Contact Us:

Mailing: Washington County Registry of Deeds | P. O. Box 297 | Machias, ME 04654
Physical:  85 Court Street | Machias, Maine
Phone: 207-255-6512 | Fax: 207-255-3838
Email: [email protected]

To search land records/[email protected] click here.

Printing copies from the www.searchiqs.com website is free for the first 400 images and $.50 per page thereafter. Search as a Guest. Records go back to 1784 in house and on the website.

By law the Registry of Deeds staff cannot perform searches, assist in preparing or interpreting documents or give legal advice.  The best means of obtaining help would be through an attorney or title company.

Download these forms:

Property Fraud Alert
This free service, provided by the Washington County Register of Deeds, will alert you with an e-mail notification when a document is filed in the Washington County Registry of Deeds office with your name on it.  To sign up for this service, please click here Property Fraud Alert.

RECORDING HOURS 8:00 – 3:45 Monday thru Friday.

Electronic Recordings are accepted through third party vendors.

RECORDING FEES:

Effective January 2026.  Submitters will no longer be required to pay additional fees per page, for extra names, or additional marginal references.  Each document presented, regardless of page count, names to be indexed or number of references will cost the flat rate recording fee as follows:

Please provide a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope to ensure accuracy in the return of your documents.  Registry-specific mailing rate can be provided for you by calling the office at, 207-255-6512.

DOCUMENT FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:

Documents submitted for recording MUST meet the following criteria or they MAY BE REJECTED as unrecorded.

MARGINS:

To meet the requirements of ALL Maine County Registries of Deeds, the following clean margins are required on all documents presented for recording.

A. TOP MARGIN 1ST PAGE OF 1 3/4 INCHES ACROSS

B. Side margin of 3/4 inch all pages

C. Bottom margin of 1 1/2 inches across bottom of last page

No punched holes, stickers or writing in any margins.

all other pages, need a 1” top margin

YOUR DOCUMENT WILL BE RETURNED TO YOU UNRECORDED FOR LACK OF MARGIN.  YOU MAY OPT TO PROVIDE A COVER PAGE CONTAINING THE REQUIRED INFORMATION TO BE RECORDED. FOR COVER PAGE FORMAT OR QUESTIONS, PLEASE CALL 207-255-6512

To give submitters a standard FONT that will work for all Registries, these are the requirements:

Font size must be no smaller than this line, including the legal description.

This font size is 10 Times New Roman.

Paper size can be no smaller than 8 1/2 x 11 and no larger than 8 1/2 x 14.  Margin requirements do apply.

REAL ESTATE TRANSFER TAX:

Download these forms: (links)

Transfer Tax Fee is calculated at $2.20 per $500.00 in value for sales up to $1,000,000.00 and a tax of $6.00 per $500.00 in value for the portion exceeding $1,000,000.00 is imposed upon the transferring of real estate unless exempt pursuant to Title 36, §4641-C.

If you have a question pertaining to the transfer tax amount or whether it might be an exempt transaction, please contact the Registry at 207-255-6512 or email us at [email protected]      Maine Revenue Services may also be able to assist with questions at 207-624-5606.

For Tax Map and Lot information contact the desired municipal office.

All deeds EXCEPT corrective deeds, cemetery deeds, confirmatory deeds, deeds of distribution and transfer upon death deeds require a Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration (RETTD).  Additional information and forms are available through the State of Maine website at www.maine.gov  ​

DUTIES:

The Registry of Deeds is an office of county government established by the laws of Maine State Statute as an official repository, entrusted by the citizens of Washington County, to properly record documents such as but not limited to deeds, assignments, affidavits, mortgages, discharges, court records, divorce abstracts, leases, liens, partial releases, foreclosures, land surveys and other miscellaneous documents that will become the official public record once it is recorded at the Registry of Deeds.

The Register is elected to a four-year term, appoints a deputy, and may appoint the staff required to record and verify the authenticity of the records being filed. The Register is responsible for maintaining all the land records in an accurate and correct form as well as ensuring adequate back-up and archival preservation.

All documents are assigned a book and page number along with an exact time of recording. Documents are security microfilmed for safekeeping and a scanned copy is made available for public inspection.  The Registry of Deeds prepares and maintains an index of grantor and grantee names so that the documents and plans may be found easily.

In addition, the Registry of Deeds acts as an agent for Maine Revenue Services to collect and disburse the transfer tax; sends copies of deeds to the different towns to assist the tax assessors in updating their records and although prevented by law from giving legal advice, answers questions from the public concerning locating the documents on record.

​​​​​​NOTE:

Washington County, Maine was a part of Lincoln County, District of Massachusetts until June 25, 1789.  As a result, any Washington County deeds through that date may be found in Lincoln County; everything after that date is available at the Registry of Deeds, located in the Washington County Court House.