A Letter Says You Need a Certified Copy of Your Deed. Do You?

It arrived not long after you closed on the house: a formal envelope, a parcel number, your name, a line about “recorded deed” and a return slip asking for $89 or more. It reads like a government notice with a deadline. In most cases you do not need to send anything.

County officials have been warning about these mailers for years. In July 2026, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Recorder of Deeds Robin Robinson said private companies were sending official-looking notices to recent buyers implying they must purchase a copy of their deed. Her office said those companies have no connection with the Recorder of Deeds or any government agency. Processing fees topped $100, while the county sells an official copy for less than $10.

What a copy costs, compared

Those are just two counties at two points in time, so check your own recorder’s price. The gap is the point.

Is it a scam or just a bad deal?

That depends on what the company actually says and does, and this article can’t decide that for every letter. Some of these companies may mail you a real copy, at a large markup. Other letters look so much like a government bill that a reasonable person would feel obliged to pay. Those are the ones officials object to most. What you can say for certain is that the Bucks County notices implied a purchase was necessary and that the officials say the companies aren’t connected to government.

Read yours with a pen in hand. Look for a line in small type saying the company is not a government agency. Check the return address, the payee on the slip and whether there’s a real deadline attached to anything. A letter dressed up as an official notice deserves a report, even if the small print technically covers the sender. If you are not sure how to read it, the staff at your recorder’s office see these letters regularly and can usually tell you in a minute or two whether it came from them. Bring or photograph the whole thing, including the envelope, because the envelope is often where the official styling is heaviest.

What to do if you haven’t paid

• Don’t respond to the company. The Bucks County Recorder gave that exact advice.
• If you want a copy, call your county recorder, register of deeds or clerk. Use the number on the county’s own website.
• Ask whether older deeds can be viewed online. Some counties provide this free; Van Wert County pointed residents to an online database for deeds recorded after January 1993.
• Take the letter to the county office if it wants to see one. Van Wert’s office forwarded solicitations to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for review.

If you already paid

People tend to pay for these in the first busy weeks of owning a home, when everything looks important. If you have, here is what to do.

1. Find the payment. Note the date, amount and how you paid. If it was a personal check that hasn’t cleared, ask your bank about a stop payment.
2. If you paid by card, contact the issuer using the number on the back. The FTC’s recovery guide tells you to ask for a refund. Say the letter appeared to be a government notice. If you received a document, tell them that too.
3. Ask the company for a refund in writing. A short message with the date, the amount and your reason is fine.
4. Report the letter to your county recorder, your state attorney general and ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
5. Consider what else you handed over. If the form asked for your Social Security number or bank details, use IdentityTheft.gov/databreach.

Be realistic, and keep your expectations in line with what you received. If you got a real copy in return, the card company may treat this as a purchase you made, not a fraud. Asking still costs nothing, and the report may help the next new homeowner on your street who gets the same envelope.

Other envelopes that follow a home purchase

Your name and address became public when the deed was recorded, which is how these mailers find you. Expect more of them. Two common ones are the home warranty letter that looks like it came from your lender, covered in our guide to urgent home-warranty letters, and offers related to your property tax assessment. Before paying anything that mentions your deed, title or mortgage, call the office or lender named on your closing papers, not the number on the letter.

A different and more serious situation is someone trying to sell or transfer your property without your knowledge. If you get word of a sale you never agreed to, or a title company calls about one, move to our guide on someone selling your land. A deed-copy letter is an annoyance, while that is an emergency.

If you want to check your record without paying anyone, your county recorder is the place. Ask whether your county offers an alert when a document is recorded under your name, since that would tell you far more than a copy of the deed ever will.

Sources

• LevittownNow, County official warns homeowners of misleading deed mailings (July 19, 2026)
• The Van Wert Independent, Recorder warns of property deed letters (April 13, 2017)
• FTC, What to do if you were scammed

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