How to check for liens on a property in Durham County, NC
In Durham County, liens and lis pendens recorded against a property are in the Durham County Register of Deeds index, searched by the owner's name and the property, and judgments are kept by the court clerk, not the recorder. Each deed of trust also needs a recorded satisfaction to be off the title. A HeritageDeed report does this for one address in Durham County: $49, usually within minutes, with the source of every finding.
Search a Durham County property, $49
Step by step in Durham County
- 1
Identify the parcel
Find the owner of record and the parcel number in the Durham County Tax Administration records: liens are indexed against the owner's name and the property.
- 2
Search the recorded liens
Search the Durham County Register of Deeds index under the owner's name and the property for liens, lis pendens and other notices.
- 3
Check the court for judgments
Judgments are docketed with the Judgments are docketed with the Clerk, not with the Durham County Register of Deeds; search the owner's name there too.
- 4
Check every deed of trust
A deed of trust with no recorded satisfaction is still a lien of record; North Carolina gives the lender 30 days after the creditor receives full payment (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 45-36.9).
- 5
Or order the report
A HeritageDeed report runs these searches for one Durham County address and lists every finding with its source, $49, usually within minutes.
What Durham County records show
In North Carolina, deeds and other real property documents are recorded by the county Register of Deeds. A recorded conveyance is effective against lien creditors and purchasers only from the time of its registration (G.S. 47-18), so the order of recording decides priority.
A North Carolina home loan is secured by a deed of trust. The lender must submit a satisfaction for recording within 30 days after payoff (G.S. 45-36.9), so a loan with no recorded satisfaction is still a lien of record.
Judgments are docketed with the Clerk of Superior Court, not with the Register of Deeds (G.S. 1-234).
A real Durham County report
We ran this search on the Durham Bulls Athletic Park (409 Blackwell St, Durham, NC 27701): 1 deed, 0 open deeds of trust, 0 recorded liens. See the Durham County sample report.
What the report checks in Durham County
- Liens and City of Durham code-enforcement orders recorded with the Register of Deeds, listed as name matches to verify
- Federal court records matched to the owner
Not covered here
- Judgments docketed with the Clerk of Superior Court are not searched.
Questions
Are judgments recorded with the Durham County Register of Deeds in Durham County?
Judgments are docketed with the Clerk of Superior Court, not with the Register of Deeds (G.S. 1-234).
How long does a lender have to record a satisfaction in North Carolina?
30 days after the creditor receives full payment (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 45-36.9). Statutory duty to submit the satisfaction for recording.
What does a HeritageDeed search in Durham County not cover?
Records start in 1978: a purchase before then has its deed read by book and page, but earlier loans are not searched.
Is this title insurance?
No. It is a search of the public record for one Durham County property. A lender closing a loan will still require a title insurance commitment from a licensed insurer.
More about Durham County property records
Check the title of a Durham County property
AI title search, $49 per report. Usually ready in about a minute. Full refund if we can't deliver.