The Secretary of State administers the Land Records Management Program for the purposes
of (i) advising registers of deeds, local tax officials, and local planning officials
about sound management practices, and (ii) establishing greater uniformity in local
land records systems.
G.S. §147-54.3. The Secretary of State, in cooperation with the Secretary
of Cultural Resources, establishes and maintains
minimum standards with regard to the uniform indexing of land records. Toward
this end, the N. C. Association of Registers of Deeds, in conjunction with the Real
Property Section of the N. C. Bar Association and the N. C. Department of the Secretary
of State developed the “Minimum
Standards for Indexing Real Property Instruments” The standards were implemented
statewide beginning in January 1995. The standards contain uniform procedures to
be used by all Registers of Deeds for indexing land records. The Land Records Indexing
Compliance Review Project began in July 2008. The Secretary of State’s review team
conducted comprehensive reviews of the indexing software systems currently being
used to generate paper and on-line indexes in Registers of Deeds offices. Click
here to
view the list of software vendors who have been determined to be in compliance with
the standards.