State records guide

Property title search in New Jersey

Facts below are taken from New Jersey statutes and official sources, each linked, each checked on the date shown. General information, not legal advice.

What a New Jersey title search has to account for

Where are New Jersey deeds recorded?

Land documents are recorded at the county level, with the county clerk or register of deeds and mortgages acting as the county recording officer. N.J.S. 46:26A-6 has that officer record a document or map affecting title to real property in the county that is delivered in the required form, and the state's Fast Facts page counts 21 counties. N.J.S. 46:26A-8 calls for one index of all recorded documents and allows other indexes.

The search does not end there. R.S. 54:5-9 makes every municipal lien a first lien, paramount to prior or subsequent encumbrances except later municipal liens, and N.J.S. 2A:16-1 has a Superior Court judgment affect real estate from its entry on the court's records. The report traces the chain of title as far back as the county's records go, with document images of the key instruments, and verifies findings with the assessor, tax office, recorder and courts.

How does a New Jersey mortgage foreclosure reach the record?

The New Jersey Courts' page linked above calls New Jersey a judicial foreclosure state, where foreclosure actions must go through the court, handled by the Office of Foreclosure and the Superior Court's General Equity judges. It explains that the lender files a foreclosure complaint, that the filing enters a lis pendens, and that after final judgment the court issues a writ of execution instructing the county sheriff to sell the property at public auction. N.J.S. 2A:50-63 adds an optional procedure without a sale, in limited cases such as abandoned premises.

The courts' page also describes the redemption window: after the sale of the property, the debtor has 10 days to redeem, which it explains as buying the property back or selling it. An auction title report for a New Jersey property reports the foreclosing lien's position and the liens that would survive, in dollars, for the bidder's attorney.

What happens when New Jersey property taxes go unpaid?

In New Jersey, the municipal collector enforces property tax liens. R.S. 54:5-19 says that when taxes or any municipal lien remain in arrears at the close of the fiscal year, the collector enforces the lien by a standard tax sale in the following fiscal year, and a municipality may also hold an accelerated tax sale. R.S. 54:5-51 says a certificate not made to the municipality is void against a bona fide purchaser, lessee or mortgagee who records first, unless it is recorded within three months of the sale.

The waiting period depends on the holder and the property. R.S. 54:5-86 lets a municipality, or its assignee or transferee, file to foreclose the right of redemption after six months from the date of sale. Others who did not acquire the certificate from a municipality wait two years, except that a purchaser of property on the abandoned property list waits six months under C.55:19-58, and subsection b. of R.S. 54:5-86 lets a holder act at any time on abandoned property.

After filing, the right to redeem continues until the Superior Court's judgment bars it, except as R.S. 54:5-87 provides. That section lets the owner or the owner's heirs, in an action under subsection a. of R.S. 54:5-86, demand in writing before final judgment a judicial sale or an Internet auction through the county sheriff, in order to preserve any equity in the property. For property on the abandoned list, C.55:19-58 allows redemption only where the owner posts cash or a bond for the remediation cost or makes the showing it lists. The report verifies tax sales and redemptions with the tax office and states the surviving liens, taxes and assessments in dollars.

How does the report trace New Jersey title at death or divorce?

A probate title search finds the decedent's property by name and reports vesting at death, how title passes and the liens to pay.

N.J.S. 2A:34-23 lets the court make awards to effectuate an equitable distribution of property, real, personal or otherwise, legally and beneficially acquired during the marriage or civil union. It excludes property acquired by gift, devise or intestate succession, except that interspousal gifts are subject to distribution. As amended by P.L.2023, c.238, it also addresses a party's death before the final judgment. The report states the recorded deed or judgment it finds, and an attorney reads the effect.

Why does a New Jersey condominium lien matter before a sale?

C.46:8B-21 gives a condominium association lien recorded under that section a limited priority over prior recorded mortgages and other liens, except municipal liens and federal tax liens. The priority covers customary assessments, up to the aggregate for the six-month period before the lien was recorded, cumulatively renewed each year. Where more than one lien is filed, the total with priority stays within that six-month amount.

The section ties the priority to timing. It reaches a particular mortgage only if the lien was recorded before the association received the foreclosure summons and complaint, or before a lis pendens was filed. Apart from the annual renewal, the priority expires on the first day of the 60th month after recording, and a later lien cannot gain priority over the same mortgage for that period. Subsection e. says a first mortgagee or other purchaser who obtains title through foreclosure of the first mortgage is not liable for the unit's earlier common expenses. C.45:22A-44.1 gives other associations a parallel lien. The report states any recorded association lien it finds.

Which package fits a New Jersey property?

Every package covers New Jersey property wherever it is recorded. Pick by situation:

• Probate law firm: Find every property a decedent held, how it was vested and what has to be paid before it passes. $595 per estate.
• Real estate law firm: A preliminary report with schedule-style exceptions and print-ready exhibits for your matter. $695 per property.
• Builders and developers: Multi-parcel research on access, easements, restrictions, mineral reservations and entity ownership. $995 first parcel.
• Auction buyer: Know the total cost to own, which liens survive the sale and whether to bid at all. $395 for 1 property.
• Home buyer: Confirm the seller owns the home and learn what has to be cleared before you pay. $449 per property.
• Home seller: Find the old mortgage, judgment or name mismatch before a buyer's title company does. $449 per property.

Questions about a title search in New Jersey