Cover Sheets
Cover Sheets
Effective January 1, 2015, cover sheets are now required when recording land records. The Virginia Land Record Cover Sheet (VLRCS) can be found on the Supreme Court deed calculation website. When you choose the locality that you are recording in, and they require a cover sheet, a hyperlink will show up telling you to "click here" to access the cover sheet.
Whomever prepares the cover sheet is responsible for the accuracy of the information contained therein. This office will only be indexing from the cover sheet(s). Effective June 1, 2017, we can no longer be a party to the preparation of the cover sheets.
Required Information
The cover sheet must include the following:
- All grantors, grantees, and identify surname if applicable
- Amount of consideration and actual value if a deed or instrument
- State the Virginia or Federal law under which any exemption from recordation taxes being claimed
- Tax map or pin number
- Who to return to after recordation
Though the legal description is not a required item we would prefer if you would include it. Number of pages does not include the cover sheet.
Below are some hints that may help you accurately complete the cover sheet:
- Do not use the terms FKA, AKA, or DBA.
- Do not include any punctuation; for example no period after middle initial, no commas/periods in legal description.
- All tax map numbers must be on cover sheet.
- Check signatures of who signed and if they are different from what is typed please include that name also.
- Any document that references a prior recording must include that prior deed book/page or instrument number on the cover sheet.
- On certificates of satisfactions the borrowers are listed as both grantors and grantees, the trustees are listed as grantors.
Additional Assistance
The Virginia Information Technologies Agency(VITA) (PDF) has provided the "Standards for Indexing Land Record Instruments" that may assist you with the information you need to accurately complete the cover sheets.