Beaufort County Register of Deeds Dale Butts announced today that his office is offering a new alert service to provide property owners with e-mail alerts anytime that a document affecting a name or a specific property is recorded by the ROD office.

The new property alert service immediately sends an email, whenever a document is recorded with the owner’s name or property ID (District/Map/Parcel) and is free of charge.

“Sadly, we are seeing more recordings of fraudulent documents across the country, even though we have been very fortunate here in Beaufort County,” said Mr. Butts. "In some instances, fraud on real property may not be discovered until the owners seek to sell their house. While this service cannot prevent fraud, it is important to be notified early that someone may be trying to steal your property without your knowledge.”

The public can sign up for this free service by visiting the Beaufort County Register of Deeds website and following the links to register.

• There is no limit to the number of subscribers for a particular property legal description or party name.
  
  
• This service is for individuals who want to know if fraudulent activity has occurred under their name or on property located in Beaufort County. Owners may also wish to register the name or legal descriptions for property of elderly loved ones to help protect them from scams.
  
  
• The Property Alert Service is for any type of land owned in Beaufort County, whether occupied or vacant.
  
  
• Any document with a party name and/or legal description pertaining to real property is included.

More than 70,000 documents are recorded annually at the Beaufort County Register of Deeds office. Mr. Butts added that the only time recordings can be refused is when statutory guidelines are not met.

“As long as a document meets statutory recording guidelines, South Carolina law requires the ROD office to record the document," he said. "I am pleased we can offer this new program to help our citizens detect information that may be fraudulent."

For more information, call Beaufort County Register of Deeds at 843-255-2555.