About the Greenville County Register of Deeds
The Register of Deeds is the county office that records and keeps land documents. The South Carolina Judicial Branch lists Tim Nanney as the Greenville County Register of Deeds. The office is at Greenville County Square, not the downtown courthouse, which is one reason people get sent to the wrong place. When a deed, a mortgage, or a lien is recorded, it becomes part of the public chain of title for that property. That chain is what title companies, lenders, and buyers rely on. The office does not decide disputes. It records, indexes, and preserves the documents so they can be found later.
This is a recording office, not a court. The staff cannot give legal advice or tell you whether a document is valid. They record what is presented if it meets the form rules, and they make the index searchable. For anything that needs a judge, you are looking at a court, not the Register of Deeds.
Greenville County Register of Deeds
Register: Tim Nanney
Greenville County Square
301 University Ridge, Suite 1300
Greenville, SC 29601-3613
864-467-7240
Fax: 864-467-7107
What the Greenville County Register of Deeds Keeps
The office records documents that affect real property in the county. Most of what it holds ties back to land, a loan, or a claim. A deed moves ownership from one party to another. A mortgage records the loan tied to a property. A plat is the survey map that shows lot lines and boundaries. When a mortgage is paid off, a satisfaction is recorded to clear it. Liens get recorded here too. That includes the post-1999 state tax liens and the federal tax liens that the Clerk of Court's own page says moved to the Register of Deeds.
The categories below cover most filings people look for.
- Deeds that transfer real property between owners.
- Mortgages and the loans secured against property.
- Plats and survey maps showing lot lines.
- Satisfactions that clear a paid-off mortgage.
- State tax liens recorded after 1999 and federal tax liens.
- Other recorded land documents, such as easements and restrictions.
Note: State tax liens dated up to 1999 are not here; those older liens stay with the Clerk of Court, while later state liens and federal liens sit with this office.
Register of Deeds vs Clerk of Court
People mix up these two offices all the time. Both deal with records, but the records are not the same kind. The Register of Deeds keeps land and real-property documents. The Clerk of Court keeps court case files for the trial courts. One is about property. The other is about lawsuits and charges. If you want a deed, you go to the Register of Deeds. If you want a divorce file or a civil judgment, you go to the Clerk. The table below sorts out who keeps what.
| Register of Deeds | Clerk of Court |
|---|---|
| Deeds and property transfers | Civil lawsuits and judgments |
| Mortgages and satisfactions | Criminal cases (General Sessions) |
| Plats and survey maps | Family Court records |
| Post-1999 state and federal tax liens | State tax liens up to 1999 |
| Land and real-property records | Court case files and certified copies |
There is some overlap that confuses things. A foreclosure, for example, is a court case filed with the Clerk, but the deed and mortgage behind it are recorded with the Register of Deeds. A judgment lien may show in court records and also touch property records. When a case crosses both, you may need to check both offices.
Common Land Record Terms
Land records use words that do not come up in daily life. A few short definitions make the index easier to read. The grantor and grantee fields, in particular, are how most deed searches are run.
- Deed
- The legal paper that transfers ownership of real property from one party to another.
- Mortgage
- A recorded document that pledges property as security for a loan.
- Lien
- A legal claim against property for an unpaid debt, such as a tax lien.
- Plat
- A survey map that shows the lot lines, dimensions, and layout of a parcel.
- Grantor
- The party giving up or transferring an interest, such as the seller on a deed.
- Grantee
- The party receiving the interest, such as the buyer on a deed.
How to Search Greenville County Land Records
Land records are indexed by name and by property. Most searches start with a grantor or grantee name, since deeds and mortgages are filed under the parties. You can also search by the book and page where a document was recorded, or by the property's tax map number. To trace a title, you follow the chain backward, owner by owner, through the recorded deeds. That work is what title examiners do before a sale closes.
Records here are open to the public under South Carolina law. You can review them at the office at Greenville County Square. For a recorded copy, ask the office directly. The research available does not list the current per-page or certified copy fees for this office, so the county Register of Deeds is the place to confirm current charges before you order. Do not assume the court copy rates apply, since recording offices set their own fees.
A few tips make a land-record search go faster. Have the full legal name of the owner you are tracing, since common names return long lists. If you know the property's tax map number, it narrows a property search the same way a case number narrows a court search. For a recent sale, the deed is filed under the seller as grantor and the buyer as grantee. For an older parcel, the chain may run through several owners, so plan to step back one deed at a time. When you only need to confirm a single fact, such as whether a lien was cleared, the office staff can point you to the right book and page.
Note: Recording fees and copy fees for this office are set by the county and the state and can change, so confirm the current amount with the Register of Deeds rather than assuming a court copy rate applies.
Public Access to Greenville County Land Records
South Carolina starts from open records. The state Freedom of Information Act sits in Title 30, Chapter 4. It says public business should be done openly and that people should be able to learn about it with little cost or delay. Counties are public bodies under that law, so county offices like the Register of Deeds fall within it. Recorded land documents are public by design, since the whole point of recording is to give notice to the world about who owns what and who has a claim.
A few rules shape how the records are used. The Family Privacy Protection Act limits how personal data pulled from public records can be used for commercial solicitation, and it supports redaction of sensitive identifiers. The statutes below are the core of the framework.
Key Statutes:
S.C. Code § 30-4-30 - Gives the public the right to inspect or copy nonexempt records and sets fee and time limits.
S.C. Code § 30-4-20 - Defines public body to include counties, which brings county offices under the open-records law.
S.C. Code § 30-2-10 - The Family Privacy Protection Act, which limits use of personal data from public records.
For the broader county records framework and how to file a request, see the Greenville County public records page.
Why Land Records Matter
Recorded land documents protect ownership. When a deed is recorded, it puts the world on notice that the property changed hands. A lender records a mortgage so its claim has priority if the borrower defaults. A buyer pulls the chain of title to be sure the seller really owns the land and that no surprise lien sits against it. Skip the title check and you can buy a problem.
These records also feed other county work. The assessor and the auditor use ownership data for tax rolls. A court handling a foreclosure looks to the recorded mortgage. The records connect across offices, even though each office keeps its own files.