Texas Lien Search
Texas lien search
Quick answer. A Texas lien search has to name the lien. UCC financing statements are SOSPortal. Real-property liens, including many mechanic’s liens, are county clerk records. A release of lien is a later recorded instrument.
Official office
Texas Secretary of State, Corporations Section entity index
Phone: (512) 463-5555
Secretary of State, 400 W. 15th Street, Austin, TX 78701
SOSPortal is online 24/7. Corporations email: CorpInfo@sos.texas.gov.
Steps
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Separate personal property from land
UCC for personal property at the Secretary of State. County clerk for the land.
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Search the owner and the parcel
Prior owners matter if you are asking what encumbers the tract.
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Read releases by recording number
A release of lien must match the lien it claims to release.
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Do not invent foreclosure dates
Cite the statute or the recorded instrument. Do not compute a deadline here.
Texas liens are not one statewide list
Mechanic’s lien deadlines and forms are statutory and county-recorded. This site will not calculate the deadline for a job. We can point at the county clerk and, if you ask, pull the instrument that clerk shows. Tax liens and a Comptroller forfeiture for franchise tax are different events.
County pages link the clerk we have on file. Property-lien questions need the legal description or the address, not only a business name. A UCC debtor search does not clear a tract of land.
Common mistakes
- Using only SOSPortal for a house.
- Treating franchise-tax forfeiture as a recorded mechanic’s lien.
- Ignoring a release’s recording number.
- Promising a statewide property-lien clear.
Questions
Where are Texas property liens?
In the county clerk’s real-property records for that land.
Where is a Texas mechanic’s lien filed?
In the county where the property is, under the mechanic’s lien statutes. It is not a UCC-1.
What is a release of lien in Texas?
A later instrument that releases a recorded lien. Match it to the original recording.