Recording Offices and Jurisdictions

Pennsylvania is divided into 67 Counties and each County has it's own Recorder of Deeds' Office. In some Counties, the Recorder's Office is known by a different name, such as the Department of Real Estate in Allegheny County. Records affecting land are recorded in the County where the Property is located; if the Property is located in more than 1 County, the records should be recorded with both Counties.

Recording Transfer Taxes

• Transfer Tax -- 2% - 4% purchase price depending on county. Customary to divide the tax equally between buyer and seller. If one of the parties is exempt from the tax, the other party must pay the entire tax (tax is imposed on the transaction, not the parties). If both parties are exempt, no tax due.
• Mortgage Tax -- No

Recording Requirements

• Each county is different in the way it implements the written and unwritten rules of recording. Most county recorder of deeds publish their formatting and content requirements on their office's web site. What follows below applies to most counties, but nearly every rule has at least one county that is an exception. It is highly recommended to consult the county's recorder of deeds web site where your subject property is located prior to even drafting a document to ensure that it will conform to that county's recording requirements.
• Documents be submitted on letter size (8.5" x 11") paper.
• Print may only be on one side of each page.
• The first page of each document must have a 3 inch blank margin at the top. All other margins including other pages must be a minimum of 1 inch.
• Several counties now require cover sheets for each document and summary sheets if multiple documents are being submitted as a batch.
• Deeds, Mortgages, and other documents with legal descriptions must include the UPI (Tax Parcel Number/APN).
  • Some counties have multiple concurrent numbering systems, only one of which is the UPI for recording purposes.
  • Some counties have changed their numbering systems, so a Tax Parcel Number on a prior deed may no longer be a valid number for the property under the new system.
• Deeds, Mortgages, and other documents must be authenticated in some way in order to be recorded.
  • Authentication, as in many other states, typically takes the form of a written acknowledgment of a signature taken by a notary public.
  • Pennsylvania law does allow other forms of authentication and also allows many different types of officials to take acknowledgments. These are not used very often, but do appear on occasion.
• On Deeds, the address of the grantee must be included and signed off for by either the grantee or a "responsible" party.
• On Deeds where no consideration is being paid or less than fair market value is being paid, the document must be accompanied by a completed Affidavit of Value provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue.

Sources

Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC v. Golden, 35 A.2d 1277 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2012) MERSCORP v Del. County 652 Pa. 173, (Pa. 2019)