(a) (1) (A) The recorder shall, upon payment of proper fees and taxes, accept for recordation any instrument, paper, or notice that is authorized or required by statute, or court order to be recorded, or authorized or required to be recorded by a local ordinance that relates to the recordation of any instrument, paper, or notice that relates to real property, if the instrument, paper, or notice contains sufficient information to be indexed as provided by statute, meets recording requirements of state statutes and local ordinances, and is photographically reproducible. The county recorder shall not refuse to record any instrument, paper, or notice that is authorized or required by statute, court order, or local ordinance that relates to the recordation of any instrument, paper, or notice that relates to real property to be recorded on the basis of its lack of legal sufficiency.
(B) “Photographically reproducible,” for purposes of this division, means all instruments, papers, or notices that comply with standards as recommended by the American National Standards Institute or the Association for Information and Image Management for recording of records.
(2) (A) A person of or related to the record may request that the recorder correct the information contained in an index of a record. The request shall identify the exact location of an error within a specifically identified index entry.
(B) If the person making the request provides sufficient evidence to the recorder to determine that there is an error in the index that needs to be corrected, the recorder shall correct that index entry within 30 business days of receiving the request.
(C) The corrected index entry shall be entered into the public index to reflect both the error and the correction. The recorder shall note that an index entry has been corrected in accordance with local policy.
(b) (1) Each instrument, paper, or notice shall contain an original signature or signatures, except as otherwise provided by law, or be a certified copy of the original.
(2) A facsimile signature shall be accepted on a lien recorded by a governmental agency when that facsimile signature has been officially adopted by that agency. The lien shall have noted on its face a statement to that effect. The officially adopted facsimile signature shall be provided to the county recorder by a letter from the agency. A facsimile signature shall continue to be valid until the agency notifies the county recorder that the facsimile signature has been revoked.
(c) (1) Each instrument, paper, or notice that is rerecorded shall be executed and acknowledged or verified as a new document, in addition to any previous execution and acknowledgment or verification, unless any of the following apply:
(A) The instrument, paper, or notice is otherwise exempted by Section 27287 or any other law.
(B) The instrument, paper, or notice is presented solely to correct a recording sequence. The intent of the parties with regard to the priority of recorded documents shall be controlling regardless of the sequence of recording by a county recorder or the sequence of recording specified in instructions given by a submitter to a county recorder. This subparagraph is declaratory of existing law, and any rerecording of documents to change the sequential numbers assigned to a document by the recorder shall not require the document to be executed and acknowledged or verified as a new document.
(C) (i) The instrument, paper, or notice is presented solely to make a minor correction with a corrective affidavit. The corrective affidavit shall satisfy all of the following:
(I) Be attached to the original recorded instrument, paper, or notice.
(II) Set out the information corrected.
(III) Be certified by the party submitting the affidavit under penalty of perjury.
(IV) Be acknowledged pursuant to Section 27287.
(ii) For purposes of this subparagraph, “minor correction” includes any of the following:
(I) An incorrect or missing address of the party to which the instrument, paper, or notice is to be returned following recording pursuant to Section 27361.6.
(II) A clarification of illegible text pursuant to Section 27361.7.
(III) An incorrect or missing printed or typed name of an individual or entity near the signature pursuant to Section 27280.5.
(IV) An incorrect or missing documentary transfer tax amount due pursuant to Section 11932 of the Revenue and Taxation Code.
(2) Each rerecorded instrument, paper, or notice shall include a cover sheet that complies with Section 27361.6 and shall state the reason for rerecording on the cover sheet.
(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 349, Sec. 1. (AB 794) Effective January 1, 2018.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018