Search Franklin County Property Records

Franklin County property records are held at the Franklin County Registry of Deeds in Greenfield. The registry manages deeds, mortgages, liens, and other land documents for 26 communities in the northern Pioneer Valley and surrounding hill towns. You can search Franklin County property records for free at MassLandRecords.com or through the registry's own site at franklindeeds.com. If you need to check who owns a parcel, look up a mortgage, or trace the history of a property in Franklin County, the registry is where all of that lives.

Franklin County Registry of Deeds

The Franklin County Registry of Deeds is at 43 Hope Street in Greenfield. The mailing address is P.O. Box 1495, Greenfield, MA 01301. Register Scott A. Cote runs the office. The phone number is (413) 772-0239 and the fax is (413) 774-7150. You can email the registry at franklinrod@sec.state.ma.us. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:15 PM. The registry is part of the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth's office.

Franklin County covers 26 towns across a large area of rural northwestern Massachusetts. The communities served are Ashfield, Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Conway, Deerfield, Erving, Gill, Greenfield, Hawley, Heath, Leverett, Leyden, Monroe, Montague, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Rowe, Shelburne, Shutesbury, Sunderland, Warwick, Wendell, and Whately. Greenfield is the county seat and the only sizable town. Many of the other communities are small rural towns with populations under 2,000. Despite the rural nature of the county, every property transaction in all 26 towns gets recorded at this one office on Hope Street.

The registry also has highway maps and atlas maps on hand for reference.

Search Franklin Property Records Online

Franklin County property records are available through two online portals. The MassLandRecords.com site is the state's official free search tool. The registry also runs its own website at franklindeeds.com with direct access to records and services. Both let you search by name, book and page, document number, address, and date range. Viewing records is free.

The registry has online records from 1900 to the present. For older records, there is an "Unindexed Property Search" that covers documents predating the modern index. The grantor and grantee indexes go all the way back to 1663 through 1974 and are available online. That is an impressive range for a small county. Physical records at the registry date back to 1787. If you are researching very old property in Deerfield, Conway, or another historic Franklin County town, these early indexes can be a real help.

The MassGIS Interactive Property Map also covers every Franklin County community. It shows parcel boundaries, owner names, and property valuations, which can help you identify a property before running a registry search.

Note: Electronic recording is available for attorneys and title companies.

Franklin County Recording Fees

Recording fees at the Franklin County Registry follow the state schedule. Deeds are $155. Mortgages cost $205. Mortgage discharges are $105. Filing a Declaration of Homestead is $35. This filing protects your home from most creditor claims up to $1,000,000 under M.G.L. Chapter 188. Plans run $105 per sheet. Most other documents cost $105 to record.

The excise tax on deeds is $4.56 per $1,000 of the sale price. On a home selling for $250,000 in Greenfield, the excise would be $1,140. Certified copies are $1.00 per page. These fees are set by state law and are the same at every Massachusetts registry.

The Franklin County Registry of Deeds website provides direct access to land records, services, and information for all 26 Franklin County communities.

From this site you can access online records dating back to 1900 and grantor/grantee indexes going back to 1663.

Franklin County Property Laws

Property transfers in Franklin County fall under M.G.L. Chapter 183. This statute covers how deeds must be written, executed, and recorded. An unrecorded deed may not hold up against later claims from third parties. That is why recording at the Franklin County Registry matters whether you are buying a home in Greenfield or a piece of land in Charlemont.

Registered Land in Franklin County follows M.G.L. Chapter 185. Under this system, the Land Court issues Certificates of Title and the state backs the ownership claim. It is less common in rural western Massachusetts, but some properties do use this system. Public access to all Franklin County land records is guaranteed by M.G.L. Chapter 66. Anyone can search these records online or visit the registry in person to view them at no cost.

Franklin County Fraud Alerts

The Franklin County Registry offers the free Consumer Notification Service. This program sends you an email whenever a new document is recorded under your name or against your property. Sign up to keep tabs on your land records. If you get an alert about something you did not file, call the registry at (413) 772-0239. Early action matters in fraud cases. The service is free and covers up to three properties.

Even in a rural county like Franklin, property fraud does happen. The alert service takes a few minutes to set up and costs nothing.

Towns in Franklin County

Franklin County has 26 towns. None have populations over 100,000. Greenfield is the largest at roughly 18,000 people. Montague and Orange are the next biggest. Most towns are small and rural. Deerfield is known for its historic district and farmland. Shelburne Falls (split between Shelburne and Buckland) is a popular village center. Hill towns like Hawley, Heath, Monroe, and Rowe have very small populations but still record all their property transactions at the Greenfield registry.

Nearby Counties

Franklin County borders several other counties. Check the right registry before you search if your property is near a county line.