Basic Recording Requirements

Requires original signatures on all instruments, papers or notices presented for recording except as otherwise provided by law. A certified copy is also acceptable.

Any California notary public or other officer taking acknowledgments in California must complete a current California all-purpose notary acknowledgment.

Documents presented for recording must be sufficiently legible to reproduce a readable photographic copy. This includes notary seals and any attachments or exhibits.

A page is defined as one printed side of a single piece of paper measuring 8 ½" X 11".

A sheet is defined as one printed side of a single piece of paper that is not exactly 8 ½" X 11", but is no larger than 8 ½" X 14".

All documents submitted for recording must have at least a ½" margin along each vertical side. In addition, the top 2 ½" of the first page or sheet must be reserved for recording information. The left 3 ½" of this space is used to show the name of the party requesting the recording and where to mail the document after it is recorded.

If the first page of the document does not have required space for the recording information, a separate page or cover sheet must be attached to the front of the document. This cover sheet must show the name of the party requesting the recording, where to mail the document after it is recorded and the title or titles of the document. Recording fees will be charged for this page.

All documents submitted for recording must indicate the title or titles of the documents contained therein. Titles should appear on the first page, directly below the space reserved for the Recorder.

The Recorder is required to index all titles shown on the first page. Additional titles may be also be identified and indexed at the discretion of the Recorder. Additional titles indexed by Sutter County Recorder include, but are not limited to, Assignment of Rents and Assignment of Leases found in the body of the document. When a document contains more than one title to be indexed, the recording fee will increase $16.00 for each additional title to be indexed.

Any document that modifies, releases or cancels the provisions of a previously recorded document must contain the recording reference number of that prior document.

All recording fees are due at the time of recording. Sutter County Clerk-Recorder charges $16.00 for the first page and $3.00 for each additional page per document. For a complete list of our fees, please see our Fee Schedule

If any part of a document does not measure 8 ½" X 11" or if the document has anything taped, pasted or stapled to an individual page, an additional non-conforming fee of $3.00 will be charged for each page of the document. For a complete list of our fees, please see our Fee Schedule