Three Set Rule Revisited

The “last day of the month” has always been the busiest time at the registry of deeds and that was certainly true yesterday. Despite recent average recording numbers of about 300 documents per day, we processed more than 700 documents on April 29. While we are certainly capable of handling 700 documents (that was our daily average two years ago), our recording line got jammed up late yesterday when three separate customers reached the recording counter, each with multiple sets of documents. By set, I mean a group of documents related to the same transaction. For example, a MLC, 6D certificate, deed, mortgage, second mortgage and homestead would make up a typical “set.” When a customer arrives at the counter with nine sets of documents (as was the case in at least one instance yesterday) that means we must index and cashier about 45 different documents which takes quite a long time. And when three people do it at once, that ties up all of our primary recording stations causing the unfortunate customers behind these high volume recorders to wait for a lengthy period of time. We’ve already addressed this problem during our reduced-staff lunch periods by imposing a three sets limit between noon and 2:00 p.m. But in the aftermath of this past Friday’s situation, I’m contemplating extending this rule to the entire day. This rule does not impose an outright prohibition on the number of documents one person can record, it just means that you might have to make several trips to the recording counter. During your first trip, you could record three sets of documents, but if you had more and anyone was in line behind you, you would have to move to the back of the line and start over again. Since the vast majority of our customers only record documents for one or two transactions at a time, this rule would only benefit them since it would prevent them from having to wait behind someone who was recording so many documents at one time that they tie up a recording station for 30 or 45 minutes.