The Washington herald., 1910-03-20
81 ). cLrNToN RANsoas.

SE y. CLAN1ON dANSOms
Real estate men. lawyers. property
owners. and Others are asking Congress
to pass a bill introduced in the Senate
providing for some minor changes in the
manner OF recording property convey
ances in the Office Of the recorder OF
deeds. The changes proposed are prob
ably In the direction Of improvement and
TO that extent are desirable. but they
are only clerical Improvements to be i'm
posed on an Anticipated and questionable
system.
The Senate bill briefly provides that
property conveyances shall be recorded
according to the number OF the lot and
square in which they are located. rather
than in the owners name. The system
now in operation makes the owner S
name the chief matter OF entry and the
number OF the lot and square details OF
the description of the property. The SEN
ate bill proposes TO turn this about and
make the number of the lot and square
the main thing. with the owners name
subsidiary. The numbers Of lot and
square viii coincide with the records of
the assessors Office. and the books in the
two Offices win agree.
Would Index the Records.
It is further proposed to make an index
Of the property records. according to the
card system. and TO maintain it after It
is once completed. all of which. it must
be said is in the interests of convenience
and labor-saving if the present system
OF record IS TO remain.
1t must occur, however, to those who
have had experience in buying property
in Washington that 1t is quite time the
entire system of conveyancing and record
ought 10 be torn up by the roots and
supplanted by a better one. The present
system is complicated, expensive, irritat-
ing IN its slowness, and unsatisfactory in
results. in that title perfected as well
as it can be by the methods In vogue is
not sure, even when alleged TO be so by
authority of attorney and real estate
agent
Under present arrangements il IS often
necessary to spend many days In search
Of the records, going back into colonial
times to settle the ownership Of a small
plot Of ground. The cost of conveyance
ing IN some instances is amazing. To
give one illustration, small piece OF
property was purchased three years ago
in one of the subdivisions. The plot con-
tanned about 5000 square feet. The title
should have settled, II II was not. when
the original farm was subdivided. But 1t
became necessary In this instance to go
back through the musty Aecords for a
century TO insure the title, and when 1t
was finished the result of the work Of
the title company was to the effect that
the title was unassailable down to the
two last owners of the property prior to
the final sale. This conveyance cost the
purchaser So
1t is no exaggeration to affirm that the
buyers of property in this District are
taxed 10000 a year by this obsolete.
complicated, and unsatisfactory system
Of land conveyaneing. It this age Of card
indexes and labOr-saving systems in
offices where business is. done in mod
eTn way this delay over land transfers is
a joke and nothing less.
Many of the States and several foreign
of the nation in this matter of land
transfer that it seems strange the system
here, which has had little Improvement
since the days OF King George III. should
not have been thrown away before the
middle Of the last century.
Transfer Ought to Be Simple.
An ordinary transfer of property ought
20 taEx h. -
er's office. if he was furnished with the
right kind of machinery. about twenty
minutes, and the cost Of filing the papers
ought not to cost at the maximum s.,
and yet with these patent facts before
them the people of Washington go on
year in and out paying thousands OF dol
lars annually for their land transfers.
The thing needed Is 10 root out this
system, supplanting 1t by some form Of
transfer that would be simple and effec-
tive at much less cost than is now
charged. The Torrens system of transfer
in some of its notifications would meet
the requirements or the District and
would. after its introduction. do away
with the complicated machinery of rec
ord now ip vogue.
Such a change could not be effected
without some trouble. 1t might be necesl
sary in some cases to settle titles by
process Of law. but once having settled
them there need be no appeal beyond
that. and the titles TO property having
once been reduced to the form Of certif-
Gates, themselves negotiable instruments.
the useless labor Of searching land titles
every time property passes from one TO
another would be eliminated. with its
needless delay and useless cost