Over the summer of 2017, Public Act 100-0271 was enacted by the Illinois General Assembly in an attempt to encourage local governments to adopt “predictable fee” structures for the recording of documents. This “predicable fee” intent was implemented by Lake County pursuant to County Resolution 17-0800 and County Resolution 17-801, which justified and authorized the raising of taxes collected from recording documents to more than two times their current amount to “capture the cost” of running the Lake County Geographic Information System (GIS) and the Recorder Automation Fund. All fees charged now include a Fifteen ($15.00) Dollar charge for the Automation Fund, a Ten ($10.00) Dollar charge for Rental Housing Support Program and a Twenty-Three ($23.00) Dollar charge for the GIS. The changes to the fee structure that will most immediately affect Real Estate Law offices follow.
The Lake County Recorder of Deeds has now streamlined the fee schedule to only six (6) flat fee amounts, such that recording fees will no longer vary based upon the number of pages a particular document contains. Most real estate documents are going to be governed by the “standard document” classification and fee schedule. Standard documents are 8½” x 11” sheets that must be separate, and may have up to five (5) Property Index Number (PIN) or other related document number references. 55 ILCS 5/3-5018 and 55 ILCS 5/3-5018.1 lays out other various stylistic requirements pertaining to margins, ink type, signatures, dates, staples, notations, page numbers, etc. and must be followed for the document to be accepted and subsequently recorded. These stylistic requirements have not changed since before the fee schedule was updated. The flat fee for standard documents is now Sixty ($60.00) Dollars, and no longer includes any charges for additional pages.
If the document to be recorded is a public utility easement or other document to be recorded by a government agency, then the Ten ($10.00) Dollar RHSP charge does not apply. This means that RHSP exempt standard documents are Fifty ($50.00) Dollars, and FHSP exempt non-standard documents are Sixty-Two ($62.00) Dollars.
If the document to be recorded is a non-standard document, then the stylistic requirements are dictated by 55 ILCS 5/3-5018.1, and the fee is Seventy-Two ($72.00) Dollars.
For information on UCC terminations, or filings, and/or State/Federal lien releases, please visit https://www.lakecountyil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3205.