How to Find Property Ownership in Georgia

Georgia property ownership records are accessible to the public and are easily searchable online. When someone buys real property in the state, their deed is sent to the local tax assessor's office or recorder of deeds for the county where the property is located. Individuals can also search for older property records through a state or local historical society. The records are generally free to access, but there may be a small fee for copies.

Property ownership records are accessible to the public in the state of Georgia. When attempting to find a property owner, the person searching for that information must first know the address of the property and the county of location. They can visit a county deed registry to view ownership records and request a copy of the deed, although there may be a small fee for this. They can also view property records through a county tax assessor or NETR Online.

Each county handles the viewing of its property records a little differently. The Fulton County Clerk office has a multitude of real estate records, including deeds, plats, floor plans and surveys that date back to the early 19th century. Records offices often do not conduct searches over the phone, but will allow people to come in and view the records independently.

Fulton County charges $5 for four hours of access, but this fee varies by county. The Fulton County Tax Assessor has property records accessible for free online. The Gwinnett County's Tax Assessor has an easy-to-use page where researchers can enter a parcel number or property address to get all the current information on a particular property.

The Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority (GSCCCA) also has many online public records for researchers to peruse. These include an index of real estate and personal property records that are more current. The authority also continues to add historical data – for example, it recently added records from 1993 to 1998.

Users can search the GSCCCA's website in several ways:

• Search for the property by owner's name. This search option contains files from 1/1/1990 to 1/4/2021.
• By book or page. This option contains files from 1/1/1990 to 1/4/2021.
• Property search. This option contains files from 12/31/1871 to 1/4/2022. Not all counties have information under this option.
• By instrument type. This is a premium search service that users can only access by creating an account. An instrument type search yields the most recent property transactions starting from January 1, 1999. This includes the property buyer and seller names, the property location, lien holder status, and book and page information.

While a county clerk or tax assessor will have property records, researchers can also access the Digital Library of Georgia online, which has its own database of property records dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. Individuals can also check with the local historical society in their area to view deeds, maps, land records and other documents pertaining to real estate holdings.

The Georgia Division of Archives and History also has real estate records available online, as does the Georgia Historical Society Research Center. However, there are some instances in which researchers will need to visit its physical office in Savannah to view a document in person.

Georgia also has a number of third-party companies that have real estate records. For example, GLS Archives has property documents in the Atlanta area from seven companies dating back to the 1880s. These include original city subdivision maps, property surveys, sewer maps, and maps of the city's among other documents. GLS organizes its documents by land survey, location and company name.