How do I find out who owns a piece of land?
Find the parcel and a name in the county's assessment records or GIS map, then confirm ownership in the recorded deeds, which the circuit court clerk where the land lies indexes by grantor and grantee. The name on a tax assessment is listed for convenience in collecting taxes, and Carroll County's map viewer calls its layers general reference only, so the deed book is where ownership is read.
A tax bill, a county map and a deed book: what each can prove
A name for the owner of a parcel can come from three places: the tax bill, the county map and the deed book. They are not equal. Ranked by what each can prove, the deed book is first and the other two are finding aids that lead to it.
| Source | Kept by | What it gives | What it proves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax assessment and tax bill | The commissioner of the revenue | The person chargeable with the taxes, as the commissioner determines it as of January 1 each year | Little on its own: by statute the name listed as owner is for convenience in collecting the taxes |
| County GIS map | The county's mapping office | A parcel outline with a name and a number attached | Nothing legal: Carroll County's Web GIS calls its layers general reference and names recorded plats and deeds as authoritative for legal acreage and ownership; Grayson County says its lines are not legally binding |
| Recorded deed | The clerk of the circuit court | The instrument itself, indexed under every party named as grantor or grantee | The conveyance of record, which is where a title examination starts |
The practical order runs the other way. The tax records and the map are quick and point to the right parcel; the deed index takes longer and settles the name. The steps below follow that order.
Pin down the parcel and its number with the commissioner of the revenue
Start with the office that keeps the tax maps. It turns a road and a rough location into a specific parcel, a parcel number and a name to test.
In Carroll County the Commissioner of the Revenue identifies and values the county's properties and maintains the tax identification maps and the GIS parcel layer, at 605-7 Pine Street, Hillsville, real estate phone (276) 730-3030. In Grayson County the Real Estate Office at 129 Davis Street Suite 203, Independence, 276-773-2022, provides alphabetical and numerical ownership listings, tax maps and tax cards. For Wythe, Pulaski, Montgomery and Floyd counties and the City of Galax, go to that locality's commissioner of the revenue; how the rules shift across the six counties and Galax is a page of its own.
Virginia opens the property cards held by a county, city or town assessing officer to inspection by any taxpayer or authorized representative during the official's normal office hours after the notice of reassessment is mailed, except cards holding information made confidential by statute. What comes away from this step is the parcel number, which Carroll County calls a Tax Map/Parcel ID number and some forms call a GPIN, explained in what a GPIN is. The acreage on a map or card is a lead, not a measurement; how an acre is counted on a plat is a different matter.
Search the grantor and grantee index at the circuit court clerk
With a name in hand, go to the land records where the parcel lies. Every circuit court clerk keeps general indexes to the deed books, liens, will books and judgment dockets, and indexes each instrument under every party named as grantor or grantee.
Carroll County's land records are kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court at 605-1 Pine Street, A230, Hillsville, 276-730-3070. There are three ways in:
- The free index. Anyone can search Carroll County's land record index back to 1842 without a monthly fee, but document images cannot be viewed through it.
- Secure Remote Access. The clerk offers a monthly subscription to deeds and other land records, posted at $35 per month. By statute a clerk may charge a subscriber a flat fee of no more than $50 per month, plus a separate per-image download fee the statute caps.
- In person. The public is not required to use remote access, and land records may still be read in the clerk's office. Records kept by circuit court clerks are open to inspection there by any person, except as otherwise provided by law, and the clerk furnishes copies on request for a fee.
Elsewhere the clerk of the circuit court for that county holds the same kind of index; Montgomery County's is at 55 East Main St., Suite 1, Christiansburg, 540-382-5760 ext. 7, where extension 5 is land records. For a parcel inside the City of Galax, the deed is recorded with the Carroll County or Grayson County clerk, whichever held that land's records before Galax became a city.
Read the most recent deed, then walk the chain back from it
Search the name from the tax record as a grantee. The most recent deed into that name is the one to read first.
Match the land
Check that the description in the deed fits the parcel you found: the county, the road, any recorded plat it refers to. A name can hold more than one tract.
Note the grantor
The grantor on that deed was the owner before. Searching that name as a grantee finds the deed before it, and so on back.
Follow the references
Where a deed or plat cites an earlier book and page, that citation is the quickest way back. A boundary survey plat, for one, shows the owner of record and the adjoining owners with their recording references.
Where a recorded plat is referenced, pull it too.
A name in the deed book is not yet a clean title
A search like this answers who the record owner is. It does not answer whether that owner can deliver good title, and it is not a professional examination.
The professional version is a title search, which reads the chain behind the deed for liens and other recorded matters. A recorded deed protects its grantee against later purchasers for value without notice and lien creditors from the time it is recorded. Unreleased liens, gaps in an estate and other recorded problems are covered under what a cloud on title is.
A clear owner of record also says nothing yet about access. A deed can name the owner clearly and still leave open whether the parcel has a recorded right to reach a road, which is its own search, set out in how to tell whether land has legal access.
Trying to trace the owner of a parcel that is not on the market?
Send the county and the road or parcel number. Lowell can read the parcel from the county record and talk through the ground with you. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
Why does the tax bill show a different name than the last deed?
The two records answer different questions. The commissioner of the revenue determines each year, as of January 1, the person chargeable with the taxes on each parcel, and Virginia law says the name listed as owner on an assessment is for convenience in collecting the taxes. A deed recorded since, or an estate not yet moved on the land books, can leave them apart; the recorded deed is the one to read.
How far back do Carroll County's land records go?
Carroll County's free land record index can be searched back to 1842. The clerk's posted records table lists deeds and land records from January 2, 1985, with a special index back to 1842, and plats and surveys from July 1, 1842. What is held for a particular year, and in what form, is a question for the Clerk of the Circuit Court at 276-730-3070.
Does a recorded deed prove the owner has good title?
Not by itself. A recorded deed shows a conveyance of record and protects the grantee against later purchasers for value without notice and lien creditors from the time it is recorded. Whether the chain behind it is sound, and whether liens or other interests remain, is what a title search by a title company, abstractor or attorney is for, and good title is an attorney's opinion.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Va. Code 58.1-3344, tax lien and the name listed as owner Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 58.1-3281, commissioner of the revenue ascertains real estate and the person chargeable Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 58.1-3331, inspection of property cards Virginia General Assembly
- Commissioner of the Revenue Carroll County, Virginia
- Web GIS public access and site sign in Carroll County, Virginia
- WebGIS Grayson County, Virginia
- Real Estate Office Grayson County, Virginia
- Clerk of the Circuit Court Carroll County, Virginia
- Circuit Court land records and Secure Remote Access Carroll County, Virginia
- Va. Code 17.1-208, clerk's records open to inspection Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 17.1-249, general indexes to deed books Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 17.1-276, secure remote access to land records and fees Virginia General Assembly
- Clerk of Circuit Court, deeds and land records Montgomery County, Virginia
- Charter of the City of Galax, recording in Carroll or Grayson County Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-407, effect of recording on purchasers and lien creditors Virginia General Assembly
- Virginia Title Insurance Guide Virginia State Corporation Commission, Bureau of Insurance