CHAPTER 322
SB 474 – FINAL VERSION
03/20/08 0984s
30Apr2008… 1372h
2008 SESSION
10/01
SENATE BILL 474
AN ACT relative to registers of deeds and reports of county officers.
SPONSORS: Sen. Gallus, Dist 1; Sen. Letourneau, Dist 19; Sen. Odell, Dist 8; Rep. Theberge, Coos 4; Rep. Carolyn Brown, Carr 1; Rep. Sorg, Graf 3; Rep. Gionet, Graf 3
COMMITTEE: Public and Municipal Affairs
This bill makes various changes to the laws concerning registers of deeds. The bill also repeals certain requirements for reports of income of county officers.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
03/20/08 0984s
30Apr2008… 1372h
08-2749
10/01
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eight
AN ACT relative to registers of deeds and reports of county officers.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
322:1 Recopying Public Records; Gender Neutral. Amend RSA 28:25 to read as follows:
28:25 Authorization. The county commissioners may authorize and direct the register of deeds to make, at the expense of the county, in suitable books, true copies of any of the public records in his or her office which have become so faded, worn out or otherwise defaced that, in his or her judgment, it is necessary they should be copied in order to insure the preservation of such records.
322:2 Report of Tax Lien; Reference to Books Removed. Amend RSA 80:64 to read as follows:
80:64 Report of Tax Lien. Each tax collector, within 30 days after executing the tax lien to the municipality, county, or state, shall deliver or forward to the register of deeds for the county in which the real estate is situated a statement of the following facts relating to each parcel of real estate subject to lien, certified by the tax collector under oath to be true; the name of the current owner, if known, or the person against whom the tax was assessed and a description of the property as it appeared on the tax list committed to the tax collector; the total amount of each tax lien, including taxes, interest, fees and costs incident to the tax lien process and making reports thereof to the register of deeds; the date and place of the execution of the tax lien, all of which shall be recorded and indexed by the register of deeds in [a book or books to be kept for that purpose as provided in RSA 80:74] an acceptable recording method.
322:3 Tax Lien Records. Amend RSA 80:74 to read as follows:
80:74 Record to be Kept by Register of Deeds. The register of deeds shall record all the facts reported to [him] the register of deeds under RSA 80:64, 70, 75 and 76, and any other facts required to be reported by the tax collectors of his or her county in [a book or books to be kept for that purpose] an acceptable recording method. He or she shall keep an index thereof showing the location of the property and the names of the owners to whom taxed, the names of delinquents, the holder of the real estate tax lien, and the names of those who pay delinquent taxes or redeem from the real estate tax lien. The index may be the same as that for other records in [his] the office or a separate one, as each register shall determine. All documents received by the register from the tax collector shall be returned to the tax collector within 30 days.
322:4 Tax Lien Reports. Amend RSA 80:79 to read as follows:
80:79 Return of Reports. Whenever a tax collector, under the provisions of RSA 80:62, 64, 70, 74, 75, or 76 shall make a return or a report to the register of deeds of an execution of the real estate tax lien, subsequent tax payment, redemption payment, collector’s deed, or discharge of a tax lien for any reason, the register of deeds shall cause the time of his or her receipt thereof to be stamped or written upon [the back of] said report or certificate and shall, after entering the same in the registry records, return it to the tax collector as provided in RSA 80:74.
322:5 Conveyance of Standing Trees; Mortgagee’s Consent. Amend RSA 477:37 to read as follows:
477:37 Mortgagee’s Consent to Cutting. Whenever standing trees have been mortgaged as real estate or are covered by a mortgage of the land on which they stand, the mortgagee may indorse upon said mortgage [over his signature] a consent that the trees may be cut, which consent shall be recorded [on the margin of the record of said mortgage] in the registry of deeds.
322:6 Record; Index. RSA 478:5 and RSA 478:6 are repealed and reenacted to read as follows:
478:5 Record; Index. Upon acceptance of any deed or instrument for recording, the register of deeds shall enter into the index of the grantors the names of the grantors-to-grantees and into the index of the grantees the names of the grantees-to-grantors.
478:6 Index Reproduction. The register of deeds may cause the indexes to be reproduced into indexes of grantors and grantees using an acceptable recording method.
322:7 Registers of Deeds; References to Columns. Amend RSA 478:7 through RSA 477:11 to read as follows:
478:7 Levy; Extent. The names of the debtors or defendants upon whose land any levy or extent shall be made, if the same is recorded, shall be entered as such in the [column] index of grantors, and the names of the creditors or plaintiffs, as such, in the [column] index of the grantees.
478:8 Conveyance by Authority. When the property of any person living or the estate of any person deceased is conveyed by any officer or other person by authority of law or otherwise, the names of the persons whose estate is so conveyed, if they appear in the instrument, and of the persons by whom the conveyance is made shall be entered in the [column] index of grantors.
478:9 Estates Affected. The names of all persons whose estates appear to be affected by any deed or decree of partition entered on such record shall be entered in the [columns] indexes of grantors and grantees.
478:10 Creditors; Mortgagees. The names of the creditors in any proceeding for foreclosure and the names of the original mortgagees, if they appear by the proceedings, shall be entered, as such, in the [column] index of grantees; and the names of the debtor, defendant and original mortgagors, if they appear, shall be entered in the [column] index of grantors.
478:11 Parties Unknown. If the name of the person whose property or estate is conveyed in either of the cases aforesaid does not appear, or if the name of the original mortgagor or mortgagee of property foreclosed does not appear, the grantors or mortgagors shall be referred to as unknown in the [column] index of grantors under the letter U, and the original mortgagee in the same manner in the [column] index of grantees.
322:8 Office Hours; Registers of Deeds; Gender Neutral. Amend RSA 478:13 to read as follows:
478:13 Office Hours. Every register shall keep his or her office open daily except Sundays and state holidays. It may be closed on Saturday if not incompatible with public business; provided, however, that the register may keep his or her office open on Saturday mornings in the custody of a single custodian whenever he or she deems it necessary.
322:9 Copies of Conveyances. Amend RSA 478:14 to read as follows:
478:14 Copies of Conveyances for Tax Purposes. Every register shall, upon request, in an acceptable media, send copies of all deeds, mortgages, and other conveyances of real estate which have been recorded in the registry during the preceding 3 months to the selectmen of each town and to the assessors of each city in his county quarterly, each year, between January 1 and January 5, April 1 and April 5, July 1 and July 5, and October 1 and October 5. The register shall send, between April 1 and April 5, in an acceptable media, copies of all deeds, mortgages, and other conveyances of real estate which have been recorded in the registry during the preceding tax year to every town and city in the county which did not request the quarterly copies.
322:10 Real Estate Attachments; Register’s Index. Amend RSA 511:5 to read as follows:
511:5 Register’s Index. The register of deeds shall [keep a general] enter into the index [of] all attachments so made, and of the attested copies of all writs and processes filed [with him], which index shall be open to public inspection at all times. He or she shall enter therein, at the time of receiving [a] an attested copy, a record of the exact time when it was received, [of the court to which the writ is returnable] and of the names of the plaintiff and defendant in the action. [The defendants’ names shall be alphabetically arranged.]
322:11 Trustee Process; Reference. Amend RSA 511:5-a, II to read as follows:
II. Whenever trustee process, which conforms to paragraph I, is recorded, the register of deeds shall include the name of the trustee in the [alphabetical] index [of the defendants’ names] required by RSA 511:5.
322:12 Repeal. The following are repealed:
I. RSA 30:5, relative to reports of income of certain county officers.
II. RSA 30:5-a, relative to examination of reports of income.
III. RSA 30:6, relative to penalty for failing to file reports.
IV. RSA 478:12, relative to copies of index volumes.
322:13 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
Approved: July 2, 2008
Effective Date: August 31, 2008