South Carolina Latest to Pass Predictable Recording Fee Legislation

May 21, 2019

South Carolina on May 16 became the latest state to pass predictable recording fee legislation. South Carolina House Bill 3243, the Predictable Recording Fee Act, aims to streamline the filing of documents in the register of deeds offices across the state by creating predictable fees for many commonly recorded documents.

Currently, many documents have a flat fee plus a variable fee determined by total page count. The pages must be counted first to submit the document, then counted again by county employees to ultimately calculate the total cost to file a document. The new legislation eliminates the page count in favor of fees based on document type.

In a message to its members, the Palmetto Land Title Association said called this “common sense legislation will benefit consumers, lenders, businesses, attorneys and those who record documents in the South Carolina Clerk of Courts’ offices and Register of Deeds offices.”

“As real estate practitioners, we are finally able to more seamlessly comply with TRID regulations, inform clients more accurately of their final closing costs, and keep our IOLTA accounts tidier,” the PLTA continued in its message.

The new predictable fee legislation takes effect on Aug. 1, 2019.

Since 2016, the PLTA and its legislative committee members have dedicated many hours towards the drafting and advocacy efforts necessary to get this piece of bi-partisan legislation passed.

In addition to PLTA, other groups supporting the legislation include ALTA, the South Carolina Association of Clerks of Court and Register of Deeds, The Association of Counties, The South Carolina Association of Realtors, The South Carolina Bankers Association, the Mortgage Bankers of the Carolinas, the South Carolina Bar Association, the American Resort Development Association.

Earlier this year, Georgia, Kentucky and Utah also passed predictable recording fee bills.

List of states with predictable recording fees:

  • Georgia
  • Idaho
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Kentucky
    • Louisiana
    • Maryland
    • Massachusetts
    • Michigan
    • Minnesota
    • Nevada
    • New Mexico
    • North Carolina
    • North Dakota
    • South Carolina
    • South Dakota
    • Utah
    • Wisconsin
    • Wyoming

You can learn more about predictable recording fees on ALTA's website.


Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or [email protected].