The following is the third installment of a series of “10 Things to Know About the Registries of Deeds” presented by the REBA Registries Section. This month’s installment is from Dick Howe, recently-retired Register of Deeds for Middlesex North County. REBA congratulates Register Howe on his retirement and thanks him for his collaboration over the years!
1. In March 2020, Middlesex North moved from its home of 165
years in the Middlesex Superior Courthouse to the new Lowell Justice Center at 370 Jackson Street in Lowell. Space constraints forced the registry to shrink its footprint from 15,000 square feet in the old building to 5,000 in the new. This caused the reduction of registry-controlled space for closings and title research.
2. The same week the Registry relocated the state shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. For the next 15 months, the registry operated without members of the public allowed into the registry space. Most conveyancers recorded electronically or by regular mail; the rest dropped off documents for recording at the entrance. All customer service was performed by phone or email. Notwithstanding the trauma caused by the pandemic, this model of Registry operations worked well and has been retained as standard operating procedure. Consequently, documents walked in are recorded after the customer leaves and, while in-person customer service is available, virtual interactions are preferred.
3. Every document or plan ever recorded is available on the Registry’s masslandrecords website. However, if a digital image is illegible, the customer need only email lowelldeeds@sec.state.ma.us and the registry will promptly take and email a color digital photograph of the original to the customer. Because of the high quality of cellphone cameras and the zoom feature of digital photo viewers, the customer is able to see more detail from the digital color photo than they would from the original document. (The tradeoff for no closing or research rooms was being able to store all originals onsite which makes them immediately available for digital photography during normal hours of operation.)
4. Although all documents and plans are available online, they are not always easy to find. A detailed set of instructions on how to find even the most obscure document or plan is available on the Registry’s local website, massrods.com/middlesexnorth/ under the “search records” tab. That website, which works in parallel to masslandrecords, contains an abundance of registry-related information ranging from storm-related closings to the latest operational news.
5. A new version of the Massachusetts Deed Indexing Standards took effect on January 1st. The Indexing Standards explain how registries of deeds in Massachusetts index documents and provide guidance on issues that frequently arise during the recording process. First issued in 2000, other editions were published in 2006, 2008, and 2018. The REBA Registries Committee offered extensive comment on preliminary drafts of the Standards.
6. Another pandemic practice that remains is the requirement that all registered land documents intended to be registered first be emailed to lowelldeeds@sec.state.ma.us for pre-approval. Incoming submissions are quickly reviewed by local registered land staff who notify submitters of any additional requirements or approve the documents as is. The customer may then e-file, mail, or deliver the documents for registration. This procedure significantly improves the success rate of registered land submissions.
7. When researching nineteenth century records it is important to know that Middlesex North was not created by the legislature until 1855. All documents from before 1855 were recorded at the registry of deeds in Cambridge. When the Northern District registry was formed, clerks scoured the Cambridge books for any documents that affected the ownership of land in the ten towns that made up the northern district (Billerica, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Lowell, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, Westford, and Wilmington). These documents were then copied in new books organized by town and book number. Consequently, there is a Lowell Book 1, a Dracut Book 1, a Carlisle Book 1, and so on. These are alternatively called “Middlesex South Books” or “Pre-1855 Books.” Documents that were recorded after the new registry opened in July 1855 were placed in Book 1. So remember, if the document you seek was created before 1855, it is in one set of books; after 1855, it is in another.
8. Since the onset of the pandemic, electronic recording has accounted for 85 percent or more of all recordings. This level of usage has persisted and shows no sign of diminishing. In 2023, the registry began accepting registered land via electronic recording, however, the ability to record plans electronically remains elusive. Using current systems, it might be feasible to have a scanned version of a tangible plan transmitted to the registry electronically for recording, but it would be better to develop a fully electronic process. Almost every subdivision plan today is created on a computer. The surveyor then prints the plan on plastic sheeting (“Mylar”) and signs a certification with a permanent marker. In most cases, someone from the municipality also signs the tangible plan with a permanent marker. That tangible plan is carried to the registry where it is recorded and scanned to create a digital image. So a plan that was born digitally is printed on plastic only to be scanned by the registry to create a second generation digital image. A better approach would be to transmit the original digital file directly to the registry for the registry’s permanent record. An added challenge to this would be obtaining the signature of the necessary town officials. Perhaps that could be done on the electronic plan file or it could be on an ancillary document that was logically connected to the plan. In any case, it seems unlikely this vision will be realized anytime soon.
9. Middlesex North is exploring the use of artificial intelligence in registry operations. Perhaps the most encouraging experiment has been the use of optical character recognition software enhanced by artificial intelligence to transcribe registry documents written in cursive. More than 800,000 pages of record books created before 1924 use cursive print. Since traditional OCR programs struggle with cursive, the only alternative for digitizing the text of such documents has been to have a human type each page, a process that is understandably expensive. Early experiments indicate that AI will be able to do this transcription accurately at a fraction of the cost. Regardless of how the full text of recorded documents is created, it will be a huge benefit for registry users. Now, the only way to find a document is through the index or by a reference in another document. With the full text of documents available in searchable form, words and phrases not captured by the index will be discoverable through the use of a Google search-like application.
10. Finally, there is a new register of deeds for Middlesex North effective January 1, 2025. Former Register of Deeds Richard Howe announced last fall that he would not seek reelection and instead retired at the end of his term. Howe was first elected in 1994 and has been reelected four times. His tenure has coincided with the information revolution that has transformed how Middlesex North operates. Middlesex North is now under the supervision of Register Karen M. Cassella. We congratulate Register Cassella on her new position and look forward to working with her!
