Frequently Asked Questions

There are several sources of property and land use records in King County. Some of the main sources include:

The King County Recorder's Office is the principal source for officially recorded property records such as deeds, mortgages, liens, surveys, plat maps, condominium documents and many others.

The King County Department of Development and Environmental Services (DDES) retains construction and land use records, including permits, for properties in unincorporated King County.

The King County Department of Assessments holds current property tax assessment records. The Puget Sound Regional Archives (external link), a branch of the Washington State Archives in Bellevue, holds historical tax assessment records.

(1) Different county agencies have different functions and create records relevant to those functions.

(2) In adopting its Charter (1969) King County changed its form of government. New agencies were created. The county's records, formerly held in a more central manner, were dispersed among the new agencies.

(3) The Puget Sound Regional Archives, a branch of the Washington State Archives in Bellevue, predates the 1990 establishment of the King County Archives and was the first officially-designated repository for county records. Some King County records, such as the old tax assessment records, are still retained there.

In general, two types of property records can be found at the King County Archives:

(1) Legislative files (Council ordinances and motions; Commissioner resolutions and orders) document official actions relating to property in unincorporated King County. These actions can be such things as road establishments, road and plat vacations, zoning, and land use classifications. Reports, studies, and correspondence relating to these actions are often present in the Archives' holdings as well. Please contact the Archives if you are looking for this type of record.


(2) Records that happen to show, or relate to, individual properties, even though the records were created by King County for another purpose. For example, an Engineering Department photograph of proposed street paving improvements in 1965 can also show a suburban neighborhood's homes and businesses. This type of record is usually accessed indirectly by a combination of keywords and location information, rather than directly by owner name, street address, or tax parcel number. Please contact the Archives for assistance, or visit our Neighborhood History page for more information.

Street address and tax parcel number may sometimes incidentally appear on records held by the King County Archives, but these identifiers are usually not the primary access point. A more useful access point for older historical records is often the section-township-range coordinates.  (Please see our glossary for definitions of this and other terms related to property and land use.)

The first place to look for property records is your municipal records department. Some county records are transferred to municipalities at incorporation. It is very possible that, for actions that happened prior to incorporation, documentation will also be found at the King County Archives or other county agencies.  

The King County Archives does not retain records for individual Seattle properties . A few records for some Seattle neighborhoods are present in our collections. Please visit our Neighborhood History page for additional information.

Access is available for most of the King County records through our repository in Seattle

No, due to the sensitive nature of our holdings, all records are to be viewed in our research room.

Yes, laptops and digital cameras may be taken into the research room.

No. There is no search fee for the retrieval of public records. However, the King County Archives does charge for copies and other reproductions.

Copy fees while at the King County Archives are $.15 a page for black and white copies up to 11”x17” and $1.00 for color copies up to 11”x17”

Yes. Please telephone the Archives at 206-205-1538 at least 24 hours in advance to allow enough time for records to be identified and retrieved for your research.

Our address is 1215 E. Fir Street, Seattle, WA 98122. You can find driving directions online.