BACKGROUND
In 2009, the fee to record a document at all Registers of Deeds offices in Wisconsin
was changed to a flat fee of $30. Actually the fee wasn’t $30 it was $25 plus an
additional $5 fee to be used by the county to redact social security numbers from
electronic records. The $5 fee was scheduled to sunset for all 72 counties on December
31, 2011 meaning that for all documents recorded after January 1, 2012 the recording
fee would be $25 per document. However, any county could apply to the Wisconsin
Department of Administration to extend the collection of the $5 fee through December
31, 2014. As of November 29, 2011, 69 of the 72 counties have applied for and received
an extension from the Department of Administration. The three counties that have
decided not to apply for the extension are: Burnett, Sauk and Washington counties.
Therefore, as of January 1, 2012, the recording fee in these three counties (Burnett,
Sauk and Washington) will be $25. And for the remaining 69 counties, as of January
1, 2012, the recording fee will remain at $30.
HOW DOES THIS IMPACT MY COMPANY OR ME?
Since three counties will sunset back to $25 and 69 counties have been granted an
extension of the $30 fee we see a few potential problems (all of which can be managed):
- If a lender assumed the property was in a $25 county, yet it was actually a $30
county, the GFE is off by $5, which violates tolerance levels because according
to HUD there is a 10% tolerance for recording fee errors. The lender will need to
credit that tolerance error to the consumer either at the closing table or after
the closing. We are not sure if re-issued GFEs comply with HUD's “change of circumstance”
definition, which is why the lender should make sure to get the fee correct.
- If the closing happened in 2011 under the $30 fee and the lender delivers the satisfaction
to the register in 2012 under the $25 fee, the ROD probably won't make change and
will likely return the satisfaction to the lender causing the satisfaction to be
lost – it happens. Or if you (the closer) are holding $30 for some future satisfaction,
and the satisfaction arrives in 2012, where do you send the $5 overage? Answer –
it should go back go the consumer. This is going to be an administrative nightmare
for the closer, isn’t it? The solution, of course, is to never escrow post-closing
recording fees. But if you insist on escrowing future recording fees, the solution
is to collect and track the proper fee.
- Perhaps the scariest issue – you’ve collected $30 to record a deed or mortgage and
you submitted the document to the register in 2012 but the recording fee is $25
not $30. As pointed out above, the register will not make change and will likely
reject the recording until you submit the proper fee. While you’re working on that,
another deed, mortgage, judgment, lien or bankruptcy filing could be recorded/filed
and your ownership or lien position could be compromised (note that electronic recording
of the documents would overcome this issue because it is not possible to submit
incorrect recording fees via the electronic recording software). But if you do not
or cannot electronically record documents, the solution is to get the fee correct.
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Mother Nature |
Your thoughts on this year's winter:
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