Tax Certificates/Deed Certification

Per MCL 211.135, The County Treasurer provides tax certification on documents such as deeds or land contracts that convey ownership of property. A tax certificate confirms that all taxes on a property have been paid in full for the past 5 years. The following is the procedure our office follows to complete this process for our customers:

Each deed must have a parcel number that corresponds to the legal description contained in the deed.

• Our office will compare the deed's legal description with the legal description on file in the County Equalization Department's electronic records.
• If a legal description on the deed does not match the County's legal description, the deed will not be certified without approval of the legal description by the Equalization Department or the local assessor.
• Please note that currently the City of Ann Arbor, Scio Township, and Ypsilanti Township verify their own legal descriptions. Legal descriptions not matching those on file with the Equalization Department will need approval by the local assessor from these units prior to certification.
• The legal description on file with the Equalization Department is available online using the online property/parcel lookup service. To utilize this service, click on the online services link above.
• Upon verification of the parcel number and legal description, our office will verify that there are no delinquent taxes owing for the parcel number(s) described on the deed.
• If the parcel on the deed is the result of a combination of parcels or a division of a parcel(s), we will verify the taxes are paid on the 'parent' parcels as well.

Fees

Per MCL 48.101 (2), the charge for deed certificates is $1.00 to certify a deed containing up to 5 legal descriptions. There is an additional charge of $0.20 per parcel for more than 5 parcels on a single deed.

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