Corridor Notes · Closing & Recording
Deed recording fees in Fayette County are a small line on a commercial closing statement and a reliable source of last-minute trouble. The Fayette County Clerk charges a flat fee per instrument, Kentucky charges a separate real estate transfer tax on the seller, and a deed missing any one of nine required elements gets handed back at the counter. Here is what each of those actually costs and requires, from the Clerk’s own published schedule.
What does it cost to record a commercial deed in Fayette County?
A deed costs $50.00 to record, plus $3.00 for every page over the first five. A mortgage costs $80.00, plus $3.00 per page over thirty.
Those are flat filing fees, not percentages, so they do not scale with the size of the transaction. A $6 million industrial sale and a $180,000 storefront pay the same $50 to record the deed. The figures below come from the Fayette County Clerk‘s fee schedule effective July 15, 2026 — worth re-checking before you rely on it, because the office revises the schedule periodically and posts the current PDF on that page.
| Instrument | Fee | Extra pages |
|---|---|---|
| Deed | $50.00 | +$3.00 per page over 5 |
| Mortgage | $80.00 | +$3.00 per page over 30 |
| Contract for real estate / land | $50.00 | +$3.00 per page over 5 |
| Easement | $50.00 | +$3.00 per page over 5 |
| Lease — real estate and/or equipment | $50.00 | +$3.00 per page over 5 |
| Assignment of rents | $50.00 | +$3.00 per page over 5 |
| Land use restrictions | $50.00 | +$3.00 per page over 5 |
| Deed of correction | $46.00 | +$3.00 per page over 5 |
| Mechanic lien | $46.00 | +$3.00 per page over 5 |
| Mortgage modification agreement | $46.00 | +$3.00 per page over 5 |
The per-page adder is the one that surprises people on commercial deals. A deed with a metes-and-bounds legal description, an exhibit of permitted exceptions and a schedule of assigned leases can run twenty pages without anyone thinking twice — that is fifteen chargeable pages past the first five, or another $45. Still trivial against the transaction, but it belongs on the settlement statement rather than in a surprise at the counter. Recording a lease or a memorandum of lease is worth pricing early too, since on a long-term commercial lease that document can be substantial.
Who pays Kentucky’s real estate transfer tax, the buyer or the seller?
The grantor pays. Kentucky’s transfer tax is imposed on the seller at $0.50 for each $500 of value or fraction thereof, and no deed records until it is collected.
This is worth stating plainly because it runs opposite to the assumption buyers arrive with. Under KRS 142.050, as the Fayette County Clerk summarizes it, the tax is computed on the actual consideration paid or to be paid as stated in the deed, and it is imposed upon the grantor. If the deed is a gift or recites nominal consideration, the tax is instead figured on the estimated price the property would bring on the open market. The Clerk also notes that the tax is collected only once per transaction, in the county where the property — or the greater part of it — is located, under KRS 382.110(1).
Worked example, using the statutory rate rather than any particular deal: on a stated consideration of $750,000, you divide by $500 to get 1,500 increments, then multiply by $0.50. The transfer tax is $750, and it comes out of the seller’s side. Note the phrase “or fraction thereof” — a consideration of $750,100 rounds up to the next full increment rather than prorating.
KRS 142.050(7) lists the deed types exempt from the tax entirely. If your transaction is a contribution to an entity, a transfer between an entity and its members, or a deed given to correct an earlier one, ask the closing attorney to identify the specific exemption subsection in advance rather than assuming it applies.
The recording fee is trivial and the transfer tax is predictable. What actually costs you a day is a deed that is missing the source of title or the in-care-of address for the tax bill.
What must appear on the deed before the Clerk will record it?
Nine elements, each tied to a statute. Miss one and the instrument is rejected at the counter, which pushes recording — and often funding — to the next business day.
The Fayette County Clerk publishes the requirements for a deed under KRS 382.110 as follows:
- Full names of grantor and grantee (KRS 382.135(1)(a) and 382.135(6))
- First party — seller, grantor — and their mailing address (KRS 382.135, KRS 382.200)
- Second party — buyer, grantee — and their mailing address (KRS 382.135, KRS 382.200)
- Consideration statement (KRS 382.135)
- Legal description (case law and common law, and OAG 81-100)
- Source of title (KRS 382.110)
- Preparation statement (KRS 382.335)
- Return mail address (KRS 382.335 and KRS 382.240)
- In-care-of address for the property tax bill in the year transferred (KRS 382.135(1)(d))
Two of those deserve special attention on commercial deals. Source of title is the recital identifying the deed book and page by which the grantor took title — easy to draft on a simple residential chain, genuinely fiddly when the seller is an LLC that acquired the parcel in pieces across three separate conveyances, or when part of the tract came through a merger or a court action. The in-care-of address exists precisely so the county’s property tax bill reaches the right party after the transfer, which matters because Kentucky’s tax bill is issued in the name of whoever owned the property on January 1.
Formatting is enforced too. The Clerk requires a three-inch top margin on the first page for recorder use — especially on the right side — and one-inch margins everywhere else. Execution rules apply as well: the grantor must sign and the signatures must be acknowledged, and both the grantor (or agent) and the grantee (or agent) must sign a sworn consideration statement that is notarized, under KRS 382.135 and KRS 382.130.
Which deeds are exempt from the consideration certificate?
Six categories. Everything else needs a sworn, notarized statement from both parties certifying the true consideration reflected in the deed.
Per the Clerk’s consideration certificate page, a full statement of consideration is required on all deeds except those that only convey utility easements; transfer property through a court action pursuant to a divorce proceeding; convey rights-of-way involving governmental agencies; convey cemetery lots; correct errors in previous deeds conveying the same property from the same grantor to the same grantee; or convey real property to a local airport board.
The utility easement exemption is the one that comes up most often in commercial work, usually late — a utility company needs an easement across the parcel as a condition of the site plan, and the question of whether that instrument needs a consideration certificate arrives the week of closing.
Where this fits in a commercial closing
In my experience representing buyers on commercial transactions, recording is the step everyone assumes is clerical and nobody owns. The title company assumes the closing attorney has the deed in final form; the attorney assumes the seller’s entity documents are current; and the deed reaches the counter with a source-of-title recital that does not match the record. The fix is unglamorous and takes about ten minutes: get the draft deed circulated a week before closing rather than the morning of, read it against the nine-item list above, and confirm the grantor’s authority documents are recorded or ready to record alongside it. I do not draft deeds — that is the attorney’s job — but I do read them early, because the cost of catching a defect on Tuesday is nothing and the cost of catching it at the counter on Friday is a weekend.
The related items on the same timeline are worth lining up together: what a Kentucky mechanic’s lien can do to a title you are about to take, the realistic closing timeline for Kentucky commercial property, and the due diligence checklist that should be finishing as the deed is being drafted. Once the deed records, the next recurring cost is the annual bill — see how Fayette County commercial property tax is assessed and billed.
Can I record a commercial deed in a different county than where the property sits?
No. The Clerk states the document must be filed in the county clerk’s office of the county where the property is located, or where the greater part of it is located, under KRS 382.110. For a parcel that straddles a county line, that “greater part” test decides it, and the transfer tax is collected only once, in that same county.
Does the transfer tax apply if the deed says the consideration is $1?
Yes, and it is not computed on the $1. Where a deed is a gift or recites nominal consideration, the Clerk states the tax is paid on the estimated price the property would bring in an open market. Nominal-consideration deeds are common in entity restructurings, so identify the applicable KRS 142.050(7) exemption before drafting rather than after.
What does it cost to get a certified copy of a recorded deed?
The Fayette County Clerk lists regular copies at $0.50 per page, or $1.00 for plats, and certified copies at $5.00 for three pages plus $0.50 for each additional page. Mail requests add $1.00 for postage and handling. Recorded land records are also searchable through the Clerk’s online index.
This is general information about published county and state requirements, not legal or tax advice. Fee schedules and statutes change; confirm current amounts with the Fayette County Clerk and your closing attorney before you rely on them.
Last updated September 7, 2026.
By Marcos Gil, REALTOR® — Keller Williams Commonwealth · KY Real Estate License No. 296259 · Call or text (859) 310-1209.
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