Chelan County Auditor

Search Guide

#1 Search Tip – Enter as little information as you can get by with and leave the other search fields at their defaults. You can filter your results later.

When your online search for a particular AFN or book/page does not yield an image: Email to Let us know  which document you are looking for. We will find a way to retrieve and email you the images.

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These records will be returned by the search…

Name Search

All documents listing that name among principal parties

Typing information into the Name Search will retrieve documents recorded 1970 and later.

Searches of prior eras require the use of the historical handwritten index.  Instructions appear below for Reconstructing the Chain of Ownership.

Legal Description Search

  • Parcel Number (12 Digits)
  • Legal Description

Limited Results. This search will return documents recorded 1997 or later only and will not include documents recorded in prior eras that continue to remain in force.

Historically, the index to the Auditor recordings has been required to be based on names (known as a grantor/grantee index). It is only in this current recording era that we have been able to add parcel number and legal description information to the document index.

To identify all documents affecting a property, we recommend pursuing one of the following methods:

  1. Locate your title report. If you are researching your own property, find the title report page containing a list of recorded documents associated with your property. Perform an AFN search on any entry that lists an instrument or document number.
  2. Visit a Title Company. Title companies maintain copies of documents recorded with the County Auditor, and have organized their documents based on property location.  
  3. Search our historic records to locate documents recorded by each prior property owner. You will need the following:
    • Half a day set aside for multiple searches of the historic index
    • Reference the guide for searching the historical index when seeking documents recorded prior to 1970
      • Follow instructions for reconstructing the chain of ownership (below)
Property Address There is no index to recorded documents based on property address. Real estate documents utilize the full legal description when identifying property location.  

 

Reconstructing the chain of ownership: You will need to trace the chain of ownership backward through time if you suspect that your target document was recorded prior to the current ownership. Locating any easement that recorded prior to the last purchase will require this process.

  1. Locate the current deed. Use the Assessor parcel search, if needed
  2. Note the name of the grantor/seller on the deed. This is the prior owner.
  3. Find the deed where that prior owner appears as the purchaser/grantee. Working backward in time through the index, search for that prior owner’s name from step 2. When looking at the old historical index (the Non-indexed search), you would search the Reverse index for the prior owner name.
  4. Make note of the ownership date range. Once you find the prior owner’s purchase deed, note the document’s recording date and bookend the ownership period with the date they sold or otherwise deeded the property to someone else.
  5. Search the ownership date range for documents recorded by this prior owner. When you find a promising document, verify that the legal description matches the property you are researching. It is common for the same individual to own neighboring parcels.
  6. To go further back in time, return to the deed you found in step #3. Cycle back to Step #2 and perform the same steps for that owner/seller/grantor from step #3.

 

You are performing this deed search to establish the beginning and end dates of an ownership period, then proceeding to search within that range of dates for documents associated with that owner name.

 

Additional County Resource: Assessor Parcel Records

Once you locate the desired parcel in Assessor records, scroll down the page until you reach the section for Deed and Sales History. From there you can view the name of the current and (recent) past property owners along with notations of other select Auditor document recordings. The documents listed in this section are primarily focused on ownership, boundary surveys, and boundary changes, and are not a comprehensive compilation of all recordings affecting the parcel.

Posted: 12/16/2014 12:52 PM
Last Updated: 08/21/2025 01:08 PM

Chelan County Calendar

Upcoming events and schedules at the county!

  • 24
    Sep 2025
    09:30 AM - 10:30 AM

    Public Meeting: Official Logic and Accuracy Test of Voting System and Accessible Voting Unit (AVU) Demonstration

    Posted by: Chelan County Elections

    Chelan County Auditor’s Office
  • 24
    Sep 2025
    06:30 PM - 08:00 PM

    Planning Commission - September 24, 2025

    Posted by: Community Development

    By Zoom Video Conference or in person.
  • 19
    Sep 2025
    08:00 AM - 05:00 PM

    Ballots mailed for military, overseas and out of state voters

    Posted by: Chelan County Elections

    Ballots mailed for Military, Overseas and Out of State voters

  • 19
    Sep 2025
    08:00 AM - 05:00 PM

    Wenatchee Kennel Club Scent Trials - September

    Posted by: Chelan County Expo Center

    Wenatchee Kennel Club Dog Show

    Chelan County Expo Center
  • 10
    Sep 2025
    10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Chelan County Civil Service Commission

    Posted by: Human Resources

    The Chelan County Civil Service Commission will be meeting on September 10, 2025.

    Chelan County Commissioners Office, CM Conference Room 1