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Search Documents Index

The Recorder's Office maintains Real Estate documents recorded in Santa Barbara County from 1850 to present. The staff of the Recorder's office is not authorized to conduct searches for the public.

For records from 1850-1975 you must use the index to find the book and page reference for the document you wish to view. Indexes and documents from 1850-1931 are only viewable from the kiosks in our offices.

Documents from 1931-1975 were indexed using the COTT system. It is organized in chronological order by the first letter of the last name (or business name). Index books are divided into two time frames, 1931-1958 and 1959-1975. Each time frame has two names sets: Grantors A-Z and Grantees A-Z. The indexes are further separated into Alpha Groups which are the first 2-3 letters of the last name or first 2-3 letters of the corporation/entity name. Within each Alpha Group the index entries are listed in recording date order, not alphabetical order.

You may search the index by grantor or grantee and individual name or business name. The search will return images of the index book that match the first letter of the last name (or business name). You will need to look through the index pages (images) to find a specific name (record). The index will have a book and page number, enter this book and page number to open an image of the document.

An OCR Index search is also available as an additional search tool to our customers. The results displayed in this search are raw unverified data and are not meant to replace the scanned images of the Index Books. We make no warranty or guarantee regarding the accuracy of the content.

View Documents

Documents can only be viewed by customers using our Official Records Subscription Service. To sign up for the subscription service, click the login link in the upper right, select the Request Access button, and complete the registration form. Our office will reach out to you within 3 business days regarding fees and account setup.

Documents from 1931-1975 are viewed using the book and page number referenced in the index. If you already have the book and page reference, click the View Documents link in the main tool bar to open the screen to enter the information. If you do not have the book and page, search the index first and you will be able to enter the book and page from the index search results screen.

An OCR document search is also available as an additional search tool to our customers. The results displayed in this search are raw unverified data and are not meant to replace searching the index. We make no warranty or guarantee regarding the accuracy of the content.