Online Land Records System FAQ

Transcription

1 Online Land Records System FAQ Below are some of the Online Land Records questions we are most often asked. If your answer is not found, please using this form. NOTE: Prior to using the Middlesex County Land Records Search website, users must disable pop-up blockers and read the user s guide. 1.What type of support does the Middlesex County Clerk s Office provide with the Online Land Records System? 2.What are the hours of operation? 3.What document images are available for viewing? 4.What type of viewer do I need to view the document images on this site? 5.The document window will not open, or it opens and then immediately closes, what do I do? 6.Why is the document not loading into a new window? 7.How can I force the document to load in Adobe Reader instead of as an Internet Browser Plug in? 8.How do I print a document? 9.The image of the document is not clear or is unreadable, how do I get a clean copy of the document? 10.Which keys can I use to navigate through the search results without using the mouse? 11.Why does the next page option show me the same results? 12.Is the search system compatible with a Macintosh system? 13.I received a 500 error when trying to open a document image, why can t I view the document? 14.Can I change the default colors of the search system? 15.What is Surname? What is Given name? 16.Why is the Party search method slower than the other search methods? 17.What document types are available to search by? 18.What are the options for the Party Type box selection?

2 19.What is a Group Type? 20.What book types are available to search by? 21.What is the "Refers to"? 22.Why is the Refers to link not working from the document detail screen? 23.Does the system allow me to search by property address or parcel ID number? 24.Is there a limit on the number of property descriptions listed on the results page? 25.Why did my browser's back button return me to the search criteria page instead of the previous list of results? 26.Why does the search option page remember the search criteria and how do I clear it? 27.How are search options by document types, groups, party types, or book type listed on the Web site helpful in searching the index? 28.How do I rotate images that are upside-down or sideways? 29.How do I configure Mozilla to view images on the site? Click Here to Access the Land Records System User's Guide Or Click Here for a Printer Friendly Version of this Guide. Click here for questions about How Documents are Recorded and Indexed 1. What type of support does the Middlesex County Clerk s Office provide with the Online Land Records System? A: For Technical Support on using this site please or call: Trish Derose , trish.schnorrbusch@co.middlesex.nj.us

3 Robert Recine , For questions related to Document types, Release Dates, Incorrect Information on a record, etc: Please call the one of the following people at the Middlesex County Clerk's Office: Susie Coakley at , sue.coakley@co.middlesex.nj.us Dawn Demeo at , dawn.demeo@co.middlesex.nj.us or Rita Geis at , rita.geis@co.middlesex.nj.us If you are having issues with your internet browser settings, or your ISP connection (Internet Service Provider examples: Adelphia, Earthlink, Comcast), or with restrictions involving installing the viewer please consult your office IT professional or contact your ISP for further assistance. 2.What are the hours of operation? A: The intended hours of operation for the Online Land Records System are 7 days per week from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. The hours are subject to change at any time due to technical difficulties or the internal needs of the Middlesex County Clerk's Office. 3. What document images are available for viewing? A: All deeds and mortgages recorded since January 1950 have document images available on the system. If you are searching

4 for a document recorded after February 1998 and you receive the document image not available message, please the document number to Trish Derose (trish.schnorrbusch@co.middlesex.nj.us) and Bob Recine (robert.recine@co.middlesex.nj.us). The document will be researched and scanned into the system. As of January 2008, all documents have been imaged. 4.What type of viewer do I need to view the document images on this site? A: The documents on this system are in the PDF format. We recommend Adobe Acrobat Reader for PDF document viewing. To download the reader click here. Do not download Adobe if you already have a version of Adobe Reader on your computer. To upgrade your Adobe to the most current version, use the Updates option from your Help menu on the Adobe Reader application. MAC users running OS 10.4 can also use Preview to view the PDF file. 5.The document window will not open, or it opens and then immediately closes, what do I do? A: Enable Pop Ups on your Internet Browser. The procedure for doing this varies between pop-up blockers. Please consult the documentation for your software plug-in. If you are using Internet Explorer, you may also need to enable Active X settings in your Internet Options. If you have Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Internet

5 Explorer version 6, you may need to change the security settings to allow prompting for file downloads. A few users have experienced a problem with Adobe Reader Version 6. Upgrading Adobe to version 7 corrected the issue and allowed these users to view documents on this system. If you click on view document and the PC prompts you to save the file, instead of automatically opening the document, then your version of Adobe Reader is corrupt. You will need to uninstall the program from your PC. Be sure to uninstall the software through the Control Panel, Add and Remove Programs option. You can reinstall the software by clicking below: 6.Why is the document not loading into a new window? A: If you are using the Netscape Internet Browser to access this system, the default setting on Netscape is to reuse the windows as tabs. You can change this setting in Netscape's browser options. Go to Tools, select Options and under TAB browsing change the setting to Open Links in a new window. The security settings on Windows XP with Service Pack 2 keep the Adobe Window from coming to the front when subsequent document image requests are made. To ensure the document window always comes to the front when requesting to view an image, close the document window after viewing the document. 7.How can I force the document to load in Adobe Reader instead of as an Internet Browser Plug in? A: Open Adobe Reader from your PC. Go to Edit, select

6 Preferences, then uncheck the option to Display PDF in browser. 8.How do I print a document? A: Print the document using the Adobe Reader Print option. Do not print from the browser window print option. 9.The image of the document is not clear or is unreadable, how do I get a clean copy of the document? A: Please us the document number and/or book and page of the document so we can have it rescanned into the system. For immediate access to the document, you will need to visit the Deed Room at 75 Bayard Street New Brunswick, New Jersey For more assistance contact Deed Room Customer Service: Sue Coakley or Dawn Demeo Which keys can I use to navigate through the search results without using the mouse? A: The Page Down key will advance you to the next page of results. The Page Up key will return you to the previous page. The TAB key will move you from link to link and you can hit enter to select a highlighted link without clicking on the mouse. In some cases you can use letters or number options in combination with the enter key to avoid using the mouse, just look for special instructions on select screens. Please be aware that the use of keys instead of the mouse does require more time for requests to complete. For more detailed instructions on how to use the system, please check out theuser's guide. Click Here for a Printer Friendly Version of the User's Guide.

7 11.Why does the next page option show me the same results? A: This occurs when your browser loads the page from the cache memory. To correct this change, modify your browser settings to always look for a new page when visiting a site. Also clean out your temporary internet files. For a quick fix hit Refresh on the browser and the page will reload with new information. 12.Is the search system compatible with a Macintosh system? A: The index information can be researched from most MAC internet browsers. The color schemes vary by browser type. The viewing of document images is currently not compatible with all the MAC OS Internet browsers. The recommended internet browser for MAC users is Firefox with Adobe Reader or Preview. When a document is requested Firefox will prompt the user to specify what application to use to open the document file type. The user should select Adobe Reader or Preview. If the user checks the box to always use this application, the dialogue box will not occur the next time a document is viewed. MAC users who use Safari for internet browsing may experience a "Run Script" error when trying to view a document. We recommend these users download Firefox for accessing the search system. 13.I received a 500 error when trying to open a document image, why can t I view the document? A: Close out your browser and then open it again. Clear out your temporary internet files. Try searching for the document again. If it doesn t open again, try searching for the document

8 by a different search option (like by Reference number or by Grantor). 14.Can I change the default colors on the search system? A: No. The color scheme on this search system is defined by Cascading Style Sheets. Most internet browsers will load the color scheme that has been designed for this search system. If an internet browser is not loading the intended color scheme, it will default to using white backgrounds with black text. Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Netscape are all compatible with the Cascading Style Sheets coding in use by this system. 15.What is Surname? What is Given name? A: The surname is the Last name and the given name is the First name. 16.Why is the Party search method slower than the other search methods? A: The Party search builds an index based on the Surname entered in the search field. It then searches against this index based on the to other search fields available. If you search by the first letter of a name instead of a complete name, the search time will take even longer and may time out before it completes. The search system functions best when complete names are used for the search criteria. 17.What document types are available to search by? A: On the Party Search the document types available to search by can be viewed and selected from the drop down box. You cannot submit a party search filtered by both a document type

9 and a group type. The document type selection will always override the group type filter. To search by document type, you can leave the Name fields blank and enter a date range instead along with the document type selected in the drop down box. This will bring up all records of that document type in the system within the selected date range. To view all records of a specific document type, the beginning date range should be and the ending date range should be the current date. 18.What are the options for the Party Type box selection? A: Party Type 1 = Grantor Party Type 2 = Grantee 19.What is a Group Type? A: The Group Type is a selected search by a set of document types. You cannot submit a party search filtered by both a document type and a group type. The document type selection will always override the group type filter. The group types are as follows: 01 GRANTOR 02 GRANTEE 03 MORTGAGOR 04 MORTGAGEE 05 ASSINGOR 06 ASSINGEE 07 RELEASOR 08 RELEASEE 20.What book types are available to search by?

10 A: On the Book and Page search the book types available to search by can be viewed and selected from the drop down box. 21.What is the "Refers to"? A: The "refers to" is a search method used when a document's book and page is known. Data in this area has been compiled since February 2, 1998 to date. To use this method, the known Book and Page is entered and documents related to the initial record will be presented. This is especially helpful to identify if a mortgage has been assigned or released. If there are not any documents referencing the document number then the refers to link will return the message: NO DOCUMENTS FOUND. 22.Why is the Refers To link not working from the document detail screen? Minimize all the windows on your PC until you find the new search window. If you launch the Refers To search from the document detail screen and do not close the window after you have finished the Refers To search, the window will not launch in the front the next time the link is used from the detail screen. 23.Does the system allow me to search by property address? A: No. Addresses and parcel ID numbers are not indexed. 25.Why did my browser's back button return me to the search criteria page instead of the previous list of results? A: From the results page the Browser's Back option will return you to the search option page if used while viewing the page.

11 To navigate through the results pages use the Next page and Previous page links or the Page Up and Page Down keys on your keyboard. 26.Why does the search option page remember the search criteria and how do I clear it? A: The system was designed to remember the search criteria as an aid in title searches. When the user returns to the page the old criteria is highlighted in order for the information to be deleted with the delete key or simply typed over. To retain the information, the user just needs to press the Tab key. 27.How are search options by document types, groups, party types, or book type listed on the Web site helpful in searching the index? A: By narrowing the search criteria, the results returned will filter out all entries not under that document type, group, party type, or book type. 28. My document is upside down or sideways? How can I rotate it? A: This problem appears with Adobe Acrobat Reader version 8. To solve, it go to the "View" menu in Adobe Reader, go to "Rotate View", then choose "Clockwise" or "Counter Clockwise." The software will also list shortcut keys. 29.How do I configure Mozilla to view images on the site? Go to the Tools menu in Mozilla, choose Content. Notice there is an area that allows the user to configure how Mozilla handles file types and a Manage button. Click Manage, find PDF and

12 associate PDF files with the adobe acrobat reader program called AcroRd32.exe (for version 8.0) and located in the C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader directory on Windows. If you run a different version of Adobe Reader, adjust accordingly. General Questions about How Documents are Recorded and Indexed: Q: When does recorded and indexed information become available for view? A: Upon receipt, all recordable documents are immediately entered into the computer system. All documents received will be completely indexed the next business day. Q: This system allows for inquiry on Index information from February 2, 1998 to date. What should I do to obtain information prior to that date? A: You may visit the Deed Room of the Middlesex County Clerk's Office. It is located at 75 Bayard Street. Deed Room has indexes available for view dating back to 1784 Deed Room hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday except for legal holidays.