Summary
SB 255 will require counties to establish a record notification program for notifying parties involved in a transfer of ownership of a property, such as recordation of a deed, quitclaim deed, or deed of trust.
Background
Property owners throughout California may have heard about new services monitoring the status of their property with their respective county. As many counties have shifted towards electronic signature services, fraud has become easier to carry out and more widespread. Most homeowners do not regularly check with their county regarding their home title status. Consequently, victims of fraud remain unaware, which becomes costly and time consuming to correct. Since most counties do not inform parties of a change to deeds, instead property owners must regularly check with county offices or turn to subscription fraud detection services which notify owners of any changes to the deed of their property.
In a recent case, a neighbor accidentally put the wrong address down during a change to their deed. Unfortunately, this resulted in a property owner finding out their name was no longer on their deed several years later. California is particularly vulnerable to title fraud due to its thriving real estate market and high property values. Although rare, the results of title fraud can be devastating.
According to the California Department of Real Estate only 6 out of 58 Counties offer free notifications of changes in real estate documents. These include big and small counties like Calaveras, San Diego, and Los Angeles. While these counties have electronic notification systems for property owners any time a change to a document is recorded with the county; Riverside, Contra Costa, and Placer County offer letter notification services.
Proposal
SB 255 will give property owners peace of mind and protection from fraud by requiring counties to provide notification to parties involved in a transferring of ownership of a property or modifying a property title.