real-estate ownership
How do I digitally confirm the ownership of land to an individual?
<p>What I'd like is to have an individual prove ownership of a parcel of land and then verify this claim digitally.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>What is the conventional process of a person proving ownership of their parcel of land?</p></li>
<li><p>Can this be done digitally?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>1) For the US, generally speaking, you will need to look at records in the county recorder’s office, and possibly mortgage/bank companies and title companies. If the land ownership is under one of many different flavors of a corporation, you will need access to state/federal corporate records, and sometimes that will not give you individual names.</p>

<p>2) That's pure speculation. Be prepared to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars+ on legal fees alone to negotiate licenses for access to the data, ensure that such a system legally and securely accesses tax records, complies with local, state and federal laws for privacy and security, and also deals with legacy analog systems at the county level.</p>

<ol>
<li>Depends on the country/state. Typically, land ownership titles are held in central registries. These record land transactions and are the first authoritative sources of data who owns what parcel. Nowadays they're mostly digital already. To prove ownership you ask the registry to search and provide info on your parcel.</li>
<li>All you need is access to the database. For example, in New Zealand, lots of data related to land parcels can be <a href="https://data.linz.govt.nz" rel="nofollow noreferrer">downloaded</a>, but this will not contain information on who the owners are (still it will tell how many owners own particular parcel). The info on owners is provided on parcel by parcel basis for a fee.</li>
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