Delaware Property Records: How to Find Out Who Owns a Property (2026)

Delaware records deeds at the county level like most states, but with only three counties statewide, New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, each with its own Recorder of Deeds tracing back to a colonial law from the 1740s.

Information last verified on 2026-07-16. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How Property Records Work in Delaware

Delaware uses the same basic structure as most states, a county-level Recorder of Deeds who receives, indexes, and archives recorded deeds, mortgages, liens, and plats, but Delaware has only three counties in the entire state: New Castle in the north, Kent in the middle, and Sussex in the south. Each has its own independent Recorder of Deeds office. That is a much smaller universe to navigate than most states, where dozens or even over a hundred counties exist. Delaware's recording offices are also unusually old. Archival records trace them to a colonial law enacted between 1738 and 1747 establishing "an Office of Record in each county," which makes Delaware's Recorder of Deeds offices among the oldest continuously operating public recording offices in the United States, predating the state's own admission to the Union in 1787.

Because there are only three counties, identifying the right office to search is straightforward once you know where the property sits: Wilmington and the surrounding area fall under New Castle County, central Delaware including Dover falls under Kent County, and the beach towns and southern Delaware fall under Sussex County. Each office maintains its own index and sets its own fees, so details like online access and certified-copy pricing differ from one county to the next even though the underlying legal function is identical.

How to Find Out Who Owns a Property in Delaware

If the property is in New Castle County, start with the county's Parcel Search tool, which returns owner name, tax information, and sales history by address, owner name, or parcel number, or its companion GIS Viewer for a map-based lookup. Kent and Sussex counties offer their own online services, including recording-activity notification tools built on vendor platforms like uslandrecords.com, though the extent of free public document-image access varies and is worth confirming directly with the relevant county's Recorder of Deeds before assuming a search is complete.

For the underlying recorded deed itself, or to trace prior owners through a chain of title, search the county Recorder's grantor-grantee name index. If you need a certified copy of an actual recorded document, fees differ meaningfully by county: New Castle County charges $3 to $6 for a certified copy plus a $1 certificate fee, Kent County charges $7.00 per page, and Sussex County charges $5.00 per page for a certified, office, or exemplified copy. Confirm the current fee schedule with the specific county before visiting or mailing a request, since these figures are set locally and can change.

Delaware's Three Counties: The Smallest County-Based Recording System

Most states with a county-based recording system have dozens of counties, sometimes well over a hundred; Texas alone has 254. Delaware has just three, making it the smallest county-based recording system of any state in the country. That has a practical upside for anyone searching Delaware property records: there is no risk of guessing wrong among a large field of counties, and the total number of offices you would ever need to contact for a statewide search is exactly three. The tradeoff is that Delaware has no statewide portal consolidating all three counties into a single search; each Recorder of Deeds runs its own system, so a search spanning county lines, uncommon as that is for a single property, still means checking more than one office.

Deed Solicitation Mailers: A Documented Scam

A well-documented scam mails official-looking solicitations to homeowners offering to sell a "certified copy of your deed" or a "property assessment profile" for an inflated fee, commonly cited in the $80 to $95 range nationally. These mailers imitate government correspondence, use words like "official" or "certified," and pull real details such as the property's address and parcel number from the public record to look legitimate, often adding a false response deadline while burying a disclaimer in fine print that it is not a government bill.

The genuine document costs far less. As described above, a certified copy from a Delaware Recorder of Deeds runs from about $3 to $7 per page depending on the county, typically a small fraction of what these mailers charge. Most homeowners already received their original deed for free at closing and do not need to buy another copy unless it is lost. If you receive one of these mailers, disregard it and do not pay. You can report it to the Delaware Attorney General's Fraud and Consumer Protection Division, to the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov or 1-877-FTC-HELP, and to the US Postal Inspection Service if it arrived by mail.

Deed Fraud and Delaware's County Fraud Alert Programs

Deed fraud, or title theft, is a more serious problem: the actual forged or fraudulent transfer of a property's title, typically filed using a stolen or fabricated identity. The FBI issued a formal public service announcement on this pattern in June 2026, describing how criminals fabricate fake identification and contact information from data pulled from public records or data breaches, then pose as a property's true owner to divert the proceeds of a sale or loan, most often targeting vacant land, rental property, or homes without a mortgage.

All three Delaware counties offer some version of a free fraud-alert or recording-activity notification service. Sussex County runs a "Recording Activity Notification Service" through the Landmark platform; Kent County provides free property fraud alert software at pfa.uslandrecords.com; and New Castle County offers notification options through its recorder's online services. Enrolling means the county emails or otherwise notifies you whenever a document is recorded under your name, so a fraudulent filing is more likely to be caught quickly. Worth noting: a July 2026 industry scorecard from EquityProtect lists Delaware among states with no statewide legislative mandate on deed theft protection, meaning these are county-initiated, voluntary programs rather than a requirement written into state law.

Not a Substitute for a Professional Title Search

A free search through a county Recorder's index or GIS viewer is useful for general research, confirming an owner of record, or monitoring for fraud. It is not the same as, and should not be treated as a substitute for, a licensed title company's full title search and a title insurance policy before an actual real estate purchase or closing. State insurance-department consumer guides note that roughly one in four residential real estate transactions has a title issue, such as an unreleased old mortgage or an undisclosed lien, that a professional search is built to catch before closing, drawing on court filings as well as recorded land records. Even a professional search can report only what the public record shows, which is why title insurance exists as a further layer of protection against risks, including forgery, that a search alone cannot fully rule out. Buyers in Delaware should work with a licensed title company or real estate attorney rather than relying on a DIY county records search alone. For the recording office and search tools in every other state, see Property Records by State.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about how property records and deed lookups work in Delaware as of the verification date above. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is not a substitute for a licensed title company's title search or title insurance before a real estate purchase. County-level tools, fees, and services change and vary by county; verify current details directly with the specific Recorder of Deeds before relying on any figure here.

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Last updated: 2026-07-16. Figures and program details reflect their in-force version as of 2026-07-16.

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