Document Requirements

• Mortgage Registry Tax (MRT) and Conservation fee must be paid before recording will be initiated.
  • Use our Mortgage Tax Calculator to calculate your MRT amount if your mortgage is acknowledged on or after July 1, 2013, or follow the instructions below:
    • Fixed Rate Mortgage: Locate the amount of debt secured by the mortgage and multiply it by .0024 if your mortgage is acknowledged on or after July 1, 2013.
    • Revolving Line of Credit: Locate the maximum amount of the line of credit that may be secured at any one time, as expressed in the mortgage, regardless of the time or amount of advances, payments, or re-advances, and multiply it by .0024 if your mortgage is acknowledged on or after July 1, 2013.
    • Reverse Mortgage: Locate the expected total disbursements or cash equivalent to be made under the terms of the loan and multiply it by .0024 if your document is acknowledged on or after July 1, 2013.
    • Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM): Locate the amount of debt secured by the mortgage and multiply it by the 110 percent, 115 percent or 125 percent interest rate indicated by the ARM. Multiply the resulting amount by .0024 to determine the amount of MRT due, if your mortgage is acknowledged on or after July 1, 2013.
• Conservation Fee: Ramsey County is required to collect a $5 fee on the recording or registration of a mortgage or deed where a Mortgage Registry Tax or State Deed Tax is due.
  • Half of the fee is deposited in a special county conservation account and half is sent to the State of Minnesota.
• Grantor (entity taking the loan) and their marital status.
• Grantee (entity giving the loan).
• Consideration (dollar amount of the loan).
• Full legal description of the real estate securing the loan (not the address or property ID number).
• Original signatures of grantor.
• If grantor is a commercial entity, signature should be shown with:
  • Business name printed above signature line.
  • Signer’s name printed below signature line.
  • Title or official capacity of signer.
• Full acknowledgement, including:
  • Name and marital status or title of entity whose signature is being acknowledged.
  • Date signature was acknowledged.
  • Notary signature.
  • Notary stamp, including state in which notary is appointed and date of expiration of notary’s appointment.
• Full name and address of entity that drafted the document.

• State Deed Tax and Conservation fee must be paid before recording will be initiated. State Deed Tax is imposed on each deed or instrument that grants, assigns, transfers or otherwise conveys real property. The deed must state the amount of tax due, or that it is exempt from tax. 97 percent of the State Deed Tax is sent to the State of Minnesota and 3 percent is retained by Ramsey County.
  • To calculate the State Deed Tax, please use our online State deed tax calculator or follow the instructions below:
    • The State Deed Tax is .0034 of the net consideration if the deed is acknowledged on or after July 1, 2013.
    • If there is no consideration, or when the consideration is $3,000 or less, the minimum State Deed Tax due is $1.70 as of January 1, 2020.
• Conservation Fee – Ramsey County is required to collect a $5 fee on the recording or registration of a mortgage or deed where a Mortgage Registry Tax or State Deed Tax is due.
  • Half of the fee is deposited in a special county conservation account and half is sent to the State of Minnesota.
• Properties with delinquent taxes may not be transferred.
• Grantor – the entity selling or giving the property, including the grantor’s marital status.
• Grantee - the entity buying or receiving the property.
• Full legal description of the real estate (not the address or property ID number)
• Original signatures of the grantors
• If grantor is a commercial entity, signature should be shown with:
  • Business name printed above signature line.
  • Signer’s name printed below signature line.
  • Title or official capacity of signer.
  • Full acknowledgement, including:
  • Name and marital status or title of entity whose signature is being acknowledged.
  • Date signature was acknowledged.
  • Notary signature.
  • Notary stamp, including state in which notary is appointed and date of expiration of notary’s appointment.
• Full name and address of entity that drafted the document.
• Name and address to which property tax statements are to be sent.
• If a tax parcel is to be split by a transfer deed, all current taxes must be paid in full.
• Approval to split a tax parcel must be obtained from the city in which the parcel is located, prior to submitting a request or filing documents that split a tax parcel.
• eCRV (Electronic Certificate of Real Estate Value) – for more information on the eCRV, visit the Minnesota Department of Revenue’s website.
• Well certificate or statement.

• Properties with delinquent taxes may not be transferred.
• Grantor (entity selling or giving the property) and their marital status.
• Grantee (entity buying or receiving the property).
• Full legal description of the real estate (not the address or property ID number).
• Original signatures.
• If grantor is a commercial entity, signature should be shown with:
  • Business name printed above signature line.
  • Signer’s name printed below signature line.
  • Title or official capacity of signer.
• Full acknowledgement, including:
  • Name and marital status or title of entity whose signature is being acknowledged.
  • Date signature was acknowledged.
  • Notary signature.
  • Notary stamp, including state in which notary is appointed and date of expiration of notary’s appointment.
• eCRV (Electronic Certificate of Real Estate Value) – for more information on the eCRV, visit the Minnesota Department of Revenue’s website.
• Well certificate or statement.

Minnesota Statute 1031.235 requires the seller of any property to provide information to the buyer and the State of Minnesota about the location and status of all wells on the property. The deed must contain a statement that a well disclosure certificate accompanies the document.

The well disclosure certificate must include:

• Legal description of the property and the county in which it is located.
• Name and mailing address of the buyer.
• Signature of the seller or a person authorized to act on behalf of the seller.
• Quartile, section, township and range in which each well is located.
• Whether each well indicated is in use, not in use or sealed.

All transfer deeds, including Contracts for Deed, require a completed well disclosure certificate with a $50 fee, or one of the following statements that applies must appear on the deed:

• “The seller certifies that the seller does not know of any wells on the described real property.” OR,
• “I am familiar with the property described in this instrument and I certify that the status and the number of wells on the described real property have not changed since the last previously filed well disclosure certificate.”

A well certificate is not required:

• If there are no wells on the property. However, the deed must contain the following disclosure statement: “The seller certifies that the seller does not know of any wells on the described real property.”
• If the number and status of the wells has not changed since the last certificate was filed. The deed must contain the following disclosure statement: “I am familiar with the property disclosed in this instrument and I certify that the status and number of wells on the described real property has not changed since the last previously filed well disclosure statement.”
• If the property being conveyed has a consideration of less than $1,000 or is an individual condominium unit.

If you need to know what was on the well disclosure certificate that was last filed, you may call the Minnesota Department of Health at 651-201-4600.

• Grantor (entity satisfying or assigning the mortgage, typically the bank or mortgage company).
• Grantee.
• Document number and recording date of mortgage being satisfied or assigned.
• Original signature of grantors.
• If grantor is a commercial entity, signature should be shown with:
  • Business name printed above signature line.
  • Signer’s name printed below signature line.
  • Title or official capacity of signer.
• Full acknowledgement, including:
  • Name and marital status or title of entity whose signature is being acknowledged.
  • Date signature was acknowledged.
  • Notary signature.
  • Notary stamp, including state in which notary is appointed and date of expiration of notary’s appointment.
• Full name and address of entity that drafted the document.