Land Records Division
Welcome to the Land Records Division of the Office of the Clerk of Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans.
We have completed the process of consolidating the three offices formerly known as Recorder of Mortgages, Register of Conveyances, and Custodian of Notarial Archives. There is now one division for filing, recording and indexing all instruments and acts. This division is known as the Land Records Division and continues to be a part of the Clerk's Office.
All Orleans Parish land records such as sales, mortgages, building contracts and judgments of possession will now be filed and recorded in the Land Records Division of the Clerk's Office located on the 4 th floor at 1340 Poydras Street. Modern abstract and legal research can now be done online through a paid subscription service or at the Clerk's Office at no charge.
Effective Wednesday, March 12, 2014, the new Land Records Index is comprised of the following:
1) The Mortgage Index which covers September 21, 1987 through February 14, 2014;
2) The Conveyance Index which covers January 1, 1989 through February 14, 2014; and
3) The Unified Indexing System Index which covers February 18, 2014 forward.
The above indices are available online remotely and in the Clerk's Office.
Images for the above indices are available through the Unified Indexing System from January 1, 2005 forward. The images prior to February 18, 2014 can be searched by instrument number (or the former notarial archives number), mortgage instrument number (MIN), or conveyance instrument number (CIN). The search results for these images will only show the instrument number (or former notarial archives number).
Thank you for your input and support regarding the new Land Records Unified Indexing System. As a result of your input, we continue to make changes and improvements to the system. We welcome your ongoing suggestions.
Keith Guglielmo, Land Records Supervisor
kguglielmo@orleanscdc.com
Land Records Division
OFFICE HOURS
Monday through Friday
8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
RESEARCH HOURS
Monday through Thursday
7:00 AM to 6:00 PM
7:00 AM to 5:00 PM
HISTORY OF LAND RECORDS DIVISION
Over the course of New Orleans history, three separate systems have documented ownership, sales, and burdens on property in Orleans Parish. Private notaries, later the Notarial Archives Office, have maintained original documents. The Conveyance Office, founded in 1827, registered sales for public notice. Also, the Recorder of Mortgages, an office holder that was first appointed in the 1760s, recorded debts and other burdens of property.
Today, the documents located in the Notarial Archives Division of the office of the Clerk of Civil District Court date back as far as 1735.
During the 2006 legislative session, the Louisiana Legislature passed a law consolidating under the jurisdiction of the Clerk of Court, what for over 140 years had been three independent offices. Consolidation took effect on January 1, 2009. At that time, the offices had three separate data systems. Merging the systems into a unified indexing system with a scanning platform has been the final step in completing the consolidation process.
After conducting extensive research of recording and indexing systems for real estate records in other Louisiana parishes and major American cities, as well as gathering input from professional associations for public recorders and clerks, the Clerk of Court completed a comprehensive rebuilding of the system by which property records can be recorded, searched and examined. This process required cooperation between three formerly independent jurisdictions, financing, upgrading of equipment, and creating redundancies to safeguard data. The appropriate software and scanning systems are now in place to handle the volume of material - some 50,000 new acts each year and millions of older documents requiring digital access.
While most data systems track records forward from the day they "go live," the Clerk's priority is to enter 30 years of existing records into the system. This higher standard is nearly complete. While the digital system will offer speedy access for users, original notarial volumes can still be viewed in the Land Records office located at 1340 Poydras Street, 3rd, 4th and 5th floors.
ADVANTAGES OF THE NEW LAND RECORDS DIVISION
EFFICIENCIES FOR PUBLIC USERS AND STAFF
All Orleans Parish land records such as sales, mortgages, building contracts and judgments of possession will now be filed and recorded at the Land Records Division of the Clerk's Office located on the 4th floor at 1340 Poydras Street. The filing, registering and recording of documents in Orleans Parish will now be a one-stop process.
LOWER RECORDING FEES
Instead of three separate filing fees for mortgages, conveyances and notarial archives, there will now be just one fee.
AVAILABILITY OF OUR ONLINE RESEARCH
OF PROPERTY RECORDS
With 30 years of information in the system, most of modern abstract and legal research can be done online, which reduces the need to visit our downtown offices. The instructions and fees associated with Online Records are available on our website: www.orleanscivilclerk.com .
A UNIFIED RESEARCH DATABASE
This means there is no "wrong number." Inconsistencies between the old, separate systems have been addressed and corrected by merging and matching three different records systems into one unified index. Moreover, the unified indexing system will allow researchers to enter a mortgage number, and still access all records relevant to that property transaction. A researcher can now enter any number to search a document.
LAND RECORDS ARE TREATED WITH IMPORTANCE
The Clerk of Civil District Court has substantially upgraded the method by which over 275 years of historical documents are physically preserved, filed and maintained for public inspection. The new digital system holds 30 years of information, so that nearly all modern abstract and legal research can be done online.
SECURITY IN REDUNDANCY
All records entered into our new system, as well as previously entered records are backed up and stored in multiple locations. This ensures the security of Orleans Parish land records.