Co. to consolidate land records online
Searching for land deeds, titles, liens and mortgages throughout the state may become much easier if a Cumberland company has its way.
MacImage of Maine last week said it will gather and consolidate all land records from every Maine county and post them to an existing land records website it developed for Hancock County, according to a press release from the company. MacImage developed the Hancock County site -- www.RegistryofDeeds.com -- 10 years ago, and for several years it was the only Maine registry of deeds website. Title researchers, real estate professionals, bankers and others who needed copies of deeds from other counties had to go to the county courthouses and search for those documents in registry books. MacImage says searching the statewide database will be free, but there will be a small charge -- the current price on the website is $0.75 a page -- to access printable copies.
MacImage's expansion is due to a recent Superior Court decision in MacImage of Maine v. Hancock County, which found that documents in Maine registries of deeds are public records within the meaning of the Freedom of Access Law and, therefore, Maine counties may not prevent MacImage of Maine from obtaining copies of those documents at a reasonable cost, the press release said.
The company expects to encounter resistance from counties that worry the website will negatively impact their revenue. John Simpson, general manager of MacImage, told the Kennebec Journal that he expects "virtually every registrar and [county] commission" will have concerns about a singular statewide system. But the company has revenue sharing plans it hopes will offset any impact to county budgets, according to the press release.
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