County property fraud alerts
Updated 26 September 2026.
A county property alert is an email after a document has been recorded. It does not stop the recording. Each county keeps its own records, and many counties have no program at all.
What the alert is
Recorders keep the official file of deeds, liens, and other documents that affect land. When a document meets that county's recording rules, the office records it and gives it a number. A fraud alert, owner alert, or similar notice is a separate subscription. You register a name, a business or trust name, or a parcel number. Later, if a new document matches what you registered, the county emails you.
The email arrives after the document is in the public record. That is the useful part, and it is also the limit. You learn that something was recorded. You can open the index, read what the county will show you, and call the county or law enforcement if the document is not yours. The recording itself has already happened.
Counties do not share one national switch. An alert in one county does not watch a house in another. A trust name you forgot to register will not match. A spelling that does not match the index can miss. A common surname can generate mail about someone else. Signing up is a list of names and parcels, county by county, kept current when a trust or a title changes.
What three counties say in public
San Diego County calls its service Owner Alert. Subscribers get an automated email when a document is recorded and then indexed under a name or assessor parcel number they registered. The county says the service applies only to documents recorded after the subscription is active. It does not send alerts for older documents. San Diego also says the recorder must record documents that meet California's recording rules, and that the office has no authority to refuse a document that meets those rules because of a question about its legal sufficiency. If you suspect fraud, the county points you to the district attorney. The recorder does not take legal action for you.
Santa Cruz County calls its service Fraud Notify. You register individual or business names and receive an email when a document with one of those names is recorded. The county's own page says Fraud Notify does not prevent fraud. It is an early warning so you can respond. Alerts apply only to documents recorded after you register. The email includes a document number and index information. It does not include the contents of the document. You use a public kiosk or buy a copy to read it.
Miami-Dade County offers Property Fraud Alert. The clerk's office says the notice goes out within 24 hours of documents filed that affect the property, and that the alert cannot prevent a fraudulent deed from being filed. It can give you a chance to respond. The county's page for people who believe a deed was forged describes a long path after the fact: a report to law enforcement, a civil case, and steps with the property appraiser and tax collector. The alert is not that case. The alert is the email.
Fresno County offers Property Owner's Protection Alert through the assessor-recorder. It is a free email when a document is recorded in a subscribed name or parcel number. The notice follows the recording. It is the same kind of tool as the others, run by a different office, with its own signup.
Why the county line matters
A household with a residence in one county, a ranch in a second, and a condominium in a third has three recorders. Each has its own index, its own form, and its own rule for which names are searchable. A property held by a trust is often indexed under the trust name, not only under your personal name. San Diego tells subscribers to register the trust in the business-name field, and to update the registration when the trust or the trustee changes. If the recorded name and the registered name diverge, the email may never come.
A recorded document is public. People-search sites copy property records, which is one reason a home address reappears after a listing is taken down. The Federal Trade Commission notes that opting out of a people-search site does not delete the government record. The county alert does not remove that record either. It tells you a new document hit the index. Removal of a people-search page is a different request, described in the guide to removing a home address.
What Solidus does with this
For each county where you own property, we look up whether that recorder offers an owner notice, and we help you submit the names and parcel numbers that match how title is actually held. Where a county has no email program, we say so. We do not pretend a neighboring county's alert covers the house.
We also watch the recorded index for a filing that tries to change ownership without you. A hit is a reason to call your attorney and, if the document is not yours, the county's fraud unit or the police. We do not practice law. We do not file a lawsuit. We do not tell you a notice prevents a deed from being recorded, because the counties that publish these programs say the opposite.
The exposure audit lists the property records a search already connects to your name, including the county and the name on title when that is public. You see that list before any signup is sent. Read how this sits with the rest of the work on the Solidus Private home page, or request a private exposure audit. The first 10 households receive the full audit free. After that, the audit is normally $750.