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| Click here to view the Transfer and Conveyance Procedures. INTRODUCTION The following information has been provided by Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo. You are cautioned not to rely upon the following information without having your attorney review your instrument of conveyance and contact Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo to determine the current standards. It is the purpose of these standards to provide Public or Private agencies as well as individuals with a comprehensive set of guidelines for the purpose of preparing and recording conveyances of real property in Cuyahoga County. Furthermore this document will provide a guide to the rules and regulations for the preparation and approval of survey plats and legal descriptions. Said rules and regulations are adopted, in part, from Ohio Revised Codes; 315.251, 317.22, and 319.203, 711.101 2113.61, 5301.252, 5302.17, 5311.10 also Ohio Administrative Code 4733-37. Said applicable codes as referred to from time to time herein, represent the current versions as of the date of this publication. Any subsequent revisions, changes or updates to said codes or any new codes that may be established, from time to time, may automatically be made part of this document. Click here to go directly to Instrument Exhibits, TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION 1 SECTION 2 SECTION 3 SECTION 4 SECTION 5 SECTION 6 SECTION 7 SECTION 8 SECTION 9 SECTION 10 SECTION 11 SECTION 12 SECTION 13 SECTION 14 Exhibit 1 Exhibit 2 Exhibit 3 Exhibit 4
These rules apply to any transfer and conveyance of an interest in real property made by conveyance, partition, devise, vacation, decent, appropriation, court order, certificate of transfer, affidavit, or any other document, that would cause any of the following: (A) Change in the Name of Owner(s) of Land Any document that creates, transfers, or terminates any interest in land or mineral rights that would cause the County Auditor to change the name of the owner or any one of the owners, must be presented to the County Auditor under O.R.C. 319.20; (B) Changes in Description Any document that changes, corrects, or amends the description of any parcel of land must be presented to the County Auditor under O.R.C. 5713.02; (C) Transfer of Interest that may affect True Value Any document that creates, transfers, or terminates any interest in land that may affect the true value of a parcel for real property tax purposes must be presented to the County Auditor under O.R.C. 5713.03. The following are subject to special transfers; (A) - Transfer by Affidavit of Next of Kin A transfer under the law of descent and distribution shall be made pursuant to affidavit under O.R.C. 317.22. (B) - Transfer of Survivorship Interest A transfer of a survivorship interest shall be made pursuant to O.R.C. 5302.17, upon presentation of a certificate of transfer, as provided by O.R.C. 2113.61, or affidavit accompanied by a certified copy of a death certificate of the deceased joint tenant. (C) - Transfer by Affidavit under O.R.C. 5301.252 A transfer of the name of the owner or any one of the owners may be made by affidavit pursuant to O.R.C. 5301.252 (B)(1). The correction of a legal description may be made by affidavit pursuant to O.R.C. 5301.252 (B)(4) and (B)(5). However, except in the case of the termination of a life estate, survivorship estate or transfer of condominium common area to established associations, no transfer shall be made by affidavit pursuant to O.R.C. 5301.252 (B)(2) and (B)(3).
All documents transferring an interest in real property that are subject to O.R.C. 319.20, including all court orders and certificates of transfer, shall contain the Following; (A) - Reference to Prior Instrument of Record. (B) - Tax Mailing Address of Grantee. (C) - Identification of Interest Conveyed. (D) - Instrument to Conform to Law. (E) - Document of Transfer Shall Include Parcel Number and Address.
(G) - Grantor and Grantee Names. (H) - Legal Description.
The County Auditor will approve no transfer unless the documents presented to the County Auditor meet the following requirements: (A) - Original Required (B) - Document Size (C) - Text Size (D) - Text Quality (E) - Cut and Paste Documents (F) - Corrections to Document Text (G) - Document Medium (H) - Previous Recorded Exhibit Documents (I) - Signatures (J) - Witnesses and Notary (K) - Pre-approval Policy
(A) - Identification (B) - Description of Tax Parcels (1) Platted Lot (2) Condominium Unit (3) Metes and Bounds Descriptions (C) No More Than Three Exceptions in Descriptions. (A) The requirements for a boundary survey shall be established in accordance with O.R.C. Section 315.251 as amended by Senate Bill 262 and shall read verbatim in part as ... "If a deed conveying title to real property is presented to the County Auditor for transfer, and the deed contains a legal description for land that is a cut-up or split of the Grantor's one or more existing parcels of land as shown in the County Auditor's records, or if the legal description of the land conveyed in the deed is different from the legal description shown in the prior deed to the Grantor, a boundary survey plat in conformity with the new description shall be submitted with the deed." (B) The survey plat and description shall satisfy the minimum standards for boundary surveys promulgated by the Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors pursuant to chapter 4733-37 of the Ohio Administrative Code and the standards established in Section 11 enclosed herein. (C) If, in the opinion of the County Engineer, the survey plat and description satisfy those standards, the County Auditor shall accept the deed for transfer and a copy of the survey plat shall be filed in the County Engineer's survey files for public inspection. (D) Appropriated Lands
Because the County Auditor needs to determine the ownership of each tract, lot, or parcel of real property and because the County Auditor maintains ownership history of each tax parcel, the following rules will apply; (A) Grantor Is Not Prior Grantee (B) Quit Claim deeds (C) Minor Differences in Names
(A) Subdivision of Existing Parcel (B) Approval Signatures on Plat (C) No Transfer by Plat (D) Consolidation or Assembly Perimeters that do not close will require a survey of said lands and a new legal to be written for the perimeter of said consolidated lands.
(A) Upon the death, resignation, removal or other event terminating the appointment of a trustee of a trust, which trustee holds title to real property, the successor trustee or co-trustee must present an affidavit to the County Auditor and file an affidavit with the County Recorder, in accordance with ORC 5302.171. The affidavit must include the following: 1. The name of the trustee who has ceased serving as trustee; (B) Such affidavit is not required if the original trust instrument names the trustees and successors and contains relevant facts pertaining to the succession of trustees, or if a memorandum of trust in compliance with Section 5301.255 of the O.R.C. that contains relevant facts pertaining to the succession of trustees, is recorded in the Office of the County Recorder.
(A) Where a tract of land that is described by a single metes and bounds description is located in more than one county, The Cuyahoga County Auditor shall consult with the County Auditor(s) of the other County to determine the treatment of the land for real property tax purposes. (B) No single tax parcel shall be created by the County Auditor that is located in different taxing districts. Any land with a single metes and bounds description or platted lot that is split by taxing district lines shall be made into separate tax parcels by the County Auditor. Any platted lot that is located in different tax districts shall be placed in the district in which the front of the parcel is located, determined by street address, or in which the greater part of the parcel is located if the taxing district line crosses through the front of the lot.
(A) All new metes and bounds descriptions, and all plats of survey that support those descriptions, must incorporate the principles and minimum standards of good surveying, engineering and draftsmanship. They must also meet the "Minimum Standards for Boundary Surveys in the State of Ohio", as defined by Section 4733-37 of the Ohio Administrative Code. (B) Requirements for All Recorded Lot(s) of Record (1) All instruments using an abbreviated legal, sometimes known as a "Sublot Description" or conveying a recorded lot or other designation in a municipality or recorded subdivided area must designate, at a minimum; the lot number or other designation, the official recorded name of said Subdivision, the Plat Book and Page of official record reference, and the prior recorded deed reference if any exists. (2) Any parcel, out lot, or portion of a recorded lot or other designation must have an accurate description to enable the County Engineer and County Auditor to determine the residue or balance left, based on existing available records. If a balance or residue parcel is given a designation on a plat such as; "Parcel A" or "Sublot 2" Etc., than that parcel will be considered as part of the survey and will require all the compliance items of O.A.C. 4733-37. (3) Any area being conveyed in what is commonly known as an "Unrecorded Plat "or" Unrecorded Subdivision, must have an accurate metes and bounds description. Said unrecorded document must have sufficient survey control calls to monumentation allowing an accurate analysis and closure verification, otherwise a survey must be performed. (C) Requirements for Existing Metes and Bounds Descriptions of Record (1) All existing metes and bounds descriptions of record will be checked by the County Engineer to verify and identify to the County Auditor the tax parcel(s) to be conveyed. (2) All existing metes and bounds descriptions of record must be described verbatim as witnessed by the instrument of previous record and transfer. The recording party must provide a copy of the previous deed for this purpose. VERIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE TO PREVIOUS CONVEYANCE MAY TAKE UP TO THREE (3) BUSINESS DAYS and recording parties should take this requirement into consideration when preparing documents. (3) Any existing metes and bounds description which, since the previous conveyance, has been incorporated into a municipality or other political subdivision by means of annexation must be changed to reflect its new corporate location within the situate of the subject instrument of conveyance. There is no requirement for survey in this situation. (4) All instruments of conveyance attempting to convey the remainder or balance of an existing tax parcel(s) from which outlets or exceptions exist must incorporate the following requirements: (a) Each out lot or exception of the original tract(s) must be described verbatim as witnessed by the previous conveyance of record. (b) Each documented exception must refer to its recorded source if any, by which it can be verified. (c) All instruments of conveyance using exceptions, as established in section 5(C) enclosed herein, to convey the balance or remainder of a tax parcel(s) must incorporate a statement identifying the tax parcel(s) and district to be conveyed, and the current taxable area as set forth on the County Auditor's tax list for the subject conveyance. (i.e., it is the intent of this instrument to convey all of Tax Parcel(s) number and district, containing acreage or footage, as shown by the County Auditor's records) (5) The County Engineer will make the necessary marginal notations on the instrument of conveyance, at the point of entry into the tax maps, to verify the tax parcel(s) to be conveyed. (6) Legal descriptions may be submitted for pre-approval prior to the Creation of the final instrument of transfer (D) Requirements for New Metes and Bounds Descriptions for Conveyance (1) All new metes and bounds descriptions, not previously recorded must be prepared by an Ohio Registered Professional Surveyor and must be in compliance with Ohio Administrative Code, Chapter 4733-37-06. (2) In addition, the following items shall be required: (a) The situate must denote the state, county and municipality or township, Original Lot, Section and/or Tract. (b) The situate must denote the recorded title and deed reference as to the tract(s) of origination. (c) All descriptions must be referenced to an established point of beginning such as centerline intersections of streets or roads or record section and or quarter section corners or lines, or recorded subdivision perimeter corners. Said point of beginning must be further established as a well known, industry standard, permanent monument, such as an iron pin, pipe, railroad spike, or monument box of a design and style accepted by current County, State or municipal standards, which ever is applicable. (d) Each course of a new metes and bounds description should be a separate paragraph, and all courses should be, when practical, be stated in a clockwise direction from the point of beginning to the point of termination for the subject description. (e) Each course of a new metes and bounds description shall contain a bearing expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds and a distance recited in feet and the decimal parts thereof, from point of origination to a point of termination of each course. (f) Each course shall contain the names of current adjoining owners together with the recorded Deed Book and Page of Official Record for each. When a course being described adjoins a recorded platted subdivision, a call for the Plat Book and page will suffice. When the adjoining land is a Gore Strip or previously unnumbered parcel, a full explanation and notation on the plat is required. (g) Each course must show all other common lines such as centerline of roads, rivers, streams, quarter or half section lines, or any other pertinent common line or record or interest as witnessed by the survey for the conveyance. (h) Any course of a new metes and bounds description which is a curve must contain the direction of the curve, (right or left), the radius (in feet and decimal parts thereof), the long chord bearing and distance, the central angle and the arc length; (i) All references to roads, rivers, streams, railroads, etc. must use current or existing names of record. Old or original names, enclosed in brackets, may also be shown if pertinent and related to research for the survey or as a deed call on a description. (j) All new metes and bounds descriptions must give the area contained within its perimeter in acres and calculated to a minimum of three decimal place, as required by the County Auditor. If the parcel is less than one acre, than total calculated square footage is also required. (k) Whenever a new metes and bounds description encompasses two or more taxing districts, or two or more tax parcels, a breakdown of total area must be recited for each tax district or parcel. (l) All new metes and bounds descriptions will be subject to Computer verification as to the accuracy of the traverse closure. A minimum allowable traverse closure error of 1:10,000 over the area as described, with a maximum of 0.02 feet allowable in latitude and departure overall as spelled out in O.A.C. 4733-37-04-B (E) Compliance with Items (A),(B), (C) and (D) above shall be verified by submittal of the instrument to the County Engineer's Tax Map office for the appropriate review and approval. (F) Varying degrees of complexity in instruments submitted may require a more extensive review. Normally, the submitter should allow three, (3), business days for a standard instrument to be reviewed for the required compliance. Extremely large tracts of land or complex closures may require a more extensive review and the submitter is advised to submit these types of instruments as early as possible as to avoid delays at recording time.
(H) Upon completion of the appropriate reviews, and all comments addressed and accounted for, the original of the instrument will be stamped; "Legal Description complies with Cuyahoga County Conveyance Standards and is approved for Transfer". Agent ________ Date_____________________ (I) No document of conveyance will be processed by the County Auditor without the appropriate stamp, listed above, affixed to said instrument and the appropriate reviewing agent s signature thereon. (J) The Basis of Bearing statement on all deed descriptions to be made of record within the Cuyahoga County offices should preferably be stated with reference to a deed of record, an official record, a plat of record or a road improvement plan of record along with the bearing used. The State Plane Coordinate System, the Cuyahoga Regional Geodetic System, (C.R.G.S.), NAD 27 or NAD 83, may also be used as a Basis of Bearing only if the control monuments used along with the bearing between them are denoted in the statement. Assumed bearings may be used provided there are no bearings shown of record. Examples of acceptable Basis of Bearing statements are available at the Office of the County Engineer. (K) Metric Measurements
(A) All new plats of survey must incorporate the principles and minimum standards of good surveying, engineering and draftsmanship, and must meet the '"Minimum Standards for Boundary Surveys in the State of Ohio" as defined by Section 4733-37 of the Ohio Administrative Code. (B) Any parcel, out lot or portion of a recorded lot or other designation shown on a plat, must have an accurate, fully dimensioned image drawn to scale on the plat to enable the County Engineer and County Auditor to determine the accurate area of said parcel. If a balance or residue parcel is given a designation on a plat such as; "Parcel A" or "Sublot 2" etc., then that parcel will be considered as part of the survey and will require all the compliance items of O.A.C. 4733-37. (C) All new parcels shown on a plat must be referenced to an established point of beginning such as centerline intersections of streets or roads or record section and or quarter section corners or lines, or recorded subdivision perimeter corners. Said point of beginning must be further established as a well known, industry standard, permanent monument, such as an iron pin, pipe, railroad spike, or monument box of a design and style accepted by current County, State or municipal standards, which ever is applicable. (D) Each course of a new parcel shown on a plat must contain a bearing expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds and a distance recited in feet and the decimal parts thereof, from point of origination to a point of termination of each course. (E) Each new parcel must show the names of current adjoining owners together with the recorded Deed Book and Page of Official Record for each. When a course being described adjoins a recorded platted subdivision a call for the plat volume and page will suffice. (F) All adjoining metes and bounds parcels will require the current Auditor s permanent parcel number to be shown on the plat. If that parcel number has changed due to the length of time between the research and field survey being performed and the time of submittal for review, the parcel numbers at the time of the survey will suffice. (G) Each course must show all other common lines such as centerline of roads, rivers, streams, quarter or half section lines, or any other pertinent common line or record interest as witnessed by the survey and used for establishment of the boundaries therein. (H) Any course of a new parcel or a course tied to a new parcel which is a curve must contain the direction of the curve, (right or left), the radius (in feet and decimal parts thereof), the long chord bearing and distance, the central angle and the arc length. (I) All references to roads, rivers, streams, railroads, etc. must use current or existing names of record. Old or original names, enclosed in brackets, may also be shown if pertinent and related to research for the survey or as a deed call on a description. (J) All new parcels shown on the plat must give the area contained within its perimeter in acres and calculated to a minimum of three decimal places, as required by the County Auditor. If the parcel is less than one acre, than total calculated square footage is also required. (K) Whenever a new parcel on a plat encompasses two or more taxing districts, or two or more tax parcels, a breakdown of total area must be recited for each tax district or parcel. (L) All new parcels on a plat will be subject to computer verification as to the accuracy of the traverse closure. A minimum allowable traverse closure error of 1:10,000 over the area as described, with a maximum of 0.02 feet allowable in latitude and departure overall as spelled out in O.A.C. 4733-37-04-B. If permanent easements are fully dimensioned on the plat, they also shall be subject to closure verification if deemed necessary. (M) Quality of Document - The County Engineer will approve no plat unless the plat presented to the County Engineer meets the following requirements: 1 - Original required - 2 - Document size - 3- Text size - 4- Text quality - 5 - Cut and Paste on Plats - 6 - Corrections shown on a plat - 7 - Signatures - 8 - Witnesses and Notary - (N) Compliance with Items (A) through (M) above shall be verified by submittal of the plat to the County Engineer s Tax Map office for the appropriate review and approval.
(P) Upon submittal of a new Plat or Subdivision to the Tax Map Department, a Review and Approval form will be attached to it. (See Exhibit - 4). 1 - The instrument is first checked for appropriate format and parcel numbers.
(Q) Upon completion of the appropriate reviews, and all comments addressed and accounted for, the original of the instrument will be stamped; "This Survey Plat complies with Cuyahoga County (R) No Map of Survey, Plat or Subdivision will be processed by the County Auditor without the appropriate stamp, listed above, affixed to said instrument and the appropriate reviewing agent s signature thereon. (S) The Basis of Bearing statement on all plats should preferably be stated with reference to a deed of record, an official record, a plat of record or a road improvement plan of record along with the bearing used. The State Plane Coordinate System, the Cuyahoga Regional Geodetic System, (C.R.G.S.), NAD 27 or NAD 83, may also be used as a Basis of Bearing only if the control monuments used along with the bearing between them are denoted in the statement. Assumed bearings may be used provided there are no bearings of record readably available. Examples of acceptable Basis of Bearing statements are available at the Office of the County Engineer. (T) Metric Measurements (1) Each course of a new parcel on a plat and/or courses used to develop the plat prepared using the metric system shall include the following: (a) Distances shall be recited in meters and decimal parts thereof, along with the equivalent distance in feet and decimal parts thereof enclosed in brackets (*), (b) Bearings shall be expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds. (c) Curves must contain the direction of the curve (right or left), as well as the radius, long chord and arc expressed in meters and decimal parts thereof, likewise the same dimensions shall expressed in feet and decimal parts thereof in brackets, (*). The bearing of the long chord shall be expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds. (2) Area shall be expressed in hectares along with the equivalent area expressed in acres calculated to the third decimal place as required by the County Auditor. (3) The U.S. Survey foot definition shall be used when converting between meters and feet. The conversion ratio of 39.37/12 is the U.S. Survey foot multiplier used to convert from meters to feet.
(A) All Condominium plats and associated declarations shall be prepared in accordance with applicable O.R.C. 5311 - "Condominium Property". (B) All Condominium plats shall be subject to the same review process as conventional plats and the survey of the perimeter boundary of the overall Condominium development shall meet all the requirements of O.A.C. 4733-37 and the requirements laid out in Section 11 enclosed herein. (C) Individual Phases of a condominium shall have complete dimensional ties with bearings and distances back to the original perimeter survey. (D) All phases of a condominium shall be a closable traverse to the same accuracy as listed in Section 12 (L). (E) Overlaps and shortages in closures of condominium phases are not permitted; therefore all phases must fit graphically and mathematically with each other. (F) "Common Area" shall be defined as that area common to, and held in fee by, all members of the established Association as spelled out in the recorded declaration related to such development, or held in fee by the developer or owners of record, and as further described in O.R.C. . (G) When the final phase of the development is completed and recorded, the established Common Area shall carry the lowest parcel number of the original tracts of land held by the developer. Multiple Common Areas that are not contiguous shall progress in their use of existing parcel number upwardly from the lowest number. (H) Transference of interest into the association may be accomplished by affidavit as spelled out in Section 2-item (C) on page 5 enclosed herein. (I) The percentage interest of each member of the association holding an interest in established Common Area of a condominium development should be clearly shown, in tabular form, on each phase as the development progresses. (J) If garage units are established as separate parcels but are tied to and transferred with the associated unit, then both parcel numbers must appear on the conveyance. (K) The legal description for a condominium unit and/or garage unit should only refer to the first phase that established the association and the current phase in which the conveyance is included. (L) Adjustments to common walls and changes to condominium unit shapes and sizes will require a new filing of the Condominium Plat and Declaration.
Definitions: (A) Documents relating to foreclosure and forfeiture include the following: 1.- Preliminary Judicial Report: prepared by a title company under contract with the County Prosecutor; provides full legal description and facts relating to title for property prior to foreclosure hearing. This document becomes a part of the Order of Sale and Order of Forfeiture (if applicable); 2. - Order of Sale: document issued by Common Peas Court and recorded with the Clerk of Courts, ordering the County Sheriff to sell a property for non-payment of delinquent real property taxes; 3.- Order of Forfeiture: documents issued by Common Pleas Court and recorded with the Clerk of Courts, forfeiting a property to the State of Ohio as a result of a parcel not being sold under the terms of the Order of Sale; 4. - County Sheriff's Deed: document transferring title of property sold at the Sheriffs Sale of Tax Delinquent Property to the purchaser of such property; 5. - County Auditor's Deed: document transferring title of property sold at the Auditor's Sale of Forfeited Land to the purchaser of such property; (B) Foreclosures, forfeitures and Court Ordered Transfers occasionally have legal descriptions that would not meet all the requirements established in Section 5 and Section 11 enclosed herein. (C) The nature of most foreclosure parcels tends to render them as small obscure, balance pieces that remain after other lands have been appropriated. They usually have relatively low value while being very expensive to survey. (D) When a Meets and Bounds legal description, used in a foreclosure or Court Ordered document, does not meet the standards set-forth in Section 5 and 11, every effort shall be made by the writers of said legal to use the original full parcel legal description with the "three exception rule" applied. (See Section 5 - Paragraph C). (E) If every effort to described such parcels as discussed in (D) above has failed to produce a legal description that meets the criteria established in Section 5 and 11 enclosed herein, then the County Engineer shall attempt to verify the parcels true location and parcel number(s) by making a comparison to the current Tax Maps of Record. If the County Engineer can satisfactorily determine that the parcel can be defined on the Tax Maps, then the transfer will be approved with the stamp affixed to said legal description reading; "Legal description approved for transfer. Future conveyances of this parcel(s) will require a new legal description based on an approved boundary survey" (F) If the County Engineer, upon completion of the analysis of the legal description, as described in (E) above, determines that the parcel is not clearly defined or is describing the wrong parcel, then the document shall be rejected for transfer and returned to the Court for corrections. (G) To avoid rejection of transfers by the County Engineer's Tax Map Department, all Foreclosure, Forfeiture and Special Court ordered transfers should be submitted to the Tax Map Department as soon as practical so that a preliminary review of the legal description(s) can be performed. |
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