How to search deeds in Durham County, NC
Deeds in Durham County are recorded with the Durham County Register of Deeds, searchable by grantor and grantee name. The Durham County Register of Deeds' electronic records cover real estate documents from January 1, 1978; the historical record and the mortgage, condominium, corporate and plat books are not included. 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
Start from the parcel
The Durham County Tax Administration parcel record often names the current deed's book and page or document number.
- 2
Search the index
Search the Durham County Register of Deeds grantor-grantee index by name, or by the document number, to find the deed and the earlier ones in the chain.
- 3
Read each deed
Check the parties, the legal description and the recording date, and whether a later deed conveyed the property again.
- 4
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.
The Durham County Register of Deeds' electronic records cover real estate documents from January 1, 1978; the historical record and the mortgage, condominium, corporate and plat books are not included.
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
- Owner, parcel number and the vesting deed's book and page from the county tax parcel records
- The vesting deed, and deeds, deeds of trust, satisfactions, assignments, substitutions of trustee and foreclosure notices recorded with the Register of Deeds
- Liens and City of Durham code-enforcement orders recorded with the Register of Deeds, listed as name matches to verify
Not covered here
- Records start in 1978: a purchase before then has its deed read by book and page, but earlier loans are not searched.
Questions
How far back do Durham County land records go?
The Durham County Register of Deeds' electronic records cover real estate documents from January 1, 1978; the historical record and the mortgage, condominium, corporate and plat books are not included.
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.