What are Nebraska Property Records?
Property records are government-maintained documents that carry information on real property (land and everything attached to it). In Nebraska, citizens generate these records or instruments and file them in Register of Deeds offices, particularly the office located where the real property lies.
Per the Nebraska legislature, each Register of Deeds office is tasked with recording legal documents (or instruments) that establish property ownership rights or reveal/release an interest in a property. This includes deeds, mortgages, satisfactions of mortgages, foreclosures, judgments, liens, easements, wills, and other real estate contracts or documents. Once a Register of Deeds records these documents, they become part of the respective county's official records.
Are Nebraska Property Records Public?
Yes, Nebraska property records are public information. Documents recorded in the Register of Deeds offices (or a county clerk's office if no register of deeds has been elected) are considered public records under Nebraska's Open Records Act. Hence, interested persons can legally view or copy Nebraska property records from official or third-party sources that preserve public property records, except if a statute limits disclosure.
Property records are available for public viewing through government agencies or third-party aggregate websites. Accessing property records through third-party sites is typically straightforward, and the records are not geographically limited. However, because the sites are not government-affiliated and run independently, the information contained in the records may vary. Searching parties should include the following information to obtain complete property records:
- The property’s exact location.
- The property owner’s details.
What Information is Included in Nebraska Property Records?
Nebraska property records ordinarily contain a plethora of information about a piece of real estate found within the state. Thus, while the following is not an exhaustive list of the information that can be included in a property record, an individual may find these:
- Basic owner information, including the current owner's full name, mailing address, and ownership percentage
- A property's general description, including Property/Parcel ID, property type, property status, property class, and zoning information
- A property's legal description
- Information on transfers of ownership
- Filed liens and judgments
- Improvements and other changes to the property
- Sales history, including the seller and buyer's names, sale date, instrument number, and sale price
- Assessment and tax history
- Property photos
- Plat maps
- Property survey records
Where to Search Nebraska Public Property Records
In most cases, determining where to search for public property records in Nebraska is a straightforward matter. A person only needs to pinpoint the Register of Deeds office responsible for filing and maintaining the records in line with state laws. This office must be located in the county where the property lies, as a county recorder's office cannot provide other U.S. land records to requesters.
Other than the local Register of Deeds office, and depending on the required document, an individual may also find public property records at the county assessor, treasurer, surveyor, or district court clerk's office.
How to Do a Property Records Search in Nebraska
The first place for any property records search in Nebraska is the Register of Deeds office or any other local office performing recording duties in a county (say, a county clerk's office like in Banner County). The Register of Deeds offices offer diverse means through which individuals can access property records in Nebraska, but the more common methods are in person, by mail, by telephone, or online.
Individuals who visit a Register of Deeds can inspect public property indexes for free or obtain copies at a small fee. Those who call or write the office can have staff search property records on their behalf and deliver copies if they pay the applicable fee. Then again, an individual can check the Register of Deeds website for a property records search tool - for instance, the property search, deeds search, and property-transfer search tools provided by the Lancaster County Assessor/Register of Deeds office. However, all request methods have a similar requirement: each inquirer must provide specific information that allows the Register of Deeds or the system (if searching online) to find the property record in question. Typically, this information includes:
- A grantor/grantee's name
- The legal description of a property
- Book/page number (or instrument number for property records filed after January 2013)
- The approximate recording date
Another office where one may search property records in Nebraska is the county assessor's office. Similar to requests made to the Register of Deeds office, a person can mail, visit, or call an assessor's office or search its online database to find Nebraska property records. Interested persons can find the addresses, phone numbers, and links to the parcel search tools of all county assessor's offices on the Department of Revenue's website. Besides visiting an assessor's website to search for property records, individuals can also access the centralized Nebraska Assessors Online database managed by the Nebraska Association of County Officials or NACO (not all county property records are included on this site, however). In some counties, the assessor's office is combined with the Register of Deeds office.
As an alternative to searching property records at government offices in Nebraska, an individual can hire a title company or lawyer to research properties for them. One can also use third-party aggregate websites to carry out the property records search.
How to Find the Owner of a Nebraska Property Using Public Records
Queries to locate the owner of a Nebraska property record using public records should be made to the Register of Deeds office in the county where the property lies. These offices preserve public indexes to property records that include details about the owners of properties within their counties. An interested individual can call or visit the Register of Deeds office with a book/page number or a property's legal description to search public records for property ownership information. Again, the interested party can access the Register of Deeds office's online property records database (or the Nebraska Deeds Online site operated by NACO) to find out who owns the title to a piece of real estate. Property ownership records can also be retrieved from the county assessor's offices.
What are Nebraska Property Records Used For?
Save looking up property ownership records, there are other reasons why a person would obtain a Nebraska property record from a local government office. Given how comprehensive property records can be, these documents serve important legal purposes, especially when it involves the purchase, sale, or transfer of property or when a person wishes to resolve a dispute that arose over a property.
For example, an individual may obtain a Nebraska property record to find encumbrances (e.g., liens) on a property, determine if a property has unpaid taxes, assess a property's past and present value, find out the square footage of a property, verify the past owners, or otherwise look into a property's history.
Generally, real estate owners, buyers, agents, and attorneys acquire property records to make smart decisions about real estate investments and transactions.
How to Find Nebraska Property Tax Records
Treasurer's offices in Nebraska are the most authentic source for Nebraska property tax records. Therefore, any person requiring tax records for property in Nebraska can call, write, or visit the local treasurer's office.
Individuals can also use the online property tax lookup software that county treasurers maintain to help the public find Nebraska property tax records. An example is the Douglas County Treasurer's Real Property Tax Search tool. One easy way to find the website link to a county treasurer's tax search tool (other than with a general search) is to visit the Nebraska Department of Revenue's County Assessors and Parcel Search page. On the web page, individuals can scroll down to the respective county's section or download a PDF or Excel sheet that contains website links and other contact information. Furthermore, the Nebraska Association of County Officials provides the Nebraska Taxes Online database as a convenient means to search Nebraska property tax records. To use the site, an individual must select the applicable county (where the property lies) and input a search query. For instance, a parcel number, property owner's name, or address.
What to Do When You Can't Find Property Records in Nebraska
In Nebraska, recording legal instruments is necessary to secure interests in property within the state. It creates a paper trail, a sort of documentary evidence, that members of the public can follow when disputes involving real property arise. For example, title or boundary line issues.
While no state law mandates Nebraska property owners to disclose property information to the government or imposes a penalty on those who fail to do so, owners who want to preserve their claim to a title must file these documents in a Register of Deeds office. As a result, in most cases, a person will find the property records at a Register of Deeds office (in some cases, an assessor's office).
When a property record cannot be found, the Register of Deeds may have information on the government office that maintains the record. For example, some liens are not filed with the Register of Deeds, and one may need to contact the district court clerk for the records. Likewise, property survey records may not be accessible at the recorder's office but at a county surveyor's office instead.
Notwithstanding, an individual can ask professionals like a real estate agent, title company, or attorney for assistance. They may also use services provided by third-party aggregate sites to conduct a more extensive search.
