excerpted from PRIA's In Touch Magazine October 2014 
 

Looking to get a head start on plans for PRIA's 2015 Winter Symposium?  The online hotel reservation site at the Crystal City Marriott, hotel headquarters for the Winter Symposium, is accessible here.

 

The $209 rate this year will include complimentary Internet in all guest rooms. To book via telephone, call 800.228.9290 or 703.413.5500. Make plans early to assure a room at the group rate.

 

excerpted from Data Privacy Monitor 10/28/14

excerpted from National Notary Association Bulletin 11/6/14 

A change to California's mandatory Notary certificate wording for acknowledgments, jurats and proofs of execution takes effect January 1, 2015, and Notaries in the Golden State who do not use the new wording will be out of compliance with state law. Under Chapter 197, Statutes of 2014, the following consumer notification must be included as part of the notarial certificates:

 

"A Notary Public or other officer completing this certificate verifies only the identity of the individual who signed the document to which this certificate is attached, and not the truthfulness, accuracy, or validity of that document."

 

This notification must appear in a box at the top of the certificate, and it must be legible. The notification seeks to reduce fraud by letting consumers know that the Notary's seal and signature do not authenticate or endorse the contents of a document. The legislation's sponsors wanted to make sure that people unfamiliar with a Notary's duties would not be more inclined to trust a fraudulent document simply because it was notarized. 

 

California Notaries need to keep in mind that they will almost certainly come across documents that do not comply with the new wording requirements. "We know from past experience that it takes a while for changes to California's mandatory certificate wording to filter through to all the agencies, industries and business operations that prepare documents," said Bill Anderson, the NNA's Vice President of Legal Affairs. Anderson said that Notaries encountering documents without the consumer notification will most likely need to attach a loose certificate because there won't be enough room to insert the new wording so that it is legible and in a box. Anderson also noted that county recorders will likely reject notarized documents that do not include the new certificate wording. (Read complete article.)

 

 

The PRIA Board of Directors has approved a new work project for the Business Requirements Work Group, under the auspices of the Technology Committee.

 

This project will identify industry best practices for Land Records Management Systems (LRMS), in both the paper and electronic worlds.  The resulting best practices will provide government sector users of LRMS products the ability to define requirements and expectations, and to measure the resulting performance.  For business sector providers, the document will assist in the development and evaluation of their LRMS products.

 

Volunteers are being recruited to work on this new project.  In keeping with PRIA practices, both government and business sector members are needed to assemble a well-rounded working group. Work groups generally meet twice each month for one hour and again at the two annual conferences.  Attendance at the two annual conferences is beneficial but not required. 

 

If this project is of interest to you, please contact the Business Requirements Work Group co-chairs Larry Burtness, Washoe County, Nev.; and Karl Trottnow, First American Title Insurance Co.

 

A new milestone has been reached in the number of recording jurisdictions that are electronically recording documents. As of November 1, 2014, over 1,200 recording jurisdictions are eRecording enabled, which represents one-third of the nation's 3,600 recording jurisdictions. Now more than 68 percent of the United States population resides in recording jurisdictions that offer electronic recording of documents.

Mark Ladd, Vice President of Regulatory and Industry Affairs at Simplifile, and President of the Property Records Industry Association (PRIA), was elated with this landmark accomplishment. Ladd declared, "PRIA is a standard setting body that promotes and monitors the adoption of eRecording throughout the United States. In the past two years, we have witnessed a significant boost in the number of recording jurisdictions enabling eRecording in an effort to streamline their office workflows and increase both efficiencies and turnaround times for their submitters."

"Between August 2013 and November 2014, the number of counties committing to the eRecording process increased by more than 20 percent," said Washoe County (Nev.) Recorder and PRIA Technology Committee Co-Chair, Larry Burtness. "As the PRIA eRecording standards continue to mature, the number of counties leveraging this technology continues to expand."

"Recording offices aren't the only ones who benefit from eRecording," said Diane Evans, Land Title Guarantee Co. in Denver, and American Land Title Association (ALTA) President. "An important part of improving the consumer experience at the closing table is to ensure documents are recorded efficiently and without delay. Electronic recording helps local title companies address ALTA's Best Practice guidelines which call for timely recording of documents and tracking document rejections and resubmissions." (Read complete article.)

Goodhue County, MN and Bedford County, PA are now electronically recording real estate documents through Corporation Service Company� (CSC�). Any document submitter with a computer, Internet connection and scanner/printer can now eRecord real estate documents in these jurisdictions through CSC.  (Read complete article.)