Property Records in Salt Lake County
Salt Lake County property records are managed by the County Recorder at 2001 South State Street in Salt Lake City. This office serves more than 1.2 million residents and handles a high volume of recordings each year. Whether you need to search for a deed, confirm current ownership, look up a lien, or trace a chain of title, Salt Lake County offers both online tools and in-person access to make that possible. This guide covers every major office and resource involved in Salt Lake County property records.
Salt Lake County Quick Facts
Salt Lake County Recorder's Office
The Salt Lake County Recorder serves as the official custodian of real property records for the county. The office records, maintains, and provides access to deeds, mortgages, trust deeds, liens, judgments, subdivision plats, surveys, mining claims, and military discharge documents. This is the first stop for any property records search in Salt Lake County. The public counter is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
The Salt Lake County Recorder at slco.org/recorder handles all recorded property documents for the county.
The Recorder's public counter at 2001 South State Street processes recordings and provides copies during regular business hours.
Records from 1990 onward are available online. Records before 1990 require in-person research at the office. Copy fees are $2 per page for standard documents, $5 per vault page, and $5 per document for certification. If you need a certified copy for a legal proceeding, bring or send the document number and the correct fee.
| Office |
Salt Lake County Recorder 2001 South State Street, Suite N1-600 Salt Lake City, UT 84114-4575 Phone: (385) 468-8145 |
|---|---|
| Hours | Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM |
| Website | slco.org/recorder |
Online Property Records Search
Salt Lake County offers a free public search portal for property records at apps.saltlakecounty.gov. This tool lets you search recorded documents by owner name, parcel number, or document type. It covers records from 1990 forward and is the fastest way to start a property records search in Salt Lake County without visiting the office.
The public search portal at apps.saltlakecounty.gov provides free online access to Salt Lake County recorded documents.
You can search by owner name, parcel number, or recording date to find deeds, liens, and other documents recorded in Salt Lake County.
For deeper research, the county offers a Data Services subscription at slco.org/data-services. This paid service includes owner of record, parcel number history, legal descriptions, recorded documents, tract index, chain of title, recorded subdivision maps, and plat maps. A $5 24-hour login is available for occasional users who need more than the free public search provides. This makes Salt Lake County one of the most accessible counties in Utah for professional title research done remotely.
Note: Records before 1990 are not in the online system. In-person visits to the Recorder's public counter are required for older document research in Salt Lake County.
Salt Lake County Assessor
The Salt Lake County Assessor values all real and personal property in the county to ensure consistent Fair Market Value assessments. The Utah Constitution requires all taxable property to be assessed at a uniform rate, and the Assessor's job is to make sure that happens across more than 360,000 parcels in Salt Lake County. The office provides online parcel search tools and interactive maps that let you look up ownership, assessed value, property characteristics, and tax data by address or parcel number.
The Assessor's portal at slco.org/assessor provides parcel search and property value data for Salt Lake County.
The Assessor's interactive maps allow you to search Salt Lake County parcels by address, owner, or parcel ID and view current assessed values.
| Office |
Salt Lake County Assessor 2001 South State Street, Suite N2-600 Salt Lake City, UT 84114-7421 Phone: (385) 468-8000 |
|---|---|
| Website | slco.org/assessor |
Property Watch and Fraud Alerts
Salt Lake County offers a free Property Watch service at slco.org data-services PropertyWatch. When you sign up, the system sends you an email notification whenever a new document is recorded against any parcel you are watching. This is a practical tool for property owners who want to know right away if a deed, lien, or other document is filed in their name in Salt Lake County. Property fraud through unauthorized deed filings is an increasing concern, and Property Watch is a free way to stay on top of it.
The Property Watch tool sends email alerts when new documents are recorded on Salt Lake County parcels you track.
Sign up through the Salt Lake County Data Services portal to start receiving notifications on your parcels.
Property Watch is separate from the public search portal. It is a monitoring service, not a search tool. You can use both together: search the public portal to find current records and set up Property Watch to catch new filings as they happen in Salt Lake County.
Treasurer and Tax Records
The Salt Lake County Treasurer collects property taxes and maintains payment records for all parcels in the county. You can look up current tax balance, payment history, and delinquency status by address or parcel number through the Treasurer's online portal. This is an important step before buying any property in Salt Lake County since unpaid taxes become a lien on the land.
Property tax appeals in Salt Lake County go through the Board of Equalization, which is made up of seven county offices. If you believe your property has been assessed at a value higher than its fair market value, you can file an appeal. The Board reviews the Assessor's valuation and determines whether a change is warranted. Contact the Board of Equalization at (385) 468-7500 to start the appeal process.
| Treasurer |
2001 S State St, Suite N1-200 Salt Lake City, UT 84190 Phone: (385) 468-8300 |
|---|---|
| Board of Equalization | Phone: (385) 468-7500 |
Salt Lake County Surveyor
The Salt Lake County Surveyor maintains survey records and corner monument information for the county. If you need official survey data, boundary line information, or access to recorded surveys tied to a specific parcel, the Surveyor's office is the right contact. Reach them at (385) 468-8240. Survey records complement the Recorder's documents when you need precise boundary data for a Salt Lake County property.
Corner monument records are particularly useful for older parcels where the original land survey stakes set the boundaries that still govern the legal description today. The Surveyor's records are public and can be requested directly from the office.
Court Records Affecting Salt Lake County Property
The Third District Court in Salt Lake County handles civil matters that affect real property. This includes judgment liens, foreclosure actions, probate cases where real property is part of an estate, and quiet title actions. A judgment entered by the Third District Court can become a lien on all real property owned by the judgment debtor in Salt Lake County once it is filed with the Recorder. Searching both the Recorder's index and the court records gives a complete picture of any encumbrances on a property.
Court records in Salt Lake County are accessible through the Utah Courts XChange system. You can search by party name or case number to find active and closed civil cases. For property research, look for foreclosure, probate, and civil judgment cases that might affect the parcel you are researching in Salt Lake County.
Historical Property Records
The Utah Division of Archives holds extensive historical property records for Salt Lake County dating back to the 1850s. These include early deed books, plat maps, and other recorded instruments that predate the modern Recorder's digital system. For chain of title research on older Salt Lake City properties or rural parcels in the county that were homesteaded or patented in the 1800s, the Archives is an essential resource.
The Archives are accessible online and in person at archives.utah.gov. Researchers can submit requests for specific documents or visit the reading room in Salt Lake City. For very old federal patents and land grants affecting Salt Lake County parcels, the BLM General Land Office Records at glorecords.blm.gov also holds relevant materials. These sources together let researchers trace a Salt Lake County property back to its original conveyance from the federal government.
Note: Some historical records for Salt Lake County may only be available in physical form at the Archives reading room. Call ahead to confirm availability before making the trip.
Recording Laws and Property Title in Utah
Utah is a race-notice state under Utah Code § 57-3-103. The first person to record a valid document wins a priority dispute over an earlier unrecorded claim, as long as they had no actual knowledge of that prior claim at the time of recording. For buyers and lenders closing transactions in Salt Lake County, this means prompt recording after closing is not optional. Delay creates risk that a competing claim recorded before yours could take priority.
Under Utah Code § 57-3-101, recording a document with the Salt Lake County Recorder provides constructive notice to the public. This is the legal foundation for the entire recording system: once a deed or lien is in the public record, the law treats everyone as having seen it. Title companies search the Recorder's index precisely because of this rule. They need to confirm what is already on record before insuring a new transaction in Salt Lake County.
Full recording procedures are governed by Title 57 of the Utah Code and the county Recorder's duties under Title 17, Chapter 21 of the Utah Code.
Public Access Under GRAMA
Utah's Government Records Access and Management Act, Utah Code § 63G-2, classifies most Salt Lake County property records as public. Any person can request to inspect or copy them without stating a reason. The right to free inspection is built into GRAMA: you can review records at the Recorder's counter without paying copying fees, though fees apply when you want paper or digital copies to take with you.
GRAMA requires the county to respond to records requests within 10 business days. For complex requests, the office may notify you and take additional time. Any denial must be in writing with the legal basis cited. For Salt Lake County property records, denials are rare since deeds, liens, and recorded instruments are by definition public documents. If a request is denied, you can appeal to the county's chief administrator and then to the State Records Committee in Salt Lake City.
Cities in Salt Lake County
Salt Lake County is home to the state capital and many of Utah's largest cities. All property records for parcels in these cities are recorded with the Salt Lake County Recorder. City of Salt Lake City also maintains municipal records at the city level, but the county is the official custodian of recorded property instruments.
Nearby Counties
Salt Lake County borders Davis, Summit, Tooele, Utah, and Wasatch counties. For parcels near a county line, confirm the correct county in the legal description before requesting records from Salt Lake County.