Hello Mohave County,
Here at the Mohave County Assessor’s office our staff have been focusing on a very important issue that affects your property ownership, Deed Fraud.
Deed fraud was brought to my attention about 4 years ago, due to some close calls, it was obvious we needed a fix or some sort of security for the property owners in Mohave County. My staff scrambled for a solution. We found a common denominator of deed fraud is the change of a property owner’s mailing address. With this information it was evident a better control of one’s mailing address could be possible. We created and started the 1st ever Assessor’s Address Protection Program (AAPP). For the AAPP to work a Mohave County property owner sign up in our office, you are vetted through a notary and then we freeze your mailing address, this protects the property owners from fraud and allows for a better level of security for property transfers.
Since we implemented our AAPP program we have signed up over 2,000 property owners. The program has worked so well our office received a state award and other counties in Arizona have implemented their own AAPP program. If you have not signed up for our AAPP program I highly suggest you visit one of our offices (Kingman, Lake Havasu City or Bullhead City), bring your Identification for our notary and all addresses or parcel numbers you would want to be protected. There is a onetime $50 fee to apply.
About a year or so after our program was unveiled the State Legislature passed a bill that required the Recorder’s office to create a list to opt-in that would give you a notice if someone recorded a document in your name. This program is different than ours, but between both programs; Mohave County property owners are the most secure in Arizona with their property ownership.
None of these programs would be available today had the Mohave County Assessor’s Office not taken an interest in protecting property ownership. Another first for the Mohave Assessors office is deed training. Last year we collaborated with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office; Don Carrol, CFE, Criminal Investigator and Jesi L. Wolnik, Deed Fraud expert Attorney from Gilbert, Arizona to create training for Assessor and Recorder staff around the state. This tremendous training was an eye opener, Don and Jesi explained the different avenues the fraudsters take in stealing property, enabling us to know what to look for while transferring property. Mohave’s training last year was very successful, enough so, the Maricopa County Assessor hosted this same Deed Fraud training in Phoenix just last month, this time there were not only Assessors and Recorders in attendance, but there were also County Attorneys and even legislatures. With Representatives and Senators in attendance both myself and the Maricopa Assessor were appointed to be on the Deed Fraud task force slated for this fall. This gives me hope that deed fraud legislation will be successful next year.
Your Representative: John Gillette and I tried to get some deed fraud bills passed this year, unfortunately we were not successful in being heard in committee. We had big opponents that did not like some of our approaches. We are not deterred; we understand that many times it takes more than one try to get a bill passed. We also felt more communication with our now unveiled opponents could get us over the hump and allow us to be heard in committee next year. I will keep you all up to date on any bills that are supporting.
The Mohave County Assessor’s office will continue to protect property owners in Mohave County in whatever way we can.
Until next time, stay cool and Happy 4th of July.
Mohave County Assessor Jeanne Kentch
