Search Charles County Deed Records
Charles County deed records are kept at the Circuit Court Clerk's office in La Plata and go back to the county's founding in 1658. You can search and access property deed records online through MDLandRec.net or visit the courthouse to use public terminals. This page covers how to find deed records in Charles County, what to expect at each step, and what fees apply when you record or copy a deed.
Charles County Overview
Charles County Circuit Court Clerk
The Clerk of the Circuit Court for Charles County holds all deed records and land filings in the county. The office is at 200 Charles Street in La Plata. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Charles County is part of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, along with Calvert, Prince George's, and St. Mary's Counties. The clerk manages a deed collection that goes all the way back to 1658, making it one of the deepest records sets in Maryland.
The main clerk number is (301) 932-3201. For land records specifically, call (301) 932-3213. The Treasurer's office, which handles tax-related questions tied to deed transfers, is at (301) 932-3457. The Assessment Office can be reached at (301) 932-3200. If you plan to visit, public terminals are available for self-service research. The Charles County Circuit Court records page has forms and additional contact details.
| Office | Clerk of the Circuit Court, Charles County |
|---|---|
| Address | 200 Charles Street, La Plata, MD 20646 |
| Main Phone | (301) 932-3201 |
| Land Records | (301) 932-3213 |
| Treasurer | (301) 932-3457 |
| Hours | Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM |
| Judicial Circuit | Seventh (with Calvert, Prince George's, St. Mary's) |
Charles County Deed Records Online
Three online tools let you search Charles County deed records. The first is MDLandRec.net, the statewide land records platform run by the Maryland State Archives. Free registration is required. After logging in, select Charles County and search by grantor name, grantee name, or liber and folio number. The liber is the deed book, and the folio is the page within that book. This system has Charles County deed books available online.
The second tool is the Charles County Records Portal. This local portal offers property and court records access for Charles County. It is a useful supplement to MDLandRec when you need more specific local data. The third tool is Plats.net, which covers subdivision plats and boundary maps. Use plato/plato# to log in.
The link below goes to the Charles County Circuit Court records page at the Maryland Courts website.
The Maryland Courts site for Charles County lists deed search tools, office hours, and clerk contact information.
The Charles County Records Portal is a local option for deed and property record searches in Charles County.
This portal is maintained locally and can supplement the statewide MDLandRec system for Charles County searches.
The MDLandRec platform also covers Charles County and provides direct access to scanned deed images.
Use a free account at MDLandRec to view and download Charles County deed images by grantor, grantee, or liber and folio.
How to Access Charles County Land Records
Online searches are the fastest way to look up Charles County deed records. Go to landrec.msa.maryland.gov and register for a free account. Once in, choose Charles County from the county dropdown. Enter the name of the buyer or seller and set a date range if you know roughly when the deed was recorded. The index will show matching results. Click any result to view the deed image and see the liber and folio reference.
In-person access at the La Plata courthouse is free. Public terminals at the clerk's office let you look up records without a fee. Under Maryland's Public Information Act, the first two hours of in-person search time are free. Staff can assist you if the self-service terminal is not returning what you need. Old records, particularly those from the 1600s and 1700s, may require contact with the Maryland State Archives, which holds historical materials not yet digitized in the online systems.
Note: For very old Charles County deed records predating the online index, the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis is the best resource.
Fees for Charles County Deed Records
Copy fees in Charles County are $0.50 per page for regular copies. Certified copies cost an additional $5.00 per document, plus the per-page copy fee. So a certified 6-page deed costs $8.00. If you use a public terminal to make your own copies, the rate is the same.
Recording fees for new deeds follow statewide rules: $20 for instruments of 9 pages or fewer, $75 for instruments with 10 or more pages, and $10 for releases. There is a $40 surcharge added to most recorded instruments in Charles County. State transfer tax is 0.5% of the sale price. County transfer tax is also 0.5% in Charles County. Recordation tax applies on top of that and is based on the sale price.
Recording a Deed in Charles County
Charles County does not have the same two-step pre-approval process as some other Maryland counties. You submit the deed directly to the Clerk's office. That said, you still need to pay all taxes and fees before the deed is accepted for recording. Make sure the deed includes a proper legal description of the property, the names and addresses of all parties, and the consideration amount. A Maryland Intake Sheet must accompany all recorded documents.
Under Maryland Real Property Article Section 3-104, deeds must be acknowledged before they can be recorded. This means the grantor must sign before a notary or authorized official. Deeds without proper acknowledgment will be rejected. The clerk will also check for correct formatting: the document needs a 3-inch top margin on the first page and 1-inch side margins throughout.
Under the Public Information Act, in-person inspection of deed records is free during business hours. The first two hours of research are free each day. After that, a staff time fee may apply. Most people can complete a basic deed search in well under two hours. For questions about your specific deed filing in Charles County, call the land records line at (301) 932-3213 before you come in.
Cities in Charles County
All deed records for Charles County properties are filed with the Circuit Court Clerk in La Plata, no matter what town or community the property is in. Waldorf is the largest community in Charles County and has a dedicated page on this site for local deed records information.
Other communities in Charles County include La Plata, Indian Head, White Plains, and Bryans Road. Deed records for all of these are at the Circuit Court in La Plata.
Nearby Counties
Charles County shares borders with these Maryland counties. Each has its own Circuit Court handling deed records for properties in that jurisdiction. If you are tracking a chain of title that crosses county lines, you may need to search records in more than one county.