Welcome to the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds

Barnstable County was founded in 1685 and encompasses the land and the 15 towns that make up what is popularly known as Cape Cod.  The Barnstable County Registry of Deeds contains the over three centuries of real property ownership history for Cape Cod.

In Massachusetts, Registries of Deeds deal only with title to real property. Other aspects of property ownership, such as building type/size, property taxes, zoning, etc. fall under the jurisdiction of the municipality where the property is located.

Property records at the Barnstable Registry of Deeds begin in 1742 and Land Court records begin in 1898. With the exception of some very old records and a few oversized plans, all of our Registry of Deeds and Land Court indexes and images are available for searching and viewing at this website. In addition, we have tried to include on the site links to other sites that deal with the various aspects of real property ownership not specifically related to title.

Property records are public records and anyone may view the records and gather information, however, the method prescribed by the Massachusetts General Laws for indexing all recordings is a name based system that may not be intuitive to the uninitiated.  For an effective and accurate title examination of a property you may wish to seek the assistance of an attorney or an experienced title examiner.  While we do provide an address based search option it is not an official index of the Registry and should not be relied upon to determine the status of a property or if a document has been recorded.

Answers to many common questions concerning real property ownership can be found under our FAQ link and other link options on this site. Please take your time to check those options; the answer may only be a click away!

Thank you for visiting our site.

Regards,

John F. Meade, Barnstable County Register of Deeds


News

Registry Recording Statistics October 2024

JOHN F. MEADE, REGISTER OF DEEDS REPORT OF BARNSTABLE COUNTY REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER 2024 SALES VOLUME & VALUE CONTINUE TO CLIMB! Barnstable County Register of […]

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Barnstable County Registry of Deeds Launches Enhanced Website

Barnstable, MA – (November 12, 2024) – The Barnstable County Registry of Deeds is pleased to announce the launch of its newly redesigned website. The updated site, which is accessible at www.barnstabledeeds.org, […]

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Fall/Winter 2024-2025 Holiday Schedule

October 14, 2024 (Monday) – Closed All Day in Observance of Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples Day November 11, 2024 (Monday) – Closed All Day in Observance of Veterans Day November 27, […]

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Title Fraud & Consumer Notification Service

“TITLE FRAUD”, MORE ACCURATELY KNOWN AS “DEED FRAUD” – RISK LEVELS AND SAFEGUARDS Notwithstanding the seemingly non-stop ads warning of “title fraud” the actual instances of fraud related to real […]

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Homestead Exemption Increased to $1 million.

Due to language contained in the recently passed Affordable Homes Act, all declared estates of homestead filed and recorded with the registry of deeds in the county where the land […]

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Juneteenth Holiday – Wednesday June 19, 2024

Per order of the Barnstable County Commissioners, all County Offices, including the Registry of Deeds, will be closed on Wednesday June 19th in observance of the Juneteenth Holiday.

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