Fee Increase Implemented Today

The implementation of the recording fee increase that took effect today went smoothly. The computer people from Boston and from our software provider worked diligently on making the change without disruption. That task was complicated by the law's requirement that documents sent to us in the mail with a postmark of December 30, 2019 or earlier will be charged the old recording fee whereas everything else, including electronic recordings, incurred the new, higher fee as of this morning.

Technically, our recording fees did not go up because it was the Community Preservation Act surcharge that was raised, in most cases, from $20 to $50. The last time recording fees increased was in 2003.

Recording Fees increase on Tuesday, Dec 31, 2019

This coming Tuesday, December 31, 2019, recording fees at the Registry of Deeds will increase in most cases by $30 per document. To be more precise, the per document surcharge that funds the Community Preservation Trust Fund is increasing from $20 to $50. The primary exceptions are for Municipal Lien Certificates which will see the associated CPA surcharge rise from $10 to $25 per document and Homesteads, which have no CPA surcharge associated with them.

Here are the old fees followed by the new fees for most document types:

• Deed - old fee is $125 - new fee will be $155
• Mortgage - old fee is $175 - new fee will be $205
• Declaration of Trust - old fee is $225 - new fee will be $255
• UCC Document - old fee is $45 - new fee will be $75
• Plan - old fee is $75 per sheet - new fee is $105 per sheet
• Homestead - fee will remain $35
• Municipal Lien Certificate 
• Most other documents - old fee is $75 - new fee will be $105

Here's a link to the new recording fee chart. 

One caveat is that documents mailed to us or sent by the equivalent delivery service (UPS or FEDEX) will have the fee determined by the date of the postmark on the envelope conveying the document to us. If the postmark date is December 30, 2019, or earlier, the fee to record the document will be the "old" fee, regardless of when we record it.

Documents submitted through the e-file system will incur the fee in effect on the day the registry processes the document submitted. 

Finally, even though the law clearly states the fee increase takes effect on December 31, 2019, a number of our customers and callers today have expressed a belief that the new fees will not be charged until the start of January 2020. But come Tuesday, December 31, 2019, we'll be charging the new fees starting the moment we open at 8:30 am.

Middlesex North Registry of Deeds closed Dec 2, 2019

The Massachusetts Trial Court has ordered that all courts in Lowell will be closed on Monday, December 2, 2019, due to the ongoing snowstorm. Because the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds is located in the Superior Courthouse, the Registry of Deeds will be closed too.