How to file a Quitclaim deed in Los Angeles County

Disclaimer: I am not an attorney. I can only provide self-help services at your specific direction. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

Filing a quitclaim deed in Los Angeles County requires strict adherence to the formatting, documentation, and procedural rules set by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. A quitclaim deed transfers whatever interest a person (the grantor) has in a piece of real property to another person (the grantee) without making any guarantees about the title’s clarity. This makes it a common tool for transferring property between family members, moving real estate into a living trust, or removing a spouse’s name from a property title during a divorce.

Physical Document Requirements

The Los Angeles County Recorder’s office is notoriously strict regarding the physical formatting of all recorded documents. If your quitclaim deed does not meet these exact specifications, it will be rejected, delaying your property transfer.

Paper Size and Weight: The document must be printed on standard 8.5-inch by 11-inch paper. The paper must be standard weight (usually 20 lb. bond); extremely heavy cardstock or extremely thin tracing paper is not acceptable.
Ink and Legibility: All text, signatures, and notary seals must be in black or dark blue ink. The document must be highly legible and capable of reproducing a clear photographic record. Faded prints or smudged ink will result in immediate rejection.
Font Size: The text of the document must be printed in a minimum of 10-point font.
First Page Margins: The most critical formatting rule involves the top right corner of the first page. You must leave a blank space measuring exactly 2.5 inches down from the top edge and 2.5 inches across from the right edge. This space is exclusively reserved for the Recorder’s official recording stamp. The top left corner of the first page (above the document title) must contain the name and address of the person requesting the recording and the name and address of where the recorded document should be mailed after processing.
Subsequent Margins: All other margins on the first page, and all margins on any subsequent pages, must be at least 0.5 inches. No text, signatures, or notary seals can bleed into these margins.

Essential Components of the Deed

Beyond the physical layout, the content on the face of the quitclaim deed must contain specific legal identifiers to be valid for recording in Los Angeles County.

Assessor’s Parcel Number (APN): The 10-digit APN must be clearly printed on the first page of the deed. This number identifies the specific piece of land for property tax purposes. You can find this number on your most recent property tax bill.
Legal Description: A simple street address is not legally sufficient to transfer property. The deed must include the full legal description of the property (e.g., “Lot 4, Tract No. 12345, as per map recorded in Book 50, Page 10 of Maps, in the office of the County Recorder of said County”).
Documentary Transfer Tax (DTT) Declaration: Every deed submitted for recording in California must include a declaration regarding the Documentary Transfer Tax. This declaration is typically found just below the return address area. You must state the computed tax amount or state the specific legal reason the transfer is exempt.

Documentary Transfer Tax and Common Exemptions

Los Angeles County assesses a Documentary Transfer Tax on real estate transfers at a rate of $1.10 per $1,000 of the property’s value. Furthermore, if the property is located within certain incorporated city limits (like the City of Los Angeles), an additional city tax applies, often bringing the total to $5.60 per $1,000 of value. However, many quitclaim deeds are used for transactions that do not involve a traditional sale, which often qualifies them for tax exemptions.

Exemption Type	Applicable Revenue & Taxation (R&T) Code	Common Scenario
Gift Transfer	R&T Code 11930	Parents gifting a home to their children for zero consideration.
Transfer to a Trust	R&T Code 11930	Moving personal real estate into a revocable living trust for estate planning.
Name Change	R&T Code 11911	Changing a legal name on the title after marriage or a court order, with no change in actual ownership.
Spousal/Divorce Transfer	R&T Code 11927	Removing a spouse from the title pursuant to a marital settlement agreement.

If you are claiming an exemption, the exact R&T Code must be written on the face of the deed.

The Preliminary Change of Ownership Report (PCOR)

Whenever a property changes hands in California, the County Assessor must determine if the property needs to be reassessed for property tax purposes under Proposition 13. To make this determination, Los Angeles County requires the concurrent filing of a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report (PCOR), officially known as Form BOE-502-A.

The PCOR is a standardized, multi-page questionnaire that asks for the details of the transfer. It is a confidential document and does not become part of the public record like the deed itself.

Part 1: General Information: You must provide the contact information for the buyer/transferee, the APN, and the property address.
Part 2: Transfer Information: This section contains a series of yes/no questions designed to identify if the transfer qualifies for an exclusion from reassessment. For example, there are specific checkboxes for transfers between spouses, transfers into a trust, or transfers between parents and children (which may require additional Proposition 19 claim forms).
Part 3: Purchase Price and Terms of Sale: If the property was sold, you must detail the purchase price, down payment, and financing. If it was a gift, you will indicate that here.

You must submit a completed and signed PCOR alongside your quitclaim deed. If you fail to submit a PCOR at the time of recording, the Recorder’s office will still record your deed, but they will charge you an additional $20 penalty fee. Furthermore, the Assessor’s office will eventually mail you a Change of Ownership Statement, which carries much steeper penalties if ignored.

Execution and Notarization

A quitclaim deed must be signed by the grantor (the person giving up their interest in the property). The grantee (the person receiving the interest) generally does not need to sign the deed itself, though they do need to sign the PCOR.

The grantor’s signature must be acknowledged by a notary public. California law requires a highly specific “All-Purpose Acknowledgment” form to be attached to or printed on the deed. The notary block must strictly adhere to the exact wording mandated by California Civil Code Section 1189. If a notary from another state notarizes the document, the Los Angeles County Recorder will generally accept it as long as the notary certificate is valid in the state where the notarization took place, but it is always safer to use the standard California acknowledgment language.

Additionally, California notaries are legally required to obtain a right thumbprint in their notary journal for any transaction involving a deed to real property.

The Recording Process in Los Angeles County

Once your quitclaim deed is properly formatted, signed, notarized, and paired with a completed PCOR, it is ready to be recorded. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk is headquartered in Norwalk, but there are several branch offices throughout the county.

Submission Methods

In-Person Recording: You can bring your documents directly to the Norwalk headquarters or one of the branch offices (such as the LAX Courthouse, Lancaster, or Van Nuys locations). In-person recording is highly recommended because the clerk will review your document at the counter. If there is a minor formatting error, you will know immediately and can often fix it the same day.
Recording by Mail: You can mail your original notarized deed, the PCOR, and a check for the recording fees to the Norwalk headquarters. If you choose this route, it is vital to calculate your recording fees perfectly. If your check is short by even a single dollar, the entire packet will be rejected and mailed back to you, delaying the transfer by weeks.

Understanding Recording Fees

Recording a document in Los Angeles County involves several distinct fees that must be combined into a single payment.

Fee Category	Cost	Description
Base Recording Fee	$15.00	Covers the recording of the first page of the document.
Additional Page Fee	$3.00	Charged for every subsequent page of the deed (including the notary acknowledgment page).
Real Estate Fraud Fee	$10.00	A mandatory county fee applied to all real estate transfers to fund the district attorney’s real estate fraud prosecution unit.
SB2 Building Homes and Jobs Act Fee	$75.00	A state-mandated fee applied to most real estate documents. Exemptions exist if the transfer is subject to Documentary Transfer Tax or if it is transferring a primary residence.
Missing PCOR Penalty	$20.00	Applied only if you fail to submit a completed BOE-502-A with your deed.

For a standard two-page quitclaim deed transferring a primary residence (which usually exempts the transaction from the $75 SB2 fee), the total recording cost in Los Angeles County is typically $28.00 ($15 base + $3 additional page + $10 fraud fee). Payment can be made by cash, check, or money order if recording in person, though mailed documents require a check or money order made payable to the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

After the document is successfully recorded and stamped, it officially becomes part of the public record. The Recorder’s office will scan the document into their digital archives and then physically mail the original, stamped deed back to the name and address you specified in the upper left corner of the first page. This return process usually takes between four to six weeks. Concurrently, the Assessor’s office will process the PCOR to update the property tax records, ensuring future property tax bills are sent to the correct new owner.

Note for LDAs: If you are asked to prepare deeds, it is highly recommended that you retain all related records. While LDAs are not legally required to keep signed copies of deeds, doing so is a vital protective measure.

For example, I once prepared a Quitclaim deed at the wife’s request to transfer property into her name, which the husband signed and had notarized the following day. A year later, the spouses became entangled in civil and criminal litigation. The husband alleged fraud, leading the LAPD to seize my notary journal and question me about a forged deed that I had no part in creating. Fortunately, because I kept the original digital file on my computer, I could prove exactly what I had drafted. Even though I had simply prepared a valid deed according to the client’s instructions, I was subjected to subpoenas from a civil attorney and wasted significant time. Keeping thorough records ultimately protected me from unwarranted legal trouble.