Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres Launches New Service for Recorded Documents

For Immediate Release
Date: Monday, December 23, 2024
Contact: Abigail Fay, abigail.fay@sfgov.org

Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres Launches New Service for Recorded Documents

San Francisco leads the state in public access to recorded documents with first-in-the-state service to provide the public free viewing of all online documents, now spanning 1990 to present.

San Francisco, CA – Today, San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres announced a first-in-the-state online service to provide free and easy access to all recorded documents spanning 1990 to present, totaling over 7 million unique documents.

The function of every county recorder is to record, secure and provide access to property, marriage and other records. Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres has made it his goal since first being elected to the Office in 2022 to vastly enhance access to San Francisco’s recorded documents. Under his administration and prior to the launch of the new service announced today, the Office has (1) added roughly 2.25 million documents spanning 1990-2000 to those previously available online for 2000 forward and (2) taken the initiative to perform a fee survey supporting a more than 80% reduction in the fee for a typical purchase of recorded property documents online.

With the launch of the new service, constituents are now further able to search and view for free from the comfort of their home or office over 85% of all documents annually sought by the public, such as deeds, deeds of trust, reconveyances and liens. Previously, the only way for the public to view the 7 million recorded documents currently online was to either purchase the document online without previewing it, or else come to City Hall during business hours to view the document in person at the Office of the Assessor-Recorder.

“We all expect to be able to access information online, often to view it for free, and certainly to be able to see what we’re buying before we buy it. This new service delivers on the public’s expectation that these basic tenets of customer service extend to government services as well.” said Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres. “Whether it’s a resident looking for information about their family home or watching out for title fraud, a journalist conducting research, or any other member of the public, thousands of constituents seek access to our recorded documents each year, most of them online. It’s about time we enable them to view these records for free simply by registering, and to know exactly what records they are buying before they purchase.”

“Making vital property records accessible online and for free is a significant step in our larger efforts to modernize systems across all departments and make our City government more responsive, efficient, and transparent,” said Mayor London Breed. “I thank Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres for spearheading this initiative and for partnering with my administration as we continue to upgrade our infrastructure and streamline the delivery of basic services.”

"I commend Assessor Torres for taking the steps to make San Francisco the first County in the State of California to provide easy, free public access to recorded documents,” said Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, who initially provided legislative support to the Assessor to initiate this new service. “This is a critical public service that’s commonplace in other states and that millions of residents rely on annually, and I hope the rest of the counties in California will follow suit.”

The Office of the Assessor-Recorder soft-launched Easy Access for Recorded Documents in November and has already seen over 500 constituents create accounts to use this service. This number is expected to increase dramatically as knowledge of the new service expands. Users must become a registered user and undergo an identification verification process before viewing recorded documents.

“We are really excited about this new service. It is extremely helpful to us as advocates—giving us the information and documents we need to be able to help our clients, who are all San Francisco seniors and adults with disabilities at risk of losing their home,” said Laura Slade Chiera, Executive Director and Managing Attorney, Legal Assistance to the Elderly. “It was hard to get this information before this service, and now it is at our fingertips."

Additionally, this new service will help the Office of the Assessor-Recorder meet the challenges of today’s increased workload associated with an unprecedented rise in assessment appeals and tight budgetary environment through dramatically reducing customer inquiries regarding purchasing recorded documents and freeing up time for staff to serve the public in other meaningful ways.

Easy Access for Recorded Documents continues the Office of the Assessor-Recorder’s ongoing work in upgrading and replacing business processes and legacy systems:

• Creating a platform that allows the public to purchase and instantaneously download recorded documents online—the same service that has been further updated to provide free viewing.
• Launching an online tool for faster and more cost-effective orders of public marriage certificates and creating a same-day marriage certificate program for newlyweds.
• Creating a new appointment system so that when you do need to come to City Hall in-person, there’s a scheduled time for you.
• Putting a new phone system in place with more options for requesting a call-back or direct forwarding to 311 after hours.
• Launching a new website in early 2025.
• Completing the first phase of our SMART (System for Managing Assessments, Records and Transactions) project, a multi-year and multi-agency initiative to replace decades-old property assessment and tax information technology. SMART will overhaul the way our Office does our work to increase efficiency and significantly improve the public’s experience in accessing their property assessment information. The first phase included the Business Personal Property community portal for business owners. The final phase, estimated for completion in 2025, will include real property assessments as well as a community portal for homeowners and other property owners.

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