Property Fraud Alerts: A Free Tool Homeowners Should Know About
There are companies that would be happy to sell you a monthly subscription to protect the title to your house.
Before reaching for your credit card, check with your county clerk and recorder.
Here in Jefferson County, the Clerk and Recorder offers a free [Recording Notification Service](https://www.jeffco.us/4692/Title-Fraud). You register your name and email address, and the county sends you an alert when a document with that name is recorded.
It doesn't lock your title. It doesn't prevent somebody from recording a fraudulent document. And it isn't insurance.
What it does is considerably simpler: it lets you know that something happened.
For a free service that takes a few minutes to set up, I think that's useful.
And if you don't live in Jefferson county, a quick Google search for "XXX county title change alert" or "XXX county title recording alert" should bring the page you need. Or search directly on the County Clerk's site or even just give them a call.
What Are We Actually Worried About?
Real estate records are public records. Deeds, deeds of trust, liens and other documents are recorded with the county clerk and recorder and become part of the property's public history.
In a title-fraud situation, someone may attempt to record a fraudulent deed, lien or other document involving property they don't own.
This is real, but some of the advertising surrounding "home title theft" can make it sound as though criminals are roaming Colorado neighborhoods electronically stealing houses by the thousands.
Jefferson County puts it more calmly: title fraud happens very infrequently, but it does happen.
That's an important distinction. This isn't something I would lose sleep over. It is something I would - and did - spend a few minutes setting up a free alert for.
What Jefferson County's Service Does
Jefferson County's Recording Notification Service, or RNS, works by name.
You register a name and an email address. If a document is later recorded and indexed with an exact match to that registered name, the system sends you an email.
The alert includes a link to the recorded document so you can determine whether it actually involves you or your property. If it's legitimate, there's nothing you need to do.
There are a couple of details worth knowing.
The matching is exact, so the county recommends registering variations of your name. If I were John Robert Smith, for example, I might want alerts for John Smith, John R. Smith and John Robert Smith. The system allows up to 10 registrations per email address.
And if you have a common name, you may occasionally get an alert for somebody else. That's not a malfunction. The system is watching the name, not secretly figuring out which John Smith owns which house.
It Doesn't Prevent Fraud
This part matters because the word "protection" gets thrown around pretty casually.
The county's service does **not** stop someone from submitting a fraudulent document. The Clerk and Recorder also isn't making a legal determination that every document presented for recording is legitimate.
Jefferson County explains that if a document meets the statutory requirements for recording, the Clerk is required to record it. The office isn't in a position to determine whether every signature, transaction or claim behind that document is genuine.
The notification system comes into play after the document is recorded.
That may sound less impressive than a service promising to "lock" your title, but early detection has value. If something appears that you didn't authorize, you can start dealing with it rather than discovering it months or years later when you're trying to sell or refinance the property.
You Can Monitor Someone Else's Name Too
One feature I particularly like is that Jefferson County doesn't require the registered name to be your own.
You can register another person's name for alerts. That could be useful if you're helping an older parent or another family member keep an eye on their affairs.
Registering the name doesn't give you any authority over that person's property or records. It simply means you'll receive an alert if a matching document is recorded.
That makes this a potentially useful tool for families where one person is helping another keep track of financial or property matters without taking control of them.
This Is County-Specific
Jefferson County's service only watches documents recorded in Jefferson County.
If you own property somewhere else, an alert here isn't going to tell you what's being recorded in Arapahoe, Denver, Douglas, another Colorado county or another state.
Check with the clerk and recorder for the county where the property is located. Services, names and signup procedures can differ by county.
For Jefferson County property owners, the county's Recording Notification Service is free. I would start there rather than assuming you need to pay a private company for a recurring monitoring service.
Title theft and what these monitoring services actually can and cannot do deserves its own discussion, particularly because the advertising can be a lot scarier than the underlying risk.
What If You Get an Alert You Don't Recognize?
Don't assume an unfamiliar alert means someone stole your house.
Open the recorded document and determine whether it actually involves your property. With a common name, it may belong to somebody else entirely.
If the document does involve your property and you believe it may be fraudulent, Jefferson County directs people to contact the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office or its fraud hotline.
At that point, this has moved beyond routine real estate advice. Depending on what was recorded, you may also need a Colorado real estate attorney or title professional to help determine what happened and what needs to be done.
Five Minutes Is About the Right Price
I like security measures that are inexpensive, easy to understand and don't require pretending every homeowner is one click away from disaster.
A free recording alert fits that description.
It won't prevent someone from attempting fraud, and signing up doesn't mean you can quit paying attention to your property records forever. It's simply another set of eyes that may tell you when something involving your name has been recorded.
If you own property in Jefferson County, you should consider signing up.
Then I'd go back to worrying about more likely homeowner problems. Like the water heater.