Expect Unexpected Registry Closures

If you go the the website of the Berkshire Middle Registry of Deeds in Pittsfield today, this is what you see:

The Berkshire Middle District Registry of Deeds is temporarily closed due to a COVID-19 exposure.

We will reopen on Wednesday, April 15, 2020. Please check our website or Facebook for any additional updates.

We cannot receive any mail or walk-in customers. We cannot register Land Court documents until we reopen on the above-stated date.

We can Electronic Record Only.

As I understand it, an employee of a non-registry of deeds office within the courthouse where the registry is located has developed symptoms consistent with Covid-19. That prompted the Trial Court (the operator of the building) to immediately close the building, in this case, for 72 hours, for cleaning and disinfecting. 

Early in the shutdown, something similar occured at the Edward Brooke Courthouse in Boston, the home of the Suffolk Registry of Deeds. That caused the courthouse and the registry to close for five days.

So please be aware that when there is a diagnosis of a possible Covid-19 infection of an employee, the Trial Court’s standard operating procedure is (wisely and understandably) to close the entire building down for some period of time. 

If this were to happen at the Lowell Justice Center, the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds would continue to process e-filed documents and to respond to emails and telephone calls, but we would be unable to receive mail, deliveries or dropped-off documents. We would provide notice of our changed circumstances on the registry website (www.lowelldeeds.com) and on this blog.

Monday, April 13, 2020 update

The Middlesex North Registry of Deeds continues to record documents received by e-filing, by mail, and by drop-off.

We require anyone with Registered Land documents to first email us the images of the documents so that we can review them and advise the submitter of any corrections needed. This is to minimize the number of times everyone must handle the documents.


We also ask anyone with a plan to record to email us the image of the plan prior to dropping it off and to await our instructions before bringing it to the Justice Center for recording.

Recorded Land documents that under normal circumstances would be scanned then handed back to the customer are being mailed back instead because customers are not allowed in the building. For this reason, if you are dropping off a Recorded Land document for recording, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope so that we may return the original document to you.

During our limited operations, we are unable to administer oaths of office or to print and distribute corporate certificates ordered from the Secretary of State's office.

Tuesday, April 7, 2020 Update

I haven't written for several days, mostly because we've settled into routine operations here at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds. We are processing electronic recordings, in-coming mail and an occasional dropped-off document (mostly registered land and a few subdivision plans, things that can't be e-recorded).

The volume of recordings is down considerably this week from the prior two. I believe there is plenty of activity pending, but everyone else involved in the process is struggling to transition a business that required a great deal of in-person contact with a world that forbids that. Once people figure that out, there should be a burst of recording activity.

Recording Plans in the Pandemic

The health and safety restrictions in place during the pandemic have altered much of how the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds operates. A major goal is to minimize in-person contact between registry staff and our customers.

To help with this we have created a drop-off system in which customers may leave documents in a basket we have placed at the front entrance of the Lowell Justice Center. Customers place their packets in the basket, call the registry at 978-322-9000 to tell us of the drop off, and then depart. Once the customer has left the building, someone from the registry will come out, retrieve the package, record it, and mail the originals back to the customer.

This system fails when the documents delivered by the customer have some defect that prevents them from being recorded. For this reason, we have imposed an additional requirement on all Registered Land recordings. The customer must first email the intended documents to us at lowelldeeds@comcast.net so that we can review the documents and communicate any corrections needed to the customer before the documents are dropped off. Only after receiving an email back from the registry instructing the customer that the documents are suitable for recording may the customer drop the physical documents off at the Justice Center.

We now impose a similar requirement on all subdivision plans that are to be recorded.

If you have a plan to record, here is what you must do:

If you have an electronic version of the plan exactly as it is to be recorded - in other words, an electronic image showing all necessary signatures and stamps - then email that electronic version to us, preferably as a PDF document.

If you don't have an electronic version, or the one you have doesn't show the needed signatures, then use your phone to take a photo of the plan. Be sure the photo is sufficiently clear for the registry to see the essential elements of the plan (see below for that list), then email the photo to lowelldeeds@comcast.net. We will review the plan as shown in the photo and let you know by reply email whether it is OK to bring it to the Justice Center drop-off box for recording.

Here are the things we require before a plan may be recorded:

1 – That the plan be printed on Mylar

2 – That the plan contain the surveyor’s certification that the plan complies with the rules and regulations of the registry of deeds

3 – That the plan is either (1) approved and signed by the planning board; (2) signed “approval not required” by someone authorized by the town to make that determination; or (3) contain a certification by the surveyor that “no new lines or boundaries are created”

In addition, there should be some kind of book and page or plan book and page reference to the land depicted on the plan so we can determine whether the plan is Recorded Land or Registered Land (and Registered Land plans have additional requirements).

The plan should also contain the name of a person or entity connected with the land and should identify any streets shown on the plan. These entity and street names will be added to our index to assist future researchers in finding the plan.

If you have any questions about this procedure, please email or call us (lowelldeeds@comcast.net or 978-322-9000). 

New SJC Order of Court Operations

Below is the text of a release from the Massachusetts Trial Court relative to the latest order from the Supreme Judicial Court on the operations of state courthouses in the Commonwealth. This order should not alter the way the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds has been operating this week and last week (electronic recording; incoming mail; and document drop-off). Here's the Trial Court's release:

BOSTON, MA — In light of the ongoing and urgent public health concerns regarding the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the Supreme Judicial Court today issued an order that continues to restrict the number of people coming to Massachusetts state courthouses.

Effective April 6, 2020, the new order repeals and replaces two earlier court orders; the Order Regarding Empanelment Of Juries, issued by the court on March 13, 2020, and the Order Limiting In-Person Appearances In State Courthouses To Emergency Matters That Cannot Be Resolved Through A Videoconference Or Telephonic Hearing, issued by the court on March 17, 2020.
All trials, whether jury or bench, in both criminal and civil cases, scheduled to begin in Massachusetts state courts on or beforeMay 1, 2020, are continued to a date no earlier than May 4, 2020, unless the trial is a bench trial in a civil matter and may be conducted otherwise than in-person by agreement of the parties and of the court.

As a result of today's SJC order, courthouses will continue to be closed to the public except to conduct emergency hearings that cannot be resolved virtually (i.e., by telephone, videoconference, email, or comparable means, or through the electronic filing system) until at least May 4, 2020. All court clerks', registers', and recorder's offices shall continue to conduct court business --to accept the filing of pleadings and other documents in emergency matters, to schedule and facilitate hearings in emergency matters, to issue orders in emergency matters, to answer questions from attorneys, litigants, and the general public, and to conduct other necessary business of the respective court. All such business will be conducted virtually, except when the filing of pleadings and other documents in emergency matters cannot be accomplished virtually.

The Trial Court will announce today the April 2, 2020 launch of a Help Line for non-emergency matters that the public can call to ask general questions about their civil and criminal cases and help callers navigate the court system. The Help Line will be staffed from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and can be reached by calling 833-91COURT.

Full lists of emergency matters identified in Standing Orders for each department of the Trial Court, as well as updates regarding the court's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, are available on the court's website.

Town Boards and Electronic Signatures

With town boards now meeting virtually, the ability of board members to physically sign decisions in the traditional ink-on-paper way has been disrupted. These boards (and others) should look to Massachusetts General Laws chapter 110G for guidance.

Chapter 110G, also known as the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, was enacted way back in 2005. It made legal the use of electronic documents and electronic signatures in the Commonwealth. Section 2 of the law defines an electronic signature as:

“An electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record”

This means that pretty much anything can constitute your signature, as long as you intend for it to be your signature. So stop thinking about ink-on-paper and start thinking about how to express the intent of the person signing.

The best way to express intent is to do it expressly. In other words, come right out and say it, something like “I intend the foregoing mark to be my legal signature in accordance with MGL c.110G.” 

Section 7 of chapter 110G is also important to this discussion. It says:

    (a) A record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form.

    (b) A contract may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because an electronic record was used in its formation.

    (c) If a law requires a record to be in writing, an electronic record satisfies the law.

    (d) If a law requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies the law.

This section makes chapter 110G an “overlay” law which means the legislature did not comb through every existing statute and anywhere it said “something must be in writing” or “something must be signed” amend each of those instances by adding language like “or by an electronic document” and “or by an electronic signature.” Instead, chapter 110G says anytime a law requires something to be in writing or something to be signed, that law is complied with by the electronic equivalent of a document or a signature.

Although this law has been around for 15 years, people have been slow to adopt it or even acknowledge its existence. But it’s on the books and now is the perfect time to start using it.

Two more points:

If you do execute a document in this manner, please give us a heads-up at the registry of deeds that you are sending such a document. (Call us at 978-322-9000 or email to lowelldeeds@comcast.net). We have seen so few documents executed this way that I don’t want us to inadvertently mail yours back without recording of its unfamiliar appearance. If we are on alert that people will be executing documents this way, we’ll just take them in the normal course of business.

Point Two: If your document needs to be acknowledged, getting something notarized remotely in Massachusetts is still beyond the scope of existing statutes. There was a flurry of publicity last week about a bill in the legislature that would allow remote video acknowledgements in very limited circumstances, but I remain skeptical that it will be enacted. (Don’t get me wrong; I think Massachusetts is long overdue in adopting remote video notarization, but not everyone feels that way).

Masslandrecords problem today

10:22 am: Data and images of documents we have recorded today are not appearing on the masslandrecords.com website. We have recorded more than 50 documents today. They all are properly recorded on the local server at the registry but they are not being replicated on the masslandrecords server.

I checked some other registries - Worcester and Cambridge - and no documents are showing up there for today. This suggests the problem is system-wide.

Technicians are working on the problem. Check back here for updates.

UPDATE AT 11:32 am:  The problem is fixed. The documents recorded on both Recorded Land and Registered Land that appear on the masslandrecords site match the documents that show up on the registry's internal recording system. So masslandrecords is now UP TO DATE.

Essential Services

The latest from mass.gov - 

Governor Charlie Baker has issued an emergency order requiring all businesses and organizations that do not provide “COVID-19 Essential Services” to close their physical workplaces and facilities to workers, customers and the public. These businesses are encouraged to continue operations remotely. Governor Baker's order has been extended until May 4. 

The Administration also updated the “COVID-19 Essential Services” list which is based on updated federal guidance. The new list goes into effect on April 1 at noon.

Under the “Other Community-, Education-, Or Government-Based Operations And Essential Functions” section of the Essential Services list is the following:

Staff at government offices who perform title search, notary, and recording services in support of mortgage and real estate services and transactions.

Based on this, Middlesex North Registry of Deeds should continue operating going forward as we have over the past two weeks, with a reduced staff onsite processing electronic recordings, incoming mail, and dropped-off documents.

However, if local circumstances change, say if an employee of the Lowell Justice Center is diagnosed with Covid-19 and the building closes completely, then we will revert to electronic recording only until the building reopens. 

Contingency Planning

The Middlesex North Registry of Deeds continued pandemic-operations today, recording documents submitted by e-file; by mail; and by customer drop-off (as described in prior posts on this site). The "Red Team" of registry employees staffed the place today while the "Blue Team" which was on duty all last week, stayed home. Since I'm on the Blue Team, I operated from home today. Our new phone system allows calls to my office phone to automatically ring on my cell phone and my computer is able to access everything I could access at work.

While things are going smoothly, that's almost certain to change given the rapidly evolving situation we find ourselves in. For instance, here is (some of) a notice now appearing on the Suffolk Registry of Deeds website:

Courthouse Closing

As of Saturday, March 28, 2020, as the result of a COVID-19 exposure at the Edward Brooke Courthouse, the entire facility is now closed to both the public and all courthouse employees.

The Suffolk Registry of Deeds staff cannot access the facility and, therefore, cannot record either recorded land or registered land mail sent in by Fed Ex, UPS or the U.S. Mail.

From Monday, March 30 to Friday, April 3, the only recording that will occur is the electronic recording of recorded land documents – which will be recorded by staff remotely from home.

From Monday, March 30 to Friday, April 3, please do not send any mail to the Registry since there is no one present to retrieve, accept or sign for it.

If this is to happen at the Lowell Justice Center, the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds would react similarly: we would have to halt all recordings of tangible documents (mail and drop-offs) and be able to (remotely) record electronic filings only. Such a situation would persist for at least five working days, perhaps longer.

We all hope nothing like this happens, but I wanted you to know that it was a possibility so that you can plan accordingly.