Hampshire County Deed Records

Hampshire County deed records are held at the Registry of Deeds in Northampton, covering all 20 towns in the county from Amherst to Worthington. You can search deed records online at no cost through the Massachusetts Land Records portal, or visit the office on Railroad Avenue to look up documents in person. The registry keeps records for deeds, mortgages, discharges, homesteads, and land plans, with online access going back to 1874 for recorded land and 1903 for registered land.

Hampshire County Registry of Deeds

The Hampshire County Registry of Deeds is at 60 Railroad Avenue in Northampton, MA 01060. Mary Olberding serves as Register. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. You can reach the registry by phone at (413) 584-3637, by fax at (413) 584-4136, or by email at Hampshirereg@sec.state.ma.us. The registry website is massrods.com/hampshire, and online deed records are at masslandrecords.com/Hampshire.

Hampshire is one of the older counties in Massachusetts, established in 1662. The registry serves 20 towns: Amherst, Belchertown, Chesterfield, Cummington, Easthampton, Goshen, Granby, Hadley, Hatfield, Huntington, Middlefield, Northampton, Pelham, Plainfield, South Hadley, Southampton, Ware, Westhampton, Williamsburg, and Worthington. All deed records for land in these towns run through this one office.

Search Hampshire County Deed Records Online

The main tool for searching Hampshire County deed records online is the Massachusetts Land Records portal at masslandrecords.com/Hampshire. The site is free and does not need an account for basic use. You can search by grantor name, grantee name, document type, or date range. Once you find a record, you can view the scanned image on screen and print or save it at no charge. Certified copies cost extra and must come from the registry office.

The portal covers recorded land with an index going back to 1874, with linked document images. Registered land has a complete index going back to 1903. Plans are searchable from 1800 to the present for recorded land and from 1899 to the present for registered land. For documents recorded before 1928, you can still access them online but only by book and page number. There is no name-search available for those older records. The registry's search instructions page at massrods.com/hampshire/search-records-instructions explains how to navigate the system step by step, and the FAQ at massrods.com/hampshire/faqs covers the most common questions.

The Massachusetts Land Records portal at masslandrecords.com is the primary online tool for finding Hampshire County deed records by name, document type, or date.

The portal gives free access to scanned deed images and indexes for all 20 Hampshire County towns, with name-searchable records going back to 1874 for recorded land.

Beers Atlas Maps and Proprietor Deed Records

Hampshire County holds some unique historical resources that set it apart from other Massachusetts registries. The 1863 Beers Atlas Maps are available at the registry as historical property maps showing property boundaries and ownership from that period. They are filed at Plan Book 2, Page 172 and run for 35 pages. These maps are useful for anyone doing genealogical research or tracing an old title back through the 19th century.

The registry has also scanned and made available Proprietor Records covering the period from 1653 to 1835. These records come from seven towns: Hatfield (including the Bradstreet and Dennison Farm records), Granby, Hadley, Narragansett Township No. 4, Northampton, Pelham, and South Hadley. If you want to search these Proprietor Records, each town has its own index codes. For Hadley, use HDIX or HDPR. For Hatfield, use HTIX or HTPR. Granby uses GRIX or GRPR. Narragansett Township No. 4 uses NAIX or NAPR. Northampton uses NOIX or NOPR. Pelham uses PEIX or PEPR. South Hadley uses SHIX or SHPR. These codes let you filter by town when searching within the system at masslandrecords.com.

Note: The Proprietor Records are available online through the same Massachusetts Land Records portal that handles all modern deed searches.

Hampshire County Deed Records Availability and Limits

Knowing what is and is not available online saves time when you search Hampshire County deed records. For recorded land, the full index with linked document images goes back to 1874. For documents recorded before 1928, you can access them by book and page number only. There is no grantor or grantee name index for those older records online. You will need the book and page reference from another source before you can pull up the image.

There is also a key limitation for older documents even within the indexed period. For recorded land indexed with Book 936 and earlier, the online record will only show the document number, book and page, recorded date, document type, and grantor or grantee name. Those older indexed records will not include marginal references or street information. If your research depends on those fields, you may need to review the physical books at the registry in Northampton.

For registered land, the complete index goes back to 1903. Plans for recorded land are searchable from 1800 onward. Plans for registered land go back to 1899. Pre-1928 documents are available online by book and page only, with no name search.

Hampshire and Hampden County: What You Need to Know

Hampshire County was established in 1662. In 1812, Hampden County was created from the western portion of Hampshire County. This split matters for deed research. If you are looking for deeds recorded before 1812 for land that is now in Hampden County, those older records are held at the Hampden County Registry of Deeds, not here. The original Hampshire County deeds from 1662 through 1812 went with the territory when Hampden County was formed.

Once Hampden County was established, Hampshire County began its own recording system from scratch with the reduced territory. So Hampshire County deed records held at the Northampton registry cover the land within the current 20-town boundary from that point forward. If you are doing a title search on a property in a town that is now part of Hampden County and the chain of title goes back before 1812, you need to check the Hampden County registry for those early records.

For land that has always been within Hampshire County's current boundaries, the Northampton registry holds the relevant deed records from its re-establishment forward. For very old records, check with the registry staff about what is on hand or accessible through the Massachusetts State Archives.

Recording Fees, Requirements, and E-Recording

The Hampshire County Registry of Deeds uses a set fee schedule. The fee to record a deed is $155. A mortgage costs $205. A discharge of mortgage is $105. Filing a homestead declaration is $35. Plans cost $105 per sheet. Copies cost $1 per page. You can review recording requirements at massrods.com/hampshire/recording-requirements. Documents must meet the requirements under MGL Chapter 183, which governs conveyances of real property in Massachusetts.

When recording a deed, you also owe the Massachusetts real estate excise tax. The rate is $4.56 per $1,000 of the sale price. On a $400,000 purchase, that comes to $1,824. You can use the online calculator at franklindeeds.com/excise-tax-calculator to estimate the tax before you go to record. The tax is collected at the time of recording. Documents that do not meet the checklist may be rejected, so review requirements first.

E-recording is available for attorneys and title companies through Simplifile and CSC. This lets frequent filers send documents electronically without coming to the office in person. For most individual transactions, documents are recorded at the counter during regular business hours. You can also submit by mail. Mail submissions should include the documents, a check for the correct fee, and a self-addressed stamped envelope for the return.

Note: The registry's obtaining-a-deed page at massrods.com/hampshire/obtain-deed has step-by-step details on how to request or get a copy of a recorded deed.

Getting Copies and the Consumer Notification Service

If you need a copy of a Hampshire County deed record, you have a few options. Online copies are free at masslandrecords.com for documents within the indexed range. If you want a certified copy, you need to get it from the registry directly, either in person or by mail. Copies cost $1 per page. For documents not yet online, or for those that require certification, contact the registry at (413) 584-3637 or email Hampshirereg@sec.state.ma.us. You can also use the obtain-a-deed page at massrods.com/hampshire/obtain-deed to understand what to request and how.

The registry participates in the Massachusetts Consumer Notification Service. This is a free tool that sends you an email alert any time a new document is recorded in your name in Hampshire County. It is a practical way to keep track of your property and catch any unauthorized recordings early. Sign up at cns.masslandrecords.com. The service costs nothing and takes only a few minutes to set up.

The Massachusetts Interactive Property Map, available through the state at mass.gov, is another tool some people use alongside deed records to identify parcel boundaries and ownership across the state.

The state's interactive property map can help you identify parcel details and connect them to recorded deed documents at the Hampshire County Registry in Northampton.

Hampshire County deed records are also governed by MGL Chapter 188 for homestead declarations. Under that chapter, homeowners can protect a portion of their home's value from creditors by filing a homestead declaration at the registry for $35. If you have questions about how that process works, the registry staff can walk you through it. General information on statutes is at malegislature.gov.

Nearby Counties

These counties border Hampshire County. If your title search crosses a county line, or if land was historically recorded under a different county, check those registries as well.