Property Watch

For most of us, our home is our most valuable asset and Register Eileen Duff wants to help you protect that asset by providing you with a free method of being notified if a document is recorded with the Registry of Deeds that affects your property.

The Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds maintains public records and documents pertaining to real property in the thirty communities comprising the Southern Essex County of Massachusetts. The majority of these documents concern property ownership, such as deeds, mortgages, and foreclosure documents.

Why is the Property Watch so Important?

Property and mortgage fraud has been reported by the FBI as one of the fastest growing white-collar crimes in America. This happens when a person knowingly records a fraudulent document making it appear that they own another person’s property or that the owner owes them money. Register Duff, former Register John O’Brien and the Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds has led the charge nationally in the fight against the recording of fraudulent documents.

How Does It Work?

The Property Watch service will automatically send you an email at the end of the recording day if any of the following documents are recorded that match your name and address:

Deeds, Mortgages, Orders of Notice, Foreclosure Deeds, UCCs, Mechanics Liens, Statements, and Notices of Contract.

Federal and State Liens are not included because they are filed against any and all property owned in the county and as such, no specific address is indexed. If you would like to find out if there are any Federal or State Liens in your name, you can use the Search buttons on our home page, or you can call our Customer Service Department at 978-542-1704, or you can email them here.

If there is a recording that matches your name and address, you will receive an alert email with a link to the document for you to view, download, and print, along with what to do in case you suspect the document is fraudulent.

Please note: The accuracy of this service is dependent upon the accuracy of the information entered when signing up and upon the accuracy of the information contained in the documents submitted to the Registry of Deeds for recordation.

How Do I Sign Up or Change My Notifications?

Enter your email address in the box below (you will be asked to enter it a second time to confirm it is correct) and then click “Add Name and Address for Alert”, at which point a new box will appear where you can enter your name and address. You can add up to five different name and address combinations per email address. Once you are finished, click Submit. You will receive a confirmation email shortly thereafter. Going forward you will only receive an alert email if a document of the types mentioned above is recorded with both your name and address.

If you would like to change your notifications (change the address, add another name/address to be notified of, etc.) enter the address you used to sign up with, and your existing notifications will be shown for you to add, change, or delete.

 

You must have a valid email address to sign up for our Property Fraud Watch notification service.