How to find out if a property in Cook County, IL has a mortgage
A home loan in Illinois is usually secured by a mortgage, recorded with the Cook County Clerk, Recordings; it stays a lien of record until a satisfaction or release is recorded, which Illinois law requires within 30 days after payment of the debt (765 ILCS 905/4). A HeritageDeed report does this for one address in Cook County: $49, usually within minutes, with the source of every finding.
Search a Cook County property, $49
Step by step in Cook County
- 1
Find each mortgage
Search the Cook County Clerk, Recordings index under each owner's name for mortgages recorded since they took title.
- 2
Match the satisfaction or release
For each one, look for a recorded satisfaction or release that refers to it by document number or book and page. Illinois gives the lender 30 days after payment of the debt (765 ILCS 905/4).
- 3
Treat the unmatched as open
A mortgage with no satisfaction or release of record is still a lien until the lender records one, even when the loan was paid.
- 4
Or order the report
A HeritageDeed report runs these searches for one Cook County address and lists every finding with its source, $49, usually within minutes.
What Cook County records show
Cook County no longer has a Recorder of Deeds. Voters approved merging the office into the County Clerk in a binding referendum on November 8, 2016, and the Recorder of Deeds ceased to exist on December 7, 2020. Deeds and mortgages are now recorded and searched through the Cook County Clerk's Recordings division.
A real Cook County report
We ran this search on the Willis Tower (233 S Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606): 5 deeds, 2 open mortgages, 9 recorded liens. See the Cook County sample report.
What the report checks in Cook County
- Deeds, mortgages, releases and liens recorded with the Cook County Clerk
Questions
How long does a lender have to record a satisfaction or release in Illinois?
30 days after payment of the debt (765 ILCS 905/4). $200 per offense to the aggrieved party.
Is this title insurance?
No. It is a search of the public record for one Cook County property. A lender closing a loan will still require a title insurance commitment from a licensed insurer.
More about Cook County property records
Check the title of a Cook County property
AI title search, $49 per report. Usually ready in about a minute. Full refund if we can't deliver.