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What are government recording charges for a mortgage?

Government recording charges are fees assessed by state and local government agencies for legally recording your deed, mortgage and documents related to your home loan. 

Either a buyer or a seller may pay these fees. These charges are listed in section E on page 2 of your Loan Estimate (and section E on page 2 of your Closing Disclosure). The sum of these charges and certain other settlement services generally cannot increase by more than 10 percent in total at closing.

Note: You won’t receive a Loan Estimate or Closing Disclosure if you applied for a mortgage prior to October 3, 2015, or if you're applying for a reverse mortgage. For those loans, you will receive two forms – a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and an initial Truth-in-Lending disclosure – instead of a Loan Estimate. Instead of a Closing Disclosure, you will receive a final Truth in Lending disclosure and a HUD-1 Settlement Statement. Government recording charges are listed in Block 7 of your Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and Lines 1201-1205 of your HUD-1 settlement statement. If you are applying for a HELOC, a manufactured housing loan that is not secured by real estate, or a loan through certain types of homebuyer assistance programs, you will not receive a GFE or a Loan Estimate, but you should receive a Truth-in-Lending disclosure.