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Records Management & Archives 3500 Illinois St., Suite 2350 Golden, CO 80401 303-271-8448 |
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Building and Property Research in County Records The county maintains records about property and buildings in order to: Each of these activities results in records, but the way those records have been maintained between the establishment of county government in 1861 and the present has varied with changing legal requirements and technology. Researchers are strongly urged to call the appropriate department in advance of a visit to determine the availability of specific records.
Assessor The County Assessor is responsible for establishing the assessed value of all property in the county, including incorporated cities and unincorporated areas. The Assessor's Office can provide information on current property ownership by phone, but researchers must visit the office and do their own research on prior ownership. Land Ownership
To identify previous owners you will use index books available in the lobby of the Assessor's Office. These books are arranged alphabetically by name of subdivision for subdivided land, and numerically by section, township, and range numbers for un-subdivided land. Find the correct book, keeping in mind that subdivisions may be broken down by block numbers and sections may be broken down by quarter sections (NE, NW, SE, SW). In either type of book, begin with the last (most recent) entry for the appropriate subdivision or section and work back until you find the name of the owner from the computer record listed as "grantee." Verify that the property description for that entry is the same. Then look at the left hand column of information for the page number and line number of the next earliest entry for that parcel. When you find that page and line number note the name of the grantee and proceed to the next cited page and line number. Continue this process until you have reached the earliest entry for the subdivision or section. If the earliest entry for a subdivision is later than 1910, there may be entries for ownership of the same land prior to its being subdivided. Find the correct section, township, and range book for the same parcel of land and proceed in the same manner to the earliest entry. To trace land ownership prior to 1910 you must go to the Clerk and Recorder's Recording Department and search for land transactions using the Grantor/Grantee Indexes. See page 4 for a description of these records. Property Cards The Assessor's Office also maintains property cards for all current commercial and residential properties. These cards contain a photograph of the property (mostly dating from the 1960s or later), and some descriptive information about the building. You may request to see a specific property card, but you must know the property's schedule number. This can be found on the computer system as described above. Obsolete property cards are transferred to the County Archives. (see page 6).
Clerk and Recorder's Recording Department Recorded Documents (Deeds, Mortgages, etc) The County Clerk and Recorder is responsible for "recording" (making an official copy as a public record) all legal documents affecting the title to real estate in the county (deeds, mortgages, deeds of trust, releases, etc.), including land in incorporated cities and unincorporated parts of the county. After a document is recorded the original is returned to the owner. This activity is performed by the Recording Department.Every document recorded prior to 1978 is filed by a "Book" and "Page" number. This reflects the 19th century practice of hand-copying documents into numbered record books. Later methods of recording included making photostats (similar to reverse-image photocopies) of documents and keeping them in numbered books, microfilming documents and keeping the microfilm, and scanning documents into a computer system. Every recorded document also has a unique "Reception Number" assigned when it is received by the Recording Department. Recorded documents can be used to establish the chain of ownership of a particular piece of land because each land transfer identifies the seller ("Grantor") and buyer ("Grantee"). Recording Department staff cannot do property research for you, either by phone or in person, but they will assist you in using the records described below. Indexing of Recorded Documents Every recorded document is indexed by the name of the "Grantor" and "Grantee" specified in the document. The Grantor is the party conveying property and the Grantee is the recipient of the property. Thus, in a simple real estate deed the seller is the Grantor and the buyer is the Grantee. There is no single, cumulative index to all documents. Indexes are available as follows: 1862 - 1900 indexes are on microfilm available in the Recording Department. There are separate indexes by Grantor and Grantee, and each volume covers only a specific span of years. 1900 - 1963 indexes are in bound volumes available in the Recording Department. There are separate indexes by Grantor and Grantee, and each volume covers only a specific span of years. 1963 - present index is computerized and available on computer terminals in the Recording Department. The entire time period can be searched at one time. Each index entry provides the Book and Page (Reception Number on computer index) where the document can be found. If the Book and Page or Reception Number of a specific deed or other document is already known, it is not necessary to use the indexes to find that document. The Grantor/Grantee indexes can be used to identify prior owners of a piece of property. A search for previous owners of a specific piece of land can start from any point in the known chain of title, but the name of the property owner at the starting point must be known. Example: Owners of a piece of land from 1910 to the present are known, but prior owners are unknown. (Ownership after 1910 can be determined through the Assessor's Office. See page 2 for description.) To identify the previous owner you must locate the deed which conveyed the property to the last known owner. Begin by searching in the bound volume Grantee Index covering 1910 and earlier for the name of the 1910 owner. If no appropriate document is listed proceed to the next earliest Grantee Index volume. Continue searching progressively earlier Grantee Index volumes until the name of the 1910 owner is given as a Grantee. Check the property description in the index entry to be sure that it is for the same piece of land. Note the name of the Grantor (the previous owner). If you wish to examine the deed document also note the Book and Page number. Now begin searching the Grantee Indexes from that date and earlier for the Grantor's name as a Grantee. Continue the same process back as far as necessary, keeping in mind that the land you are researching may once have been part of a larger parcel. Information on Deeds Recorded deeds typically contain the following information:
Subdivision Plats When land is subdivided a plat (map) is recorded in the Recording Department. Each subdivision is named and its plat shows the boundaries and dimensions of the lots and blocks and roads in the subdivision. The plat also gives the date of the subdivision and contains a declaration specifying which lands are dedicated to the public for roads, parks, and other public uses. Subdivision plats are filed by Book and Page number, although they are not actually bound in books. An index to subdivision names which gives the Book and Page number of each plat is available in the Recording Department. The index and copies of plats are available for public use in the Recording Department.
Records Management & Archives Records Management & Archives is responsible for preserving and making available to the public historical records that have been transferred to it by other County divisions. Property Ownership Records The County Archives holds a small number of Block Books and Land Books that can establish ownership of specific parcels of land during selected years between 1905 and 1954. Block Books list the ownership of subdivided land and Land Books list the ownership of un-subdivided land. To use these books it is necessary to know the legal description of the property (subdivision name, lot and block number if subdivided land; section, township, and range numbers if un-subdivided land).Block Books are available for the following years: 1909 - 1914, 1917, 1919, 1934-1940, 1948-1954 (subdivisions M-W only). The Block Book entries prior to 1920 give the Schedule Number and assessed value of land and improvements to land. An owner's name then can be determined from the Property Tax Records (see below). Land Books are available for the following years: 1905-1909. The Land Book covering 1905-1908 gives the owner's name; the Land Book from 1909 gives the Schedule Number which must be looked up in the Property Tax Records (see below) to determine the owner's name. Land Books also include maps of each section showing the boundaries of individual parcels of un-subdivided land. Property Tax Records Property Tax Records exist between 1870 and 1948. They show the name of the property owner; the mailing address of the owner; the Schedule Number; the assessed value of real estate, improvements to real estate, and personal property; and the amount of taxes owed and the date the taxes were paid. Between 1879 and 1905 taxable personal property was assessed by category (Livestock, Musical Instruments, Household Furniture, etc.). Tax records do not indicate what types of improvements existed on land or itemize all personal property; they only indicate the assessed value of those improvements and personal property. Tax records are entered in large bound books. There is a separate set of books for each year and entries for each year are alphabetical by the name of the property owner. To find a specific tax record it is necessary to know the year and the name of the owner or Schedule Number. Property Schedule Numbers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries start with the first letter of the property owner's last name, making it possible to find a particular owner in the tax records if you only have a Schedule Number. Because these books are stored in a non-public area and must be retrieved for use, it is strongly advised that researchers call the Archives and Records Management Department in advance. Sometimes it is possible to infer from tax records when a structure was built. If the approximate age of a building is known and the tax record shows a substantial increase in the assessed value of improvements to property at about the same time, a researcher may wish to speculate that the change in assessed value represents the addition of a building to the property. This must be done carefully, however, since any improvement (house, barn, fence, etc.) may account for an increase in assessed value. Property Cards The County Archives periodically receives from the County Assessor obsolete Commercial and Residential Property Cards (see description under Assessor on page 3). It is necessary to know the Schedule Number of the property to access these cards. The Schedule Number can be obtained from the Assessor's Office, as described on page 2.
Building Safety Division The Building Safety Division is responsible for the following activities only in unincorporated Jefferson County: reviewing and approving building plans for residential and commercial buildings to ensure that they meet building codes, issuing building permits, and inspecting buildings under construction to ensure that approved plans and codes are followed. Jefferson County did not require building permits until 1940, and then only for commercial buildings, so there are no records of these activities prior to that time. In 1941 the first County Zoning Resolution required building permits for commercial buildings and for residential buildings on subdivided land. In 1949 the county adopted its first county-wide Building Code. Residential buildings on unsubdivided land did not require building permits until 1973. Incorporated cities have their own municipal building departments that perform the same functions within city limits. Contact the following municipal building departments concerning records of buildings in those areas: Arvada 431-3032 Building Permits A card file in the Building Safety Division lists building permits issued and inspections completed between about 1945 and 1992, and computerized records of building permits exist from 1993 to the present. Building permit files containing permit application information and a record of inspections (but usually not building or site plans) exist only from 1955 to the present. It is necessary to know the address of a building to determine if a permit was ever issued.
The County has kept copies of approved commercial and residential building plans only since the late 1970s, and some of the plans from that period were destroyed or damaged by water in a prior storage area. It is necessary to know the address of the property or a building permit number to locate a building plan. Plans may be viewed at the Building Safety Division, but researchers are strongly encouraged to call in advance since some plans are stored off-site.
Planning and Zoning Division The Planning and Zoning Division is responsible for the following activities only in unincorporated Jefferson County: developing comprehensive community plans, administering land use regulations, reviewing and issuing permits, zoning enforcement, analyzing proposed subdivisions of land, and providing information. Contact municipal planning and zoning departments for similar information about incorporated cities. The County Planning Commission was established in 1939 and the first Zoning Regulation was adopted by the Board of County Commissioners in 1941, so there are no records available prior to that time. Community Plans Community Plans for selected areas in Jefferson County have been developed with citizen input since the 1980s. Each plan includes information about known historical sites within the plan area, and copies of published plans are available free of charge from the Planning and Zoning Division. Zoning Records Zoning regulations govern how land can be used in designated areas. Zoning Resolutions and selected Zoning Maps from 1941 to the present are available at the Planning and Zoning Division. Property may be rezoned or authorized for special uses at the request of the property owner and the department maintains records of each Rezoning Case and Special Use Case. It is necessary to know the legal description (subdivision name, lot, and block number if subdivided land; section, township, and range numbers if un-subdivided land) to access these case records. Last Modified:Apr 21, 2009 08:35 AM |
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