You are NOT on the Cook County official website, you are on Deeds.com, a private website that is not affiliated with any government agency.
Effective 10/26/2023, the county has a new policy requiring that a document's preparer name must be that of a person and not a company. The county will begin rejecting documents that do not conform to this change.
Effective Monday, December 7, 2020, the Cook County Clerk's Office has assumed all operations and duties of the Cook County Recorder of Deeds Office and that office no longer exists.
NOTICE: Effective January 21, 2019, prior to recording, all Cook County property conveyance instruments must be accompanied by an electronically-completed Cook County Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration, aka, a "MyDec," which can be completed via the Illinois Department of Revenue's MyDec Transfer Tax Portal -- https://mytax.illinois.gov/mydec The requirement to use MyDec is already in effect for all property transfers in the City of Chicago, and is being extended to all property in Cook County, including "exempt" and "non-exempt" transfers. This requirement does not alter any local municipal requirements for transferring property, and must be fulfilled, even if the instrument is accompanied by a Grantor/Grantee Affidavit.
Recording Fees
STANDARD DOCUMENTS
Standard Documents with Rental Housing Support Program (RHSP) Fee * - 107.00
Standard Documents without RHSP fee * $88.00
Certified copies of standard documents $55.00
Non-Certified copies of standard documents $27.50
NON STANDARD DOCUMENTS
Non-Standard instruments that are priced by page (first two pages)* $53.00
(Plus $2.00 for each additional page)
Grantor/Grantee affidavit $2.00
Additional fee for documents wherein the premises affected thereby are referred to by document number and not by legal description, per document number $4.00
Additional fee for documents affecting multiple tracts, parcels or lots from different addition or subdivisons per additional addition or subdivision $2.00
Plats of additions or subdivisions * $142.0
(Plus $2.00 each tract, parcel, or lot therein)
Non-conforming as described in paragraphs (1) through (5) of 55 ILCS 5/4-12002 (first two pages) * $73.00
(Plus $4.00 for each additional page)
Rental Housing Support Program Fee $9.00
Documents that affect interests in real estate that are not filed by any State Agency, any unit of local government, or any school district $1.00
Certified copies of non-standard documents (first two pages)$20.00
(Plus $2.00 for each additional page)
Non-Certified copies of non-standard documents $10.00
(Plus $1.00 for each additional page)
*Fee Shown Includes: Base Recording Fee, $23.00 GIS Fee, and $10.00 Document Storage Automation Fee.
LIENS
State or Federal Tax Liens and Releases (flat fee)$38.00
(Plus $1.00 for each additional name)
Certificate of Discharge or Release of State or Federal Tax Lien $38.00
Mechanic's Lien and satisfaction or releases of Mechanic's Lien or Assignments (first four pages) $64.00
(Plus $1.00 for each additional page)
(Plus $1.00 for each additional document number noted)
ADDITIONAL FEES/COSTS/CHARGES
To Record DD-214 Military Discharge Papers (Includes one certified copy) - FREE
Electronic copies of documents from Recorder's website $5.00
Mail Handling Fee, per document submitted by mail or commercial shipping carrier $5.00
Mail Box Rental (Per Month) $50.00
County recording fees are subject to change without notice. We recommend to contact the local recording office directly to verify this information.
Real property transfer taxes can be filed online at https:/mytax.illinois.gov/MyDec/_/ at no extra cost. Documents can be filed, viewed, and tracked at any point before the final declaration is submitted.
Real estate sales in Chicago incur three levels of transfer tax: City of Chicago, Cook County and State of Illinois Transfer Taxes, calculated as follows:
City - buyer pays $7.50 per each $1,000 of sales price; seller pays $3.00 per each $1,000 of sales price;
County - seller pays $.50 per each $1,000 of sales price;
State - seller pays $1.00 per each $1,000 of sales price.
Document Formatting Requirements
All property related documents must contain a Property Identification Number (PIN), a complete legal description (available from the County Clerk's office or prior documents on that parcel) and a commonly known address for the property. The grantee's name must appear on the face of all deeds and a return mail address must appear on the face of the document.
Standard forms shall be 8.5 x 11.0" in size, which are not permanently bound nor on continuous form. The first page of the document shall contain a blank space measuring 3" x 5" in the upper right hand corner. The document shall be on white paper of no less than 20 lb. weight and have a clean margin of 1/2" on top, bottom, right and left sides. The document shall not have any attachment stapled or affixed to any page. Any documents not meeting these guidelines (other than plats of subdivision) will be charged double the flat recording fee ($20.00 x 2 = $40.00).
Also, documents affecting title must have a preparer's name, a Real Estate Tax Declaration form (municipal, county, state where applicable) or exemption forms
Original documents walked in and recorded at any of our offices are returned immediately to the customer. A copy of the original recording is kept by CCRD until all the information on the document is indexed. Documents recorded by the title companies are returned to the respective title company. It is the responsibility of the title company to return the original recorded document to the customer. All documents mailed to CCRD for recording require a $2.25 mail return fee. Original recorded documents mailed to us should be received by the customer via return mail within 20 business days from when they are received at CCRD.
You can mail in an original document for recording. Be sure to include in your mailing a short note requesting the recording that includes a return mail address, a check in the exact amount of the recording fee and mail these to:
IMPORTANT DOCUMENT RECORDING INFORMATION:
Please note that NO DOCUMENTS may be recorded at the Cook County courthouse satellite offices. ALL DOCUMENTS must be recorded at:
Cook County Clerk
Recording Division
118 N. Clark Street, Room 120
Chicago, Illinois 60602