Recording a land contract

[Ash Patel]

Several months ago, I sold a property on land contract.  Shortly after, I received two property violations from the city.  One for a tire on the side of the house and the other for a vehicle parked on an unimproved surface.  I emailed the building department and explained this property was sold on land contract and emailed them a copy of it.  Their reply was that I would have to record the land contract for them to recognize it.    

I mailed the land contract to my Title Attorney and asked him to record it.  He told me that it "should be notarized" to be recorded.  He was going to submit it and that was the end of it.

Fast forward six months and I received another email from the building manager telling me that the land contract was never recorded and that I needed to address the property violations.  He also accused me of renting the property and failing to register the rental and pay for a rental inspection from the city.

I am awaiting a response from my Title Attorney regarding if the contract was recorded.  My question is am I obligated to record it and should an executed contract be enough for the building dept?

[Jeff Filali]

I use a "Contract for Deed" aka Land Contract and a simple document called a "Memorandum of Land Contract", both are notarized with both seller and buyer signing both docs and both are filed with the county.  This protects both parties interest and lets anyone who searches know who the responsible party is.  I also go ahead and sign a deed transferring title to the buyer and have it notarized, but I do not file this, it goes in my safe deposit box just in case something ever happened to me prior to them paying it off.