Section 1400.10  Definitions

 

For purposes of this Part, the following definitions shall apply:

 

"County Recorder" or "Recorder" − the county land records official, who is the County Recorder, County Clerk and Recorder or land records official designated by the County Board.

 

"Data Fields" − the discreet pieces of information contained in a document that are transcribed into the corresponding County Recorder's electronic document index. Examples are document type, consideration, grantee, grantor, legal description, street address, city, state and zip code. 

 

"Document Rejection" − the act of the County Recorder refusing to accept a document for recording, based on the submitter having not met some statutory or county requirement.

 

"Document Submission" − the act of submitting a document to the County Recorder for recording.  

 

"Document Type Definition" or "DTD" − a document created using the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) that defines a unique markup language (such as XML or XHTML).  A DTD includes a list of tags, attributes and rules of usage.

 

"Electronic Acceptance" − the act of the County Recorder accepting a submitted document for recording through electronic means.

 

"Electronic Delivery Process" − the process that begins with preparing the document for transmission to the Recorder, the transmission and reception at the County Recorder's office.

 

"Electronic Document" − a document that is received by a County Recorder, in an electronic form, meeting the document standards of this Part and the county.

 

"Electronic Notary" − a notary acknowledgement of a document, by means of an electronic notary signature and stamp.

 

"Electronic Recording" or "E-recording" − the process of a County Recorder accepting, recording and indexing a document in an electronic form instead of by paper submission.

 

"Electronic Recording Submission" − the act of submitting a document to the County Recorder via electronic means.

 

"Electronic Recording System" − the computer program, and the hardware components that host it, that receives electronic documents for recording.

 

"Electronic Signature" − an electronic sound, symbol or process attached to or logically associated with a document and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the document. Electronic signatures must meet any statutory requirement of the State of Illinois for such signatures.

 

"E-Recording Submitter" − the party sending a document to the County Recorder using electronic means.  The submitter may be the same entity as the E-Recording Submitting Vendor.

 

"E-Recording Submitting Vendor" – the entity that offers the service to an E-Recording Submitter, providing the software and/or electronic system to transmit a document, via electronic means, to the County Recorder.

 

"Formatting" − the appearance attributes of the document.

 

"Index" − the electronic catalog of information about documents in the Recorder's office.

 

"Land Records System" − the computer software or electronic system used by a Recorder's office to index and store both document images and searchable attributes that identify the document.

 

"Land Records System Vendor" − an entity outside the Recorder's office that programs or produces the Land Records System for the Recorder.  This entity can be a state, county or private enterprise.

 

"Metadata" − commonly described as "data about data".  Metadata is used to locate and manage information resources by classifying those resources and by capturing information not inherent in the resource.

 

"Open Architecture" − the attributes of the reception software that are public and discernable by the submitting software vendor.

 

"Paper Submissions" – the documents submitted to the County Recorder printed on paper or other physical media.

 

"Portable Document Format" or "PDF" − a file format created by Adobe Systems, Inc. that uses the PostScript printer description language to create documents.  PDF files capture the appearance of the original document, can store both text and images, are difficult to modify and can be rendered with free, cross-platform viewer software.

 

"Portal" – a website considered as an entry point to other websites, often by being or providing access to useful content and/or functioning as a gateway to other web locations.

 

"PRIA" − the Property Records Industry Association.

 

"Receiving Party" – The County Recorder's office that receives the e-recording document for recording and the entity that receives the electronic document as recorded or rejected from the County Recorder.

 

"Reception" − the receiving of the document in the County Recorder's office.

 

"Recording Fee" − any fee imposed by statute or county ordinance, charged by the County Recorder for recording a document.

 

"Submitter" or "Submitting Party" − the entity that originates the e-recording document or delivers it to the Transmitting Party for transmission to the County Recorder.

 

"Tagged Image File Format" or "TIFF" − a non-proprietary, defined format for storing images.

 

"Transfer Declaration" or "Form PTAX-203" – the sales disclosure document required by Illinois statute to accompany the recording of a deed.

 

"Transfer Tax" − a tax imposed on the privilege of transferring title to real estate located in Illinois, on the privilege of transferring a beneficial interest in real property located in Illinois, and on the privilege of transferring a controlling interest in a real estate entity owning property in Illinois, pursuant to Section 31-10 of the Real Estate Transfer Tax Law.

 

"Transmitting Party" − the entity that transmits the document to the County Recorder.  This can be the submitter, but is usually a service that specializes in transmitting electronic documents to a County Recorder.

 

Section 1400.20  Incorporated and Referenced Materials

 

a)         Incorporations by Reference

The following materials are incorporated by reference in this Part:

 

Property Records Industry Association (PRIA)

2501 Aerial Center Parkway, Ste. 103

Morrisville NC 27560

Telephone:  919.459.2081;  FAX: 919.459.2075

 

eRecording XML Implementation Guide for Version  2.4.1 DTD, Revision 2 (3/05/07);

 

URPERA Enactment and eRecording Standards Implementation Guide (1/4/06), sections 2.3.1, 2.3.2 and 2.3.3.

 

b)        All incorporations by reference listed in this Section are as of the date specified and include no later amendments or editions.

 

c)         Referenced Statutes

 

1)        Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act [765 ILCS 33].

 

2)        Real Estate Transfer Tax Law [35 ILCS 200].

 

3)        Counties Code [55 ILCS 5].

 

4)        Local Records Act [50 ILCS 205].

 

5)        Electronic Commerce Security Act [5 ILCS 175].

 

6)        Illinois Notary Public Act [5 ILCS 312].

 

7)        Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (15 USC 96).

 

Section 1400.30  Electronic Recording

 

a)         Electronic recording is a delivery method for submitting documents to the County Recorder.  This Part applies to the handling of the document in that electronic delivery process, its security and storage of the image and indexing information by the Recorder.  This Part does not override any Illinois statute. 

 

b)         For electronic document submission, reception, formatting and data fields, the State of Illinois adopts PRIA standard 2.4.1, which is comprised of the following: Document Version 2.4.1 DTD, Notary Version 2.4.1, PRIA Request Version 2.4.2, and PRIA Response Version 2.4.2. 

 

c)         The County Recorder may determine which of the three types of e-recording the county will accept, model one, two or three, as described in PRIA URPERA Enactment and eRecording Standards Implementation Guide, sections 2.3.1, 2.3.2 and 2.3.3.

 

1)         If a County Recorder utilizes model three to accept e-recording, the Recorder must also accept documents filed in accordance with models one and two.

 

2)         If a County Recorder utilizes model two to accept e-recording, the Recorder must also accept documents filed in accordance with model one.

 

d)         Each county that accepts e-recording shall provide open architecture for reception of electronic documents and shall issue such technical specifications as are necessary for an e-recording submitter to conform document transmissions to the county land indexing and/or e-recording system software.  The technical specifications shall be published on the County Recorder's website or made available on request.  If the technical specifications for acceptance of a document have been developed by a land records system vendor, those specifications shall be provided to the County Recorder upon request to meet these provisions.  The electronic document submissions of any entity meeting the reception standards of the county shall be accepted for e-recording. 

 

e)         Application to become an e-recording submitting vendor, with any county, shall be directed to the County Recorder via an application that is published on the Recorder's website or made available at no charge upon request.  

 

f)         Fees for documents e-recorded shall be the same as for paper documents, in conformance with Section 3-5018 of the Counties Code, to the extent applicable to documents submitted electronically.   No additional fee for e-recording access to the county, or fee per document, shall be charged by the county or any county land records system vendor, provider, programmer or computer system host.  This subsection shall not be interpreted to apply to the services or fees of the e-recording submitting vendor.

 

g)         No county shall be required to enter into any mandatory portal requirement.  Individual counties may enter into portal agreements with the provider of their choice and with other counties, at the discretion of the County Recorder.  Any web portal used shall meet all the requirements of this Part for each participating individual county.

 

h)         Each County Recorder shall establish and publish on his or her website or by hard copy, available by request, business rules for electronic recording in the county.  Business rules shall include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

 

1)         defined technical specifications, which may be incorporated by reference to sources cited in this Part;

 

2)         document and indexing specifications;

 

3)         hours during which electronic submissions will be accepted and processing schedules that affect order of acceptance;

 

4)         payment options for all recording fees and applicable transfer taxes;

 

5)         terms under which an entity may submit documents for e-recording and specified reasons for which a County Recorder may terminate submissions;

 

6)         document rejection rights and procedure;

 

7)         adequate notice before changes to business or technical rules takes effect; and

 

8)         identification of the venue of any litigation arising between the parties.

 

i)          All electronic documents shall be secured in such a way that both the transmitting and receiving parties are assured of each other's identity and that no unauthorized party can view or alter the electronic document during transmission, processing and delivery.  If the electronic document has been subject to those security measures identified in Chapter 6 of the PRIA eRecording XML Implementation Guide For Version 2.4.1, Revision 2 throughout the entire electronic submission, the security obligations under PRIA standards have been satisfied.

 

j)          County Recorders are only required to record documents containing electronic signatures and notary acknowledgements that they have the technology to support.  Recorders have no responsibility to authenticate electronic signatures or notary acknowledgement stamps embedded within the body of the document. Any electronic signature or notarization submitted to a County Recorder shall comply with the Electronic Commerce Security Act and the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act insofar as the Illinois Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act does not supercede those laws, the Illinois Notary Public Act and any other laws governing that signature or notarization, as applicable.

 

k)         If necessary, images of e-recordings will be converted to, and preserved under, the electronic file format established by the county.  If the county has no previously established file format, images will be stored as either TIFF or PDF files, along with their associated metadata.  Any document submitted under model three of PRIA 2.4.1 DTD  submissions shall be converted to TIFF or PDF for archiving.

 

l)          The County Recorder shall only accept e-recording submissions during open office hours approved by the County Board in conformance with Section 3-5017 of the Counties Code.  The Recorder shall publish criteria on his or her website, or make the criteria available by request, setting forth provisions to preserve the time of recording in the order of reception with paper documents, in conformance with Section 3-5010 of the Counties Code. 

 

m)        County Recorders shall retain all records of e-submissions in accordance with the storage of paper submissions described in Section 3-5010 of the Counties Code and Section 1-15 of the Local Records Act.

 

n)         Effective August 1, 2010, contracts entered into between any Illinois county and any software provider hosting or programming a county land records system or any contract and agreement affecting electronic recording of documents in a County Recorder's office shall comply with this Part.