Texas Lien Search

A practical map of public lien offices, with the official link kept in front.

Texas Lien Search

Property Liens

Quick answer. A property lien search uses the county recorder or clerk where the land is, under the owner name and the legal description or parcel. 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

Open the official search

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

  1. Separate personal property from land

    UCC for personal property at the Secretary of State. County clerk for the land.

  2. Search the owner and the parcel

    Prior owners matter if you are asking what encumbers the tract.

  3. Read releases by recording number

    A release of lien must match the lien it claims to release.

  4. Do not invent foreclosure dates

    Cite the statute or the recorded instrument. Do not compute a deadline here.

Property liens live in the land records

Mortgages, mechanic’s liens, abstracts of judgment, and many tax liens against real estate are in that office. The secretary of state UCC index is the wrong book.

Search the current owner and prior owners if the question is what encumbers the parcel. A name-only search misses a lien indexed under a former spelling.

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.

Sources reviewed