Denver County Property Records in Colorado

A Denver County title search examines the recorded chain of deeds at the Denver Clerk and Recorder to confirm who owns the property, identifies every open deed of trust and lien, confirms that paid deeds of trust have been released by the Public Trustee of record, searches for judgments, federal and state tax liens, and lis pendens, checks the Public Trustee record for any Notice of Election and Demand or pending foreclosure, and accounts for an HOA super lien and any severed mineral or water interest. Because every Colorado deed of trust names the Public Trustee and both release and foreclosure run through that office, a reliable title search confirms the vesting, reconciles each deed of trust with its Public Trustee release, and reads the Clerk and Recorder, the Assessor, the courts, and the Public Trustee together. You can search the Assessor, the Clerk and Recorder, and the Public Trustee yourself for basic information, but a complete examination that reconciles the recorded chain with the Public Trustee file and the HOA and mineral picture is what catches an unreleased deed of trust, a pending foreclosure, or a severed mineral estate. U.S. Title Records performs the full search and delivers it by email, with the Expanded Title Search ($375) as the most comprehensive option.

The Public Trustee is a uniquely Colorado institution, and Colorado is the only state in the country that uses one. In most states that use a deed of trust, the trustee, the neutral party who holds the security interest and can sell the property if the borrower defaults, is a private entity such as a title company or an attorney chosen by the lender. In Colorado, the law requires that every deed of trust name the county Public Trustee as the trustee instead. The Public Trustee is a government official, appointed by the governor in the larger counties and serving as the county treasurer in many smaller ones, and the office exists to provide neutral, public oversight of the two events that matter most on a deed of trust: its release and its foreclosure. When a loan secured by a Colorado deed of trust is paid off, the lender sends a request for release to the Public Trustee, who executes the release of the deed of trust and has it recorded with the Clerk and Recorder, which is how the lien is cleared from the title. When a loan goes into default, the same Public Trustee is the office through which the foreclosure is conducted. For a title search, the practical effect is that the Public Trustee record is a distinct and essential source: confirming that each paid deed of trust was actually released by the Public Trustee, and that no foreclosure is pending there, is part of clearing Denver title. U.S. Title Records reconciles the deeds of trust and their Public Trustee releases in the Chain of Title ($275) and the Expanded Title Search ($375).

A Denver foreclosure on a deed of trust is conducted through the county Public Trustee, which makes Colorado’s process a hybrid that is neither purely judicial nor purely private. It begins when the lender records a Notice of Election and Demand with the Public Trustee, which is recorded with the Clerk and Recorder and starts the case. The lender must also obtain a court order authorizing the sale, the step at which a borrower can raise defenses, and the Public Trustee sets a sale date. Before the sale, there is a cure period during which the borrower or another party with an interest can pay the default amount and stop the foreclosure, and after the sale there is a limited redemption period during which junior lienholders who filed a proper notice of intent can redeem by paying the sale price. When those windows close without a cure or redemption, the Public Trustee issues a public trustee’s deed to the successful bidder, which is recorded and transfers title. For a buyer or a researcher, the important points are that the foreclosure file is held by the Public Trustee rather than appearing only among the recorded deeds, that the high bidder at the sale does not have final title until the cure and redemption periods expire and the public trustee’s deed records, and that an HOA super-lien can survive the process. U.S. Title Records reports the Notice of Election and Demand and the Public Trustee foreclosure status in the Full Owner Lien Report ($195).

The HOA super lien is a priority that Colorado law gives to a portion of unpaid homeowners association assessments, and it is one of the more consequential surprises in Colorado title. Under the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act, when a property in a common-interest community falls behind on its association assessments, a limited amount of those unpaid assessments, generally up to six months of regular common-expense assessments, is given a priority that can sit ahead of a first deed of trust. The significant part is that this priority portion can survive a foreclosure, so even after a first-deed-of-trust foreclosure wipes out many junior interests, the super-lien portion of the HOA claim can remain attached to the property and become the responsibility of the new owner. Colorado has one of the highest concentrations of association-governed housing in the country, which means many Denver condominiums, townhomes, and planned communities carry this exposure. For a title and lien search, the takeaway is that when a property sits in an HOA, the association’s assessment status has to be confirmed, because a clean-looking recorded chain does not rule out a surviving super-lien. U.S. Title Records flags the association and the lien picture in the Full Owner Lien Report ($195).

Not necessarily, and that is an important part of Colorado title work. Colorado law treats the mineral estate and water as kinds of property that can be owned separately from the surface of the land. Over the long history of a parcel, a prior owner may have sold or reserved the mineral estate, which means the current surface owner does not own the oil, gas, coal, or other minerals beneath the property, and the holder of a severed mineral estate may even have certain rights to use the surface to reach those minerals. Water in Colorado is governed by the prior-appropriation doctrine and is owned and transferred as a separate right rather than passing automatically with the land, so a property may or may not have an associated water right. For most Denver residential purchases the mineral question is the more common concern, but a thorough title examination checks the recorded chain for any severance or reservation of minerals and for the status of water rights, because both affect what a buyer is actually receiving and can affect value and use. U.S. Title Records researches severed mineral and water interests in the Expanded Title Search ($375).

Pricing is the same in Denver County and across all 64 Colorado counties: Property Detail Report $29, Deed Copy $45, Title Search by Name $75, Lien Report $95, Full Owner Lien Report $195, Chain of Title $275, and Expanded Title Search $375. The $29 report is the quick ownership, parcel, and value check, the $195 report is the recommended due-diligence search that includes the Public Trustee foreclosure status and the HOA super-lien picture, and the $375 Expanded is the full title examination with chain, releases, and severed mineral and water research. There is no account, subscription, or commitment, one fee per property, delivered as a PDF by email. See the full schedule of fees. BBB A+ since 2009.