The Time for Electronic Recording is Now: New Jersey Passes New Law Updating Title Recordation Procedures
In our electronic age, New Jersey’s antiquated laws governing document recordation were in serious need of some updates. A new law was recently passed modernizing the New Jersey Statutes by requiring the acceptance of electronic alternatives to paper documents, in addition to paper documents. In addition, provisions of the statute, disbursed over various sections that logically belonged together, have been compiled in a more concise and coherent fashion, and antiquated language and procedures have been removed. The revisions clearly result in a much more reader- friendly version of the law relating to title recordation in New Jersey.
Assembly Bill A-2565 P.L.2011, c.217 revising the New Jersey statutes pertaining to the recording of title documents was signed into law by Governor Christie on January 17, 2012. The New Jersey Law Revision Commission (NJLRC) approved this revision project following the enactment of the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-sign), and New Jersey’s enactment of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA). The legislative statements (Statements) issued by the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee (Senate) and Housing and Local Government Committee (Assembly) related to A-2565 note that “while the use of electronic deeds and mortgages is not expected to occur in the near term, both E-sign and UETA encourage the development of systems that will accept electronic documents without disrupting the ongoing process of title recordation.”
Title 46, chapters 15 to 26 of the New Jersey statutes currently govern the recording and indexing of title documents. Most of these statutes were written when recording meant storing and including paper documents in large books. Amendments then allowed recording offices to microfilm documents and later permitted the use of any other method of recording that was “in conformance with rules, standards and procedures promulgated by the Division of Archives and Records Management (Division) in the Department of State (Department) and approved by the State Records Committee pursuant to its authority under section 6 of P.L.1994, c.140 (C.47:1-12) and the “Destruction of Public Records Law.” The recording system is intended to be fluid, preventing its extinction, by allowing for the approval of new methods of recording documents as recording technology advances. However, as the Senate and the Assembly note, with an increase in the use of new recording methods, comes an increase in the need for regulatory authority to assure uniformity.
The prior exemption from the fee expired July 1, 2010. The new legislation also provides for the reimbursement of fees paid subsequent to July 1, 2010, unless already spent by the municipality in connection with an affordable housing development. A developer must seek such reimbursement within 120 days of the effective date of the bill.
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