Oregon Recorders Information

The recording act in Oregon follows a race-notice statute. A later buyer who pays fair value, does not have notice of any earlier conflicting interests, and records first, wins and will have priority over any later recordings.

Statutory requirements for real estate deeds that are to be recorded in Oregon:

- All instruments of conveyance of any real estate must state the consideration paid for the transfer, stated in dollars. However, if the actual consideration consists of or includes other property or other value given or promised, neither the monetary value nor a description of the other property or value need be stated so long as it is noted on the face of the instrument that other property or value was either part or the whole consideration. A particular form is not required for the statement of consideration.

- The statement of consideration shall be made by the grantor or grantee.

- The first page of the document shall contain the name of the transaction(s); the names of the grantor(s) and grantee(s); the name and address to which the document should be returned after recording; for documents of conveyance of any real estate, the true and actual consideration paid for the transfer; for instruments conveying or contracting to convey fee title to any real estate, the tax statement information; for County Clerk Lien Record instruments, they shall be on official letterhead and include the seals of officers and agencies; for instruments assigning a mortgage or trust deed, the names and addresses of the assignee mortgagee or assignee trust deed beneficiary.

- A conveyance or interest of real property that is made to two or more people will 1) create a tenancy in common unless the conveyance specifically states that the parties take the property with right of survivorship; 2) create a tenancy by the entirety if the conveyance is to a husband and wife unless the conveyance states otherwise; and 3) creates a joint tenancy if the conveyance is to a trustee or personal representative.

- All instruments prepared for the purpose of conveying or contracting to convey fee title to any real estate shall contain on the face of such instrument a statement in substantially the following form: 'Until a change is requested, all tax statements shall be sent to the following address: NAME and ADDRESS.'

- Certified copies are accepted for recording.

- Documents submitted for recording must be typed, written, or printed in a font size that is 8 point or larger, on paper that is no larger than 8.5x14 inches.

- If documents do not contain the required information on the first page, a cover sheet will be prepared for the document, to which additional fees will be applied. The cover sheet does not need to be separately signed or acknowledged.

- Documents pertaining to real property must contain a legal description of the property. The property can be described by giving the subdivision according to the United States survey when coincident with the boundaries thereof, or by lots, blocks and addition names, or by partition plat recording and parcel numbers, or by giving the boundaries thereof by metes and bounds, or by reference to the book and page, document number and fee number of any public record of the county where the description may be found. However, description by tax lot number shall not be adequate for the legal property description. Initial letters, abbreviations, figures, fractions and exponents, to designate the township, range, section or part of a section, or the number of any lot or block or part thereof, or any distance, course, bearing or direction, may be employed in any such description of real property.

- All instruments conveying fee title to property shall be acknowledged. Documents should contain original signatures of the persons executing the instrument and the original signature of the officer before whom the acknowledgement was made.