Lewis County Recorded Deed Documents

Lewis County deed records are kept by the County Auditor in Chehalis. The Auditor's office serves as the official custodian of real property records for the county, with land records going back to the 1800s. Online access to most Lewis County deed records has been available since October 2010, and historical land records from 1965 to the present are indexed in the Washington State Digital Archives. If you need to search recorded deeds, easements, liens, or other land documents in Lewis County, this page explains how to find them and what to expect.

Lewis County Auditor Document Recording

The Lewis County Auditor's Office is the official custodian of records for the county. Under Washington law, county auditors are designated as "custodians of records." For Lewis County, this primarily means land records, but the office also maintains records of marriages, powers of attorney, military discharges, and some historical birth and death records from 1856 to 1906. The office has provided online access to most of its records since October 2010, which was a significant step for public accessibility.

Lewis County has an ongoing project to create an index for each document to make record searches easier. The goal is to have computer indexes and images for all records going back to the 1800s. This is expected to take several more years due to the volume of historical documents. In the meantime, the office has three public access terminals available on-site for searching records that are not yet available through the main online system.

The Lewis County Auditor's document recording page in Chehalis provides access to online deed records, office hours, and information about submitting documents for recording.

How to Search Lewis County Deed Records

For online searches, Lewis County has provided access to most records since 2010. You can search the county's document system for deed records, liens, easements, and other recorded instruments by grantor name, grantee name, or document type. The office's website at lewiscountywa.gov links to the online document search tool. This is the fastest option for records from recent years.

The Lewis County Land Records collection at the Washington State Digital Archives covers indexed records from 1965 to the present, with a total count of 296,939 records. For the best search results, the Digital Archives recommends searching by the grantor or grantee name. You can also search by year. Images are not available for records containing confidential information, but index entries are accessible for all documents in the collection. The Lewis County Auditor transfers records periodically, so the current year may not be fully up to date at any given time.

In-person searches are available at the Auditor's office in Chehalis during business hours. Three public access terminals on-site let you search the system and view records. Staff can assist with the search but will not provide legal advice or interpret recorded documents. For records predating 1965, contact the office directly or visit the Washington State Archives Southwest Regional Branch.

The Washington State Digital Archives holds nearly 297,000 Lewis County land records from 1965 to the present, searchable free online by name, document type, or year.

Lewis County Deed Recording Fees

Lewis County follows the Washington State recording fee schedule under RCW 36.18 and RCW 36.22. The standard fee for recording most real property documents, including warranty deeds and quitclaim deeds, is $303.50 for the first page and $1.00 for each additional page. Deeds of trust are $304.50 for the first page. The fee schedule was updated as of January 1, 2024, with the increase driven by a housing affordability surcharge that funds affordable housing programs across Washington State.

Documents that fail to meet state formatting requirements may incur an emergency non-standard fee of $50 in addition to the standard recording fee. All pages must meet the state's size, margin, font, and legibility requirements under RCW 65.04. The first page must have a three-inch top margin. No items may be stapled or taped to the document. If a document is returned for formatting corrections, the recording date will not be set until the corrected version is resubmitted.

For copies, uncertified copies are $1.00 per page and certified copies are $3.00 for the first page and $1.00 per additional page. The Auditor's office does not give legal advice and will not review whether a deed is legally valid.

Lewis County Deed Record Types

Lewis County has one of the oldest recording systems in Washington. In 1845, the Provisional Government of Oregon divided the District of Vancouver, designating all land north of the Columbia and west of the Cowlitz River as Lewis County. The county's deed records reflect this deep history and cover a diverse range of property types, from timberlands to farm parcels to residential lots.

The Lewis County land records collection at the Digital Archives covers document types including deeds, easements, leases, mortgages, real estate contracts, deeds of trust, reconveyances, and liens. The collection also includes more specific document types like covenant records, declarations of forfeiture and discontinuance of forfeiture, notice of intent to forfeit, mineral interest documents, non-forestry moratorium records, water and sewer liens and releases, subordination agreements, and title eliminations for manufactured homes. Wage liens are also recorded and searchable.

The standard deed types in Washington law are the Statutory Warranty Deed under RCW 64.04.030, the Bargain and Sale Deed under RCW 64.04.040, and the Quitclaim Deed under RCW 64.04.050. All deeds must contain a proper legal description, be signed by the grantor, and have the grantor's signature notarized under RCW 64.04.020. Recording under RCW 65.08.070 gives public notice of the transfer and establishes recording priority.

Lewis County Assessor and Related Resources

The Lewis County Assessor's office works in tandem with the Auditor's recording system. When a deed is recorded, the transfer information flows into the Assessor's ownership records. The Assessor maintains plat and transfer records showing the ownership of all parcels for property tax purposes. If you know a parcel number but not the grantor or grantee names, starting with the Assessor's system can help you connect a property to its recorded deed history.

The Washington State Digital Archives offers free public access to Lewis County land records and other government document collections. Searches are by name or document type, and results are returned quickly. For records that predate the 1965 coverage of the main Lewis County collection, contact the Auditor's office directly or reach out to the Washington State Archives Southwest Regional Branch.

The Washington State Association of County Auditors provides professional standards and training for the Lewis County Auditor and all other county recording officers across Washington. Their guidelines ensure that Lewis County deed records are indexed and preserved consistently with the rest of the state, making it easier to search across county lines when a property research project spans multiple jurisdictions.

The Lewis County Assessor's office maintains parcel ownership and tax records that connect directly to deed records filed with the Auditor, making it a useful starting point for property research.

Cities in Lewis County

Lewis County includes Chehalis, Centralia, Morton, Winlock, Toledo, Napavine, Pe Ell, and other communities. All deed records for properties in these cities and surrounding unincorporated areas are filed with the Lewis County Auditor in Chehalis.

Nearby Counties

These counties border Lewis County in southwest and central Washington.