Can I search an Allegheny County deed by owner name?

Yes. Use the grantor or grantee name in the official land-record search. Search prior owners as well when tracing a chain of title.

What is the difference between a grantor and a grantee?

The grantor is generally the party transferring an interest in property and the grantee is generally the party receiving it. Both fields are useful when searching recorded deeds.

How far back do Allegheny County deed records go?

Allegheny County's genealogy resources state that property deeds are available from the county's founding era. Very old records may require historical deed indexes, deed books, microfilm or Pennsylvania State Archives resources instead of relying only on the modern online image database.

Where can I get a copy of an Allegheny County deed?

Allegheny County provides online, mail and in-person methods for obtaining copies. In-person land-document copies are handled through the Division of Real Estate in Room 101 of the County Office Building.

Does an Allegheny County assessment record replace the deed?

No. The assessment portal is useful for locating a parcel, owner display and deed references, but the recorded deed and land-record index are the appropriate sources for researching recorded conveyances.

How can I monitor possible deed fraud in Allegheny County?

Allegheny County offers Property Fraud Alert, which can notify users when a land-record document is recorded using a requested name.

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania · Deeds, mortgages, land records, copies and historical indexes

Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds Search: Find Deeds and Recorded Land Records

Q: What is the official Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds search?

Allegheny County land records are searched through the Administrative Services Division of Real Estate Official Record Search. The portal supports Quick Search and Advanced Search for deeds and other recorded land documents.

Q: Can I search Allegheny County deeds by property address?

The most reliable workflow is to search the county Real Estate Portal by address first, obtain the parcel ID and deed book and page references, and then continue to the official land-record search.

If you landed here because you need the deed for a house, want to verify who bought or sold a property, need an old deed book and page, are tracing prior owners, or need a recorded mortgage or satisfaction, start with the official Allegheny County land-record systems—not a paid third-party property-report site.

Allegheny County’s recorder function is handled through the Administrative Services Division of Real Estate. The current official record-search portal identifies Jessica Garofolo as Department Director and Recorder of Deeds and provides both Quick Search and Advanced Search tools for recorded land documents.

Search official deed records Find parcel by address Get a deed copy

Owner or former owner name Property address Parcel / Block & Lot ID Deed Book and Page Approximate recording date

ALLEGHENY LAND RECORD INDEX PUBLIC RECORD

Recorded Deed Index

GRANTOR Seller / transferring party Search name

GRANTEE Buyer / receiving party Verify match

REFERENCE Book · Page · Document No. Open record

PARCEL Block & Lot / Parcel ID Cross-check

VERIFY THE RECORDED INSTRUMENT

Do not confuse the assessment website with the deed-record system. The Allegheny County Real Estate Portal is an excellent starting point when all you know is the street address. It can identify the parcel and commonly displays the current owner plus Deed Book and Deed Page references. For the recorded instrument itself or a fuller ownership trail, continue to the Division of Real Estate land-record search.

Recorded-document portal

Allegheny County Official Record Search, Department: Land Records.

Recording office

County Office Building, Room 101, 542 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh.

Published office hours

Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.; confirm holiday changes.

Guide reviewed

Official county systems and procedures checked October 19, 2026.

Go directly to the record you need

Use the address-first workflow when you do not know the deed reference. Use the recorded-document search directly when you already know a party name, book/page or document number.

Start with the right county system

Which Allegheny County property record should you search?

YOU ONLY HAVE AN ADDRESS Start with the Real Estate Portal

Use the address to identify the correct parcel, owner display, parcel number and available deed book/page information.

Open official parcel search

YOU NEED THE RECORDED DEED Use Official Record Search

Search the land-record index by grantor, grantee, recording reference, document type, date, book/page, parcel ID or OCR text.

Open official record search

YOU NEED AN OLD OR HISTORICAL DEED Use historical indexes and archives

Modern online image availability does not mean every older instrument is absent. Older deed books and indexes use separate historical resources.

Open county land records

Important distinction: Allegheny County itself warns that the assessment system does not contain a complete sales history for every property. If you are researching complete ownership history, use the deed records maintained by the Division of Real Estate rather than stopping at the owner-history screen.

Address → parcel → deed reference

How to find the deed when you only know the property address

This is usually the easiest workflow for homeowners, buyers, neighbors and researchers because the recorded-document system is primarily document-oriented, while most people begin with a street address.

Open the official Allegheny County Real Estate Portal Go directly to the county search rather than entering an address into a paid property-data website. Open realestate.alleghenycounty.us

Select Address Enter the house number and street name. The county instructs users not to include street suffixes such as “Street,” “Drive” or “Circle” in the street-name field.

Use municipality only when it helps If you are uncertain which municipality contains the property, leave that field blank and review the resulting possibilities.

Open the correct parcel Compare the property address, municipality and parcel information carefully. Similar street names occur throughout Allegheny County.

Save the deed clues Write down the owner name, parcel/Block & Lot number and the Deed Book and Deed Page displayed in the owner-information area when available.

Move to the recorded land-document portal Use those clues to find and verify the underlying recorded deed. Continue to Official Record Search

Why this two-system workflow works: the parcel search solves the “I know the address but not the recording reference” problem, while the recorder search lets you examine the document index and locate the actual recorded instrument.

Official Recorder search walkthrough

How to perform an Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds search online

Open Allegheny County Official Record Search Confirm the page is branded “The County of Allegheny” and shows the Administrative Services Division of Real Estate. Open official land-record search

Keep the department set to Land Records This is the correct record group for deeds and related recorded real-estate documents.

Enter your strongest search clue Quick Search accepts searches such as grantor/grantee, subdivision, document type or document number. If you know a prior owner’s name, start there.

Add a recorded-date range when possible A closing date, purchase year or approximate transfer period can dramatically reduce unrelated names.

Choose Index Only first Index-only searching is the cleaner starting point when you are looking for indexed names or recording information.

Try Full Text OCR when index searching fails The portal also offers “Search Index & Full Text (OCR),” which searches document text. OCR is useful for phrases buried in scanned records but can produce imperfect results on old or low-quality images.

Open plausible results and compare multiple fields Do not select a document merely because one owner’s surname matches. Compare document type, party names, recorded date, book/page or document number and parcel/legal-description clues.

Save the recording reference before purchasing anything Record the exact document number, deed book/page and recording date. That reference is valuable if you later request an in-person, mailed or certified copy.

When Quick Search is too broad

Use Advanced Search to narrow difficult deed searches

The current Allegheny County Advanced Search exposes substantially more structured fields than the one-box Quick Search. This is especially useful for common surnames, LLCs, trusts, older transactions and title-history research.

Current Advanced Search fields and when they help
Search field	Best use	Practical tip
Grantor	Find the party conveying or transferring an interest.	Search surname or business name; try name variations.
Grantee	Find the person or entity receiving the interest.	Useful when tracing when a current owner acquired property.
Recorded date range	Limit results to a known closing or transfer period.	Use recording date, which may differ from the deed’s execution date.
Document number	Locate a known instrument directly.	Use the exact number from a deed, title file or prior search result.
Office / record group	Narrow results to deeds, mortgages, plans, old deeds and other categories.	Choose Deeds when you specifically need a conveyance document.
Document type	Separate deeds from other recorded instruments.	Useful where one party appears on many mortgages or filings.
Book / Page	Open the recording reference displayed by the parcel portal or prior deed.	Enter the deed-book reference exactly as displayed.
Parcel ID	Connect land records to a known Block & Lot / parcel.	Copy it from the official Real Estate Portal to reduce typing errors.
Full Document Text (OCR)	Search words appearing inside scanned document text.	Treat OCR matches as leads and verify the image itself.

Open Advanced Search Get parcel ID first

Understand the record before using it

What the main Allegheny County deed-search fields mean

Grantor Usually the party transferring the recorded property interest.

Grantee Usually the party receiving the recorded property interest.

Recorded date The date the instrument entered the county recording system—not necessarily the signing date.

Book / Page A recording reference that helps retrieve and cross-reference a deed.

Use the recorder index as a locator, then verify the recorded document
Clue	What it helps confirm	What it does not automatically prove
Party names	Whether the likely seller/buyer or other named parties match your transaction.	That a same-name person is the correct individual.
Document type	Whether you opened a deed, mortgage, satisfaction, plan or another filing.	The legal effect of the document in a disputed title matter.
Parcel ID	Connection to a county assessment parcel.	A surveyed legal boundary.
Legal description	The land described by the instrument through plan references, metes and bounds or prior-deed references.	That an online parcel-map line is the exact surveyed boundary.
Consideration / sale information	The transaction or stated consideration associated with an instrument.	Current market value or current tax assessment.

A deed search is not the same as a professional title examination. The Division of Real Estate maintains and records documents but states that it cannot provide legal advice or determine the correctness or legality of deed contents. If ownership is disputed, a transaction is pending, an estate is involved, or title insurance is required, use the recorded documents with appropriate legal/title professionals.

Ownership-history workflow

How to trace a property backward through prior deeds

A useful deed chain is built from recorded references rather than from a single “owner history” page. Begin with the current deed and work backward one conveyance at a time.

Locate the current parcel Search the address in the Real Estate Portal and note the owner, Block & Lot, Deed Book and Deed Page.

Find the current deed Search its book/page, grantee or recording information in Official Record Search.

Read the prior-deed reference Deeds often contain a prior recording reference within the legal description, title-recital or source-of-title language.

Search the prior grantor/grantee Move backward to the deed by which the current grantor previously acquired the property.

Repeat and preserve every reference Keep a simple research log containing grantor, grantee, recording date, deed book/page or document number and property-description notes.

Switch to historical indexes when online coverage becomes thin Older instruments may require deed-index books, historical deed collections or archived microfilm rather than the current online image workflow.

Common break in the chain: estates, trusts, corporate name changes, sheriff deeds, corrective deeds and family transfers can make a simple surname-by-surname search incomplete. Search both grantor and grantee sides and look for related instruments.

Document images and copies

How to obtain a copy of an Allegheny County deed

Allegheny County provides online, mail and in-person routes for land-document copies. The correct method depends on the age of the deed and whether you simply need a readable research copy or a certified document for an official purpose.

Online

The county’s online-payment guidance states that deed images are available online from 1993 to the present. Search the land-record portal first and purchase only the document you have verified.

In person

Visit the Division of Real Estate, County Office Building, Room 101, 542 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.

By mail

Use the county’s published request process and current request form. Provide the strongest recording reference available so staff can locate the correct document.

Current online copy pricing published by the county

Verify the live checkout price because county fees can change
User type	Published online pricing	How payment works
Casual user	$1.00 per page up to 10 pages; remaining pages in that document are listed as free.	Credit card payment as needed.
Commercial user	$0.50 per page up to 10 pages; remaining pages in that document are listed as free.	Uses an online draw-down account under the county’s published process.

Certified copy needed? Do not assume a downloaded image is equivalent to a certified deed. Allegheny County publishes a Certified Deed Request Form in its Real Estate Forms section. Ask the recipient—court, lender, attorney, government agency or other institution—what form of copy it requires before ordering.

Official copy instructions Online payment options Certified deed request form

Genealogy and historical title research

Finding older Allegheny County deeds that are not in the modern image range

Do not conclude that an older deed does not exist merely because you cannot buy its image through the modern online system. Allegheny County has recorded land history reaching back to the county’s formation era, and older records may live in deed-index books, deed books, historical collections and microfilm.

Allegheny County historical resources

The county’s genealogy information states that property deeds are available from 1789 and that deed-index books are located in the Division of Real Estate.

Open county genealogy records

Pennsylvania State Archives

The state archives lists digitized Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds holdings that include early deed books and grantor/grantee indexes. These resources are particularly useful for nineteenth-century research.

Explore PA archival records

A practical older-deed workflow

Identify the newest reliable deed reference you already have.
Search the modern index by the known owner names and book/page.
Read the prior-deed reference inside the instrument.
When online image availability ends, preserve the book/page and names rather than starting over.
Use historical deed indexes to locate the next deed.
Request or inspect the corresponding deed-book page.
Repeat until you reach the period relevant to your genealogy or property-history research.

Different task: recording a new deed

If you need to record a deed rather than search one

Searching a deed and recording a deed are separate tasks. Allegheny County publishes deed-specific preparation requirements before a document can be accepted for recording.

Legal description

The county requires a complete legal description identifying the municipality, Pittsburgh ward when applicable, county and state, together with an accepted lot, metes-and-bounds or prior-deed reference.

Parcel identification

Allegheny County instructs filers to include parcel identification / Block and Lot numbers on deeds.

Deed certification

Before recording, county certification staff review grantors, legal description and residence information against the assessment system. The county states there is no charge for deed certification.

Read the county’s deed requirements first Do not use a generic deed template without checking Allegheny County’s content and certification requirements. Open official deed requirements

Check required forms and transfer-tax treatment The correct supporting forms vary by transaction. The county’s Real Estate Forms page includes deed-related forms and Pennsylvania realty-transfer-tax forms.

Choose paper or eRecording Allegheny County accepts most land-related documents through approved eRecording vendors, but certain instruments must be submitted on paper.

Confirm the current recording fee Recording and copy charges can change. Use the live county fee schedule immediately before submission rather than relying on an older article or saved PDF.

For in-person filing, go to Room 101 The county lists the recording counter at 542 Forbes Avenue, Room 101, Pittsburgh, with regular published hours of 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Legal-content warning: county recording staff can explain recording requirements but do not determine whether a deed legally accomplishes your intended transfer. For deed drafting, ownership disputes, estate transfers, trusts or other legal issues, obtain appropriate legal advice.

Protect the property after your search

Use Allegheny County’s Property Fraud Alert

Allegheny County promotes a Property Fraud Alert service that can send an email notification when a land-record document is recorded using a requested name. The service does not prevent a fraudulent filing, but an alert can help a property owner discover suspicious activity sooner.

Open the county Property Assessments and Real Estate page Open official county property page

Find “Property Fraud Awareness and Reporting” Choose the link for receiving Property Fraud Alerts.

Register names you want monitored Consider reasonable variations of the owner name used in recorded documents.

Investigate unexpected alerts immediately Search the newly recorded instrument in Official Record Search and compare it with your known property information.

Use the county fraud-reporting process when appropriate Allegheny County also provides an official process for reporting suspected deed or mortgage fraud.

In August 2026, Allegheny County specifically encouraged homeowners to use the free Property Fraud Alert service while discussing recent deed-fraud enforcement efforts, making this a practical step for owners who want to monitor recorded activity involving their names.

Direct county help

Allegheny County deed and land-record contacts

Division of Real Estate / recording counter

County Office Building
Room 101
542 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

General county property/land-record help: 412-350-4636, Option 2.

Published recording hours: Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Deed-specific county contacts

Deed copies: 412-350-4224

Deed Mapping and Registry: 412-350-5024

Deed Certification: 412-350-5021

Verify current hours and routing before making a special trip.

Allegheny County Land Records Recording Documents Deed requirements

Fast troubleshooting

What to do when your Allegheny County deed search returns nothing

Change one search variable at a time
Problem	Likely reason	Best next move
Address finds the parcel but deed search finds nothing	Recorded-document search works better with names, recording references and parcel identifiers.	Copy owner name, parcel ID and deed book/page from the Real Estate Portal.
Too many results for one surname	Common name or broad date range.	Switch to Advanced Search and combine grantor/grantee with recorded date, document type or parcel ID.
No result for an LLC or trust	Name formatting, punctuation or abbreviations differ from your search.	Try fewer words and variations of the entity name.
Owner history stops too early	The assessment system is not a complete deed chain.	Trace prior recorded deeds through grantor/grantee references.
Old deed image is unavailable online	Modern image availability is not the same as the full historical record span.	Use historical deed indexes, deed books and archive resources.
OCR search produces strange matches	Scanned text can be misread by OCR.	Use OCR only to locate candidates, then verify the actual document image and index data.

Common deed-search questions

Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds search FAQs

What is the official Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds search?

Use the Allegheny County Official Record Search. The current portal is branded for the County of Allegheny Administrative Services Division of Real Estate and includes Quick Search and Advanced Search for Land Records.

Can I search Allegheny County deeds by property address?

Use an address in the official Real Estate Portal first. Once you identify the correct parcel, copy its owner name, parcel ID and displayed Deed Book/Page information into the land-record workflow.

Can I search a deed by owner name?

Yes. The recorded-document search supports grantor and grantee searching. When researching ownership history, search both current and prior owners because a deed chain moves through successive grantors and grantees.

What is the difference between grantor and grantee?

In a typical deed conveyance, the grantor is the party transferring the property interest and the grantee is the party receiving it. Search both sides when a name does not appear where you expected.

How far back do Allegheny County deeds go?

Allegheny County’s genealogy information states that property deeds are available dating from 1789. Very old records may require historical deed indexes or deed books rather than the current online image-purchase process.

Are all Allegheny County deed images available online?

No. The county’s current online-payment guidance specifically states that deed images are available from 1993 to the present. Older deeds can still exist in the county’s historical record system even when their images are not available through the same modern online route.

How much does an online deed copy cost?

The county’s published online-payment page currently lists casual users at $1 per page for up to 10 pages, with remaining pages of the document free, and commercial users at $0.50 per page for up to 10 pages. Verify the current portal price before purchasing because fees can change.

Where is the Allegheny County recording office?

The Division of Real Estate recording counter is in Room 101 of the County Office Building, 542 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. The county currently publishes regular hours of Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Does the property owner shown on the assessment website prove title?

Do not use the assessment owner display as a substitute for deed/title research. Allegheny County’s own property system notes that its sales and ownership history is not complete for every property and directs users to deed research for complete owner history.

How do I monitor my property for deed fraud?

Visit the county’s Property Assessments and Real Estate page and locate the Property Fraud Awareness and Reporting section. The county offers Property Fraud Alert notifications tied to requested names.

Bottom line

The fastest reliable Allegheny County deed-search workflow

If you know only the address, begin with the Allegheny County Real Estate Portal and save the parcel ID plus Deed Book/Page. Then open the official Division of Real Estate recorded-document search and verify the deed using the parties, recording date, document type and recording reference.

If you already have the seller, buyer, document number, book/page or parcel ID, skip directly to Advanced Search. For older deeds, continue through historical deed indexes instead of assuming an unavailable online image means the record does not exist.

Once the instrument is identified, buy or request a copy only if you need it, determine whether an ordinary or certified copy is required, and keep the exact recording reference for future searches.

Search Allegheny County deeds Find parcel and deed reference Request a deed copy

Record-use notice: Property ownership, indexing, online interfaces, office personnel, copy charges, recording charges, document availability and procedures can change. Confirm the correct parcel and recorded instrument before relying on a record for a purchase, sale, estate, lawsuit, financing, title decision or other legal or financial matter.

Primary official resources used for this guide include the Allegheny County Administrative Services Division of Real Estate Official Record Search, Real Estate Portal, Land Records, Deeds, Deed Certification, Recording Documents, Obtaining Copies, online payment options, Real Estate Forms, historical/genealogical resources and Pennsylvania archival land-record holdings.

Allegheny County PA Deed Search: Recorder Records & Copies