NVAR Public Policy Forum Hosts Arlington and Fairfax Clerks of Court

It’s an office that is vital to the buying and selling of real estate – a place where every land record and sales transaction is kept on file to convey clear title to the purchaser.

Some years ago, it was all nearly lost.

A fire at the Arlington County Courthouse destroyed all paper court records, including deeds and other land documents. While recordings stopped for a period of two to three weeks, Arlington was lucky. The Court had digital backup files of all of the records that were lost in the fire, which allowed both the courts and the real estate industry to recover quickly.

At the time, Fairfax County had no such back up for records older than 1960. A similar incident would have halted land transactions for a period of months, if not years. Fairfax Clerk of the Court John Frey approached NVAR to support a $3 technology fee on all recorded instruments, earmarked for records modernization. NVAR supported the effort, despite previous opposition to increased fees on home sales transactions. The fee was approved by the General Assembly, and has been used to fund major improvements in Clerks’ offices since.

During an NVAR Public Policy Forum on October 17, Clerks John Frey (Fairfax) and Paul Ferguson (Arlington) met with members at NVAR’s Fairfax Headquarters to thank Realtors® for their consistent support. The officials also previewed technology changes still to come for our area. Those advancements will save time for Realtors®, their clients, and government staff.

Both the Arlington and Fairfax court systems offer remote electronic access to digitized records. For Arlington, those records date to 1950; in Fairfax, records dating to the late 1700s are available. This remote access system, offered on a monthly subscription basis, allows Realtors® and others in the real estate settlement business to avoid trips to the courthouse to research records in person.

Fairfax County also launched an e-filing system for recording documents. The County currently receives just over 20 percent of its recordings through the e-filing system, with hopes of increasing that to 50 percent by 2014. Arlington County is soliciting bids for a similar system, which will be operational in Spring 2014.

These e-filing systems will allow settlement agents to file settlement documents, record them with the local government, and disburse funds on the same day, all without leaving their office. It eliminates the need for courier fees between the settlement office and the courthouse. Finally, corrections to the recording can take place remotely and without delay.

The Clerks also alerted attendees to a 2013 change that allows land owners to name a beneficiary on their deeds, whether on the initial filing or on any subsequent revision. This allows owners to transfer property directly to their heirs without going through the probate process.

Both Clerks’ offices welcome questions about these new programs, and can also offer tours of the land records offices for interested parties. For more information, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/courts/circuit and arlingtonva.us/departments/ClerkofCircuitCourt/clerkofcourtmain.aspx.