I don't know if other states have passed laws that allow certain members of the judicial system/law enforcement to have their personal info removed from public record, but Georgia has such a law. From their perspective, I understand the need and I support protecting them in any way within reason. More than once I've encountered the "no data available" or "no results found" while on the tax assessor's website researching a subject parcel or an adjoining parcel. I was afraid that it would make research next to impossible. I have found that in some instances it can be very difficult to find out who owns a parcel, but not impossible. I'm curious how that is handled elsewhere. And what does one do about submitting site plans or plats for review for a client who has had their info removed? One survey we did had an adjoining parcel with no data available. While at the site I noticed that the neighbor's last name was on the mailbox?!?! As per state law, adjoiner's names must be shown. Instead of a name on that parcel, I just stated "no public data was available" even though, through my research I knew who the owner was.
Thoughts?
Me. "What's the difference?"
T.C. Carroll "It's the difference between right and wrong!"
Stacy, I was not aware that Georgia has that law now. I can certainly understand the reasoning, but just wasn't aware. If possible (not always possible though) I would research back to previous owner and put "Now or Formerly John Doe" or whatever the previous owner's name was.
Andy
I don't remember when but I vaguely remember reading that it passed. I thought what are the odds I'll ever run across that situation. Be careful what you think. Stop by and see us if you're in this part of the state.
Me. "What's the difference?"
T.C. Carroll "It's the difference between right and wrong!"
Won't the current owner's name appear on the deed? I always pull the adjoiner deeds anyway to make sure there aren't any inconsistencies that need to be resolved.
There are many parcels that have confusion in the GIS. Sometimes they are blank, sometimes they have the wrong owner, however, I've never seen a parcel that was hidden in the chain of title. GIS a whole different story. I don't really have an issue with it. It's simple to track it down, usually online.
I just put deed instrument number and parcel number on adjoiner parcels so it wouldn't be a big deal here. If the state law required a name though then I'd probably just put no data available like the county says.
LLCs come to mind, you can hide the ownership fairly effectively. I would use an attorney as the agent and it should make it difficult to figure out the owner. I've run into it a few times, tracking down one owner led me to a realtor, I never could get a permit to survey form signed, so I simply asked the workers who lived on site and they gave me a verbal, I wanted no contact with a realtor and the registered agent was a storefront with 60k LLC listings.
If I'm a person wanting to hide my address and such, that would be one way, then all the data for ownership will be hidden.
The LLC is an address in a Southern state 1500 miles away, who knows the real owner. I'd prefer doing that as a way to hide my address.
The first time I came across the "no data available" was on an adjoining property to our subject. The record plat of the subject didn't show adjoining owners' names (it wasn't always a requirement) so without knocking on doors (or seeing the name on the mailbox) I had no idea what name to search in the deed records. The latest encounter involved our subject not having data available. That was simple since we know our client's name.
Me. "What's the difference?"
T.C. Carroll "It's the difference between right and wrong!"