§ 17-21-20. Recording required -- Recorder may impose requirements on documents to be recorded -- Prerequisites -- Additional fee for noncomplying documents -- Recorder may require tax serial number -- Exceptions -- Requirements for recording final local entity plat. (Effective 7/1/2015)

(1) Subject to Subsections (2), (3), and (4), each paper, notice, and instrument required by law to be recorded in the office of the county recorder shall be recorded unless otherwise provided.

(2) Subject to Chapter 21a, Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act, each document that is submitted for recording to a county recorder's office shall:

(a) unless otherwise provided by law, be an original or certified copy of the document;

(b) be in English or be accompanied by an accurate English translation of the document;

(c) contain a brief title, heading, or caption on the first page stating the nature of the document;

(d) except as otherwise provided by statute, contain the legal description of the property that is the subject of the document;

(e) comply with the requirements of Section 17-21-25 and Subsections 57-3-105(1) and (2);

(f) except as otherwise provided by statute, be notarized with the notary stamp with the seal legible; and

(g) have original signatures.

(3)

(a) Subject to Chapter 21a, Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act, a county recorder may require that each paper, notice, and instrument submitted for recording in the county recorder's office:

(i) be on white paper that is 8-1/2 inches by 11 inches in size;

(ii) have a margin of one inch on the left and right sides and at the bottom of each page;

(iii) have a space of 2-1/2 inches down and 4-1/2 inches across the upper right corner of the first page and a margin of one inch at the top of each succeeding page;

(iv) not be on sheets of paper that are continuously bound together at the side, top, or bottom;

(v) not contain printed material on more than one side of each page;

(vi) be printed in black ink and not have text smaller than seven lines of text per vertical inch; and

(vii) be sufficiently legible to make certified copies.

(b) A county recorder who intends to establish requirements under Subsection (3)(a) shall first:

(i) provide formal notice of the requirements; and

(ii) establish and publish an effective date for the requirements that is at least three months after the formal notice under Subsection (3)(b)(i).

(c) If a county recorder establishes requirements under this Subsection (3), the county recorder may charge and collect from persons who submit a document for recording that does not comply with the requirements, in addition to any other fee that the county recorder is authorized to charge and collect, a fee that:

(i) is calculated to recover the additional cost of handling and recording noncomplying documents; and

(ii) may not exceed $2 per page.

(4)

(a) To facilitate the abstracting of an instrument, a county recorder may require that the applicable tax serial number of each parcel described in the instrument be noted on the instrument before it may be accepted for recording.

(b) If a county recorder requires the applicable tax serial number to be on an instrument before it may be recorded:

(i) the county recorder shall post a notice of that requirement in a conspicuous place at the recorder's office;

(ii) the tax serial number may not be considered to be part of the legal description and may be indicated on the margin of the instrument; and

(iii) an error in the tax serial number does not affect the validity of the instrument or effectiveness of the recording.

(5) Subsections (2), (3), and (4) do not apply to:

(a) a map;

(b) a certificate or affidavit of death;

(c) a military discharge;

(d) a document regarding taxes that is issued by the Internal Revenue Service of the United States Department of the Treasury;

(e) a document submitted for recording that has been filed with a court and conforms to the formatting requirements established by the court; or

(f) a document submitted for recording that is in a form required by law.

(6)

(a) As used in this Subsection (6):

(i) "Boundary action" has the same meaning as defined in Section 17-23-20.

(ii) "Local entity" has the same meaning as defined in Section 67-1a-6.5.

(b) A person may not submit to a county recorder for recording a plat depicting the boundary of a local entity as the boundary exists as a result of a boundary action, unless:

(i) the plat has been approved under Section 17-23-20 by the county surveyor as a final local entity plat, as defined in Section 17-23-20; and

(ii) the person also submits for recording:

(A) the original notice of an impending boundary action, as defined in Section 67-1a-6.5, for the boundary action for which the plat is submitted for recording;

(B) the original applicable certificate, as defined in Section 67-1a-6.5, issued by the lieutenant governor under Section 67-1a-6.5 for the boundary action for which the plat is submitted for recording; and

(C) each other document required by statute to be submitted for recording with the notice of an impending boundary action and applicable certificate.

(c) Promptly after recording the documents described in Subsection (6)(b) relating to a boundary action, but no later than 10 days after recording, the county recorder shall send a copy of all those documents to the State Tax Commission.

Amended by Chapter 89, 2014 General Session