| 19 July 2010
Please be advised of two pressing issues affecting the title industry:The first issue is the new Homestead requirements. To submit homestead applications, the Office of Tax and Revenue now requires the following criteria to prove domicile:
1) Property is owner occupied;
2) The District is permanent home for an indefinite period of time;
3) owner has abandoned their previous legal domicile; and
4) owner has initiated the transfer of domiciliary indicators to the District of Columbia.
The domiciliary indicators are: DC Driver’s License, DC Vehicle Registration, DC Voter Registration, and DC Income taxes.
All documents must have the address of the new property, making it very difficult for settlement attorneys and agents to submit the homestead application on behalf of their clients. At this time, the DCLTA suggests that its members counsel their clients that they will need to take on the responsibility of submitting their own homestead applications.
The second issue is the new recording procedures at the Recorder of Deeds. As many of you are aware, the Recorder of Deeds has completed its move. Unfortunately, new procedures have been put in place which slow down the process of recordings tremendously. The new standard is 5 business days before we can get documents on record. With the current procedures, it is possible for recordings to take weeks before they are recorded. These new procedures are not in the best interest of the District of Columbia, its citizens and our industry.
Your DCLTA is working with the Office of Tax and Revenue as well as with the Recorder of Deeds to solve these problems. Please feel free to forward to me any inquiries or comments. I may be reached via email at
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or via phone at 202-537-0343
