Fairfax County Land Records: Search in Person or Online

Fairfax County has no recorder of deeds. In Virginia, the clerk of each circuit court records land documents, so Fairfax County land records live with the Fairfax Circuit Court¹¹. Its Land Records Division is on the third floor of the courthouse at 4110 Chain Bridge Road¹.

That one office records deeds for Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax, and its scanned records reach back to 1742^1,2. Homes in Falls Church record with the Arlington County Circuit Court. Homes in the City of Alexandria record with the Alexandria Circuit Court¹.

An Alexandria mailing address doesn't settle it. The county's own Gerry Hyland Government Center has an Alexandria address, 8350 Richmond Highway, yet iCare lists it as a Fairfax County parcel⁶.

If iCare finds your home, its deed is in the Fairfax records. City of Fairfax homes use the city's own assessment site, but their deeds are recorded here too^1,5.

How do you search Fairfax County land records?

You have two ways in: the public computers in the courthouse Research Room, or CPAN, the court's paid online service. Both open the same scanned records, from 1742 to the present^2,3.

Two ways into the same records

What each one takes, from the court's own pages

In person: the Research RoomNo subscription

Go to the Land Records Research Room at the courthouse, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.
Search the scanned land records on a public computer.
Ask a clerk how the screens work. Clerks help, but they can't run the search for you.
Order certified copies at the Land Records counter in Suite 317.

You leave with the deed book and page, and a certified copy if you order one.

Online: CPAN$150 per user, then $150 per user each quarter

Fill out the CPAN entity agreement and one user agreement per person.
Sign them by hand in ink and get them notarized.
Mail or bring them to the court's IT office, Suite 322, with a $150 check or money order per user.
Pay the quarterly bill of $150 per user once the account is active.

You search from home in Chrome or Edge and print plain, uncertified copies.

Source: Fairfax Circuit Court, Land Records Research, Copies and CPAN pages^2,3,4, read October 25, 2026.

CPAN is built for professionals, but owners can join. The court says its subscribers are usually title examiners, law offices, mortgage companies and banks. A homeowner applies by using their own name as the business name³.

For a long search, hire help. Staff won't search for you, and the court suggests a local title company or a lawyer for extensive research².

Tracing an old Fairfax house? The Historic Records Center holds the land records from 1742 to 1942. It posts free name indexes for 1742 to 1866 online²⁶.

How do you get a copy of your deed in Fairfax County?

Find the deed book and page in iCare, then order a certified copy for $2.00 per document plus $0.50 per page. The Land Records Division needs the instrument number, or the book and page, to pull a document⁴.

Look up your home in iCare. Search by address or tax map number. The owner section lists the deed book and page⁶.
Choose how to order. Go to the Land Records counter in Suite 317, or mail the court's copy request form with a self-addressed, stamped envelope⁴.
Pay the fee. In person, the court takes cash, cashier's checks, money orders and cards, with a 4% charge on Visa and MasterCard. It takes no personal checks⁴.
Allow time for mail orders. The court mails copies within two weeks of getting a request⁴.

Screenshot of the Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration's iCare property profile for the Government Center, taken October 25, 2026.

iCare can't search by owner name. Its public searches work by address, tax map number or map⁶.

A satellite counter opens once a month. On the second Tuesday, 9:00 a.m. to noon, the clerk's office sells certified land record copies at the Gerry Hyland Government Center. No appointment is needed, and the next date listed is November 10, 2026⁸.

Recording a document yourself? From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., the counter takes original, signed and notarized papers, each with the Fairfax Land Records cover sheet¹. The clerk's fee is $23.00 for a document of 1 to 10 pages, and a sale also owes recordation taxes and other fees²⁸.

What does a Fairfax County land record show?

It shows who signed what, when it was recorded and where it sits in the books, but not what your home is worth. Values come from the Department of Tax Administration, which assesses every property each year as of January 1^2,25. If you searched for the Fairfax County assessor, this is the office you want.

Words on a Fairfax land record

Deed: The signed document that moves ownership from the grantor (the one giving it) to the grantee (the one receiving it).
Deed of trust: A recorded document that makes a home the security for a loan.
Certificate of satisfaction: The paper a lender records when a loan is paid off. The deed stays the same.
Instrument number: The number the clerk gives a recorded document. You can order a copy with it.
Tax map number: Fairfax's parcel ID, such as 0561 15 0014A for the Government Center.
Power of attorney: A signed paper that lets another person act for you, for example to sign loan papers.
Homestead deed: In Virginia, a recorded list of property a person wants to keep from creditors. It deals with creditors, not property tax.

Seven common questions, and where Fairfax answers each one:

Which Fairfax office answers which question
You want to know	Where to look	Good to know
Who owns a home now	iCare, by address or tax map number	Owners can ask to hide their name online
What a deed or loan paper says	Land Records: Research Room computers or CPAN	Clerks help, but you do the search
A certified copy	Land Records counter, mail or the monthly satellite stop	$2.00 per document plus $0.50 per page
What a home is assessed at	iCare	Values are as of January 1
When real estate tax is due	Department of Tax Administration	Two installments: July 28 and December 5
Whether anything new was filed in your name	Property Alerts, through MyFairfax	Free email alert, matched by name
An approved site plan for a lot	Land Development Services: Site Records Viewer or PLUS	Site records are mapped to tax map parcels

Sources: Fairfax Circuit Court^2,4,9, Department of Tax Administration^6,7,25 and Land Development Services²⁷ pages, read October 25, 2026.

What does Virginia law say about forged deeds?

A Virginia clerk must record a paper that looks complete, even a forged one, and undoing it usually takes a court case. A 2025 state study of deed fraud spells out the rule. Clerks record papers with the needed details, signatures and notary proof "regardless of whether a document appears to be fraudulent or forged"¹¹.

The same study calls winning a home back "a lengthy, complex, and expensive legal process often requiring court intervention." It adds that deed fraud most often involves vacant land and homes the owners don't live in full time¹¹.

New to the idea of a stolen deed? This deed theft explainer covers the basics, so this page can stick to Fairfax.

Forgery is a felony in Virginia. The penalty depends on what was forged:

A public record: forging one, or uttering it (passing it off as real), is a Class 4 felony. It carries 2 to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000^12,14.
Other writings that harm someone's rights: a Class 5 felony, with up to 10 years in prison^13,14.

Owners fix it in court. In the 2018 case below, the owners asked the Fairfax Circuit Court to declare the loan papers void and to quiet title¹⁹. A quiet title action asks a judge to rule on who owns a property.

Virginia tightened its rules in 2026 with HB 163, approved April 8 as Chapter 364¹⁵.

Nov. 2025A state study finds just 21 Virginia localities offering property alerts and makes 25 recommendations¹¹.
July 1, 2026Settlement agents must use "ordinary care" to confirm a seller's identity, for example by asking for several photo IDs or comparing signatures¹⁶. Notaries must keep a record of each paper notarization for at least five years¹⁵.
July 1, 2027Clerks who take land records electronically must offer free alerts that owners can join by name or tax identification number¹⁷. Notaries seeking a commission or renewal take a course with an hour on real estate fraud¹⁵.

Sources: Deed Fraud Study Final Report¹¹ and the Virginia Legislative Information System^15,16,17, read October 25, 2026.

Which Fairfax County deed fraud cases are on the record?

Documented cases are rare: we found two from the past decade in court records and news reports. Both involved someone close to the owners: an ex-boyfriend who was charged, and a brother-in-law who pleaded guilty.

Springfield · 2019

Refinance offers in another woman's name

In May 2019, a deed moved a Springfield owner's brick Colonial, worth about $525,000, to a stranger. Police and a lawsuit said her ex-boyfriend posed as her at a Fairfax City law firm, and the lawsuit said the attorney didn't check IDs. The deed went to the Fairfax County land records office on May 9¹⁸.

The owner, Rohina Husseini, caught on in July when refinance offers came addressed to the other woman. The land records office told her she was no longer listed as the owner, and the deed carried a signature that wasn't hers. Her mortgage company said it had no notice of the transfer.

Police charged the ex-boyfriend in a warrant with forging a deed and passing a fake record to the land records office. That is a charge, not a conviction, and we found no public record of the outcome.

Source: Justin Jouvenal, The Washington Post, via HeraldNet, December 1, 2019

"Property owners should be diligent and check on family members who can't do their own checks ... Have a good awareness of your property."

2nd Lt. Jonathan Stern, head of the Fairfax County financial crimes squad, in 2019, December 1, 2019

Fairfax County · 2018 to 2025

A forged power of attorney that passed a title check

A couple living in Bolivia let their brother-in-law live in one of their Fairfax County investment homes and look after it. He put a new first page on a real, notarized signature page to make a fake "Special Power of Attorney." In 2018 he borrowed more than $700,000 against the house, and the fake power was recorded in the land records with the loan.

In 2020, a new lender's attorney found the power in a title examination and judged it "properly notarized." A $750,000 refinance followed. The owners learned of it in November 2021, when he emailed them an apology.

A Fairfax grand jury indicted him in 2022, and he later pleaded guilty to felony forgery and embezzlement.

The owners sued in 2023. In 2025, the Court of Appeals of Virginia agreed the loan papers were void from the start. It reversed a $148,759 refund the trial court had ordered for the owners.

Source: Court of Appeals of Virginia, published opinion, September 30, 2025; Office of the Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney, May 23, 2022²⁰

In both cases the paperwork got past the people who handled it. A lawsuit says the first attorney didn't check IDs. In the second case, a lender's attorney judged a forged page properly notarized, and the clerk's office recorded the papers in both.

How do you get an alert when something is filed in your name?

Sign up for the clerk's free Property Alert through MyFairfax, the county's online account. It emails you when a document filed with the Land Records office matches a name you entered⁹. The clerk built it with the Department of Tax Administration and the county's IT department⁸.

Create a MyFairfax account. Click "enroll here" on the MyFairfax login page, register, then confirm with the 6-digit code sent to your email⁹.
Add the Property Alerts app. Log in, click the Property Alerts icon under "Add Apps," and click OK⁹.
Enter each name as Last, First Middle. Add the spellings the on-screen instructions suggest. You can add as many names as you need⁹.
Click Update, then Save Changes. The court says a name that "does not stick" usually means Save Changes was skipped⁹.

The Fairfax Circuit Court's Property Alerts web page, describing a free email alert through MyFairfax for Fairfax County and City of Fairfax property owners. — Screenshot of the Fairfax Circuit Court's Property Alerts page, taken October 25, 2026.

What the free alert can't do:

It can't keep a paper out of the records. It emails you once a document is filed, and the clerk must take a forged paper that looks complete^9,11.
It only knows the names you typed. A filing under a spelling you didn't enter may not match. To report a misspelled name in the court's index, call 703-691-7320^5,9.
It doesn't watch your tax map number. The Supreme Court of Virginia's free VADeed Alert can, but Fairfax County is not on its list of courts¹⁰.

How Still My Home helps

For the lenders and examiners who read your Fairfax deed

The clerk's alert reaches you after a paper is filed, and the clerk can't turn away a forged one that looks complete. Still My Home puts its request in front of people earlier. We record a notice in your land records, where title examiners search before a closing, asking anyone buying, lending on or insuring the title to check with you.

A check like that sends you an "Is this you?" email, plus a text if you want one. Your answer is a simple yes or no. The notice only asks, so a sale can still close, and the price is $199 a year per home in any US county.

If a forged document is recorded against a protected home, the Restoration Promise pays the lawyers and court fees to clear it, up to $1M in restoration costs.

Not insurance. Not available in NY or Iowa. Terms apply.

How the notice and question work

Who do you call in Fairfax County if a deed looks wrong?

Get a copy of the document from Land Records, report it to the police, and talk to a lawyer. The clerk's office can't give legal advice, but it lists lawyer referral lines⁵.

Land Records Division, Fairfax Circuit Court: 703-691-7320 (press 3, then 3), TTY 711. Suite 317, 4110 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays¹.
Fairfax County Police: non-emergency line 703-691-2131, TTY 711²². You can also report online through Financial Crimes Online Reporting (FiCOR)²¹.
Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney: 703-246-2776, Suite 114 of the same courthouse. It prosecutes crimes committed in the county²³.
Legal Services of Northern Virginia: 703-778-6800. Free civil legal help for low-income, elderly and disabled residents²⁴.
Lawyer referrals: Fairfax Bar Association, 703-246-3780, or the Virginia Lawyer Referral Service, 800-552-7977⁵.
Department of Tax Administration, Real Estate Division: 703-222-8234, for the owner name and mailing address in iCare²⁵.

Phone numbers and web pages in this guide were checked against the official sites on October 25, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How do you find out who owns a property in Fairfax County, VA?

Search the address or tax map number in iCare. The owner section shows the name, mailing address and deed book and page. If an owner's name is withheld online, the tax office still gives it to callers and visitors at 703-222-8234.

Are deeds public record in Virginia?

Yes. The Fairfax Circuit Court says "land records are public documents," and anyone can search them on the Research Room computers. A certified copy costs $2.00 per document plus $0.50 per page.

How can I search Fairfax County property records by name?

Not in iCare, which searches by address, tax map number or map. Names are in the court's land records index on CPAN, which you can use at the courthouse or by subscription.

Is VA Deed Alert legitimate?

Yes. VADeed Alert is a free email service run by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia. Fairfax County is not on its list of courts, so Fairfax owners use the clerk's Property Alert in MyFairfax.

What should you do if you suspect deed fraud in Fairfax County?

Get a copy of the document from the Land Records Division. Report it to police through FiCOR or 703-691-2131. Then see a lawyer, since the clerk's office can't give legal advice and fixing the record often takes a court case.

Check your Fairfax record this week

Look up your home in iCare and confirm the owner name and mailing address. Then add your name to the clerk's free Property Alert. If you'd also like a recorded notice that asks people to check with you before a sale or loan, see how ours works.

Read the Property Alerts steps See how Still My Home works

Own property in another state as well? Our state-by-state map of free county alerts shows what each county offers.

Sources

Land Records: General Information, Fairfax Circuit Court, checked October 25, 2026
Land Records Research, Fairfax Circuit Court, checked October 25, 2026
Court Public Access Network (CPAN), Fairfax Circuit Court, checked October 25, 2026
Obtaining Copies of Land Records, Fairfax Circuit Court, checked October 25, 2026
Land Records FAQ, Fairfax Circuit Court, checked October 25, 2026
iCare real estate assessment search, Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration, data current as of October 23, 2026
Real Estate Frequently Asked Questions, Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration, checked October 25, 2026
News and Events (Property Alert launch notice and satellite services), Fairfax Circuit Court, checked October 25, 2026
Property Alerts, Fairfax Circuit Court, checked October 25, 2026
VADeed Alert, Office of the Executive Secretary, Supreme Court of Virginia, court list checked October 25, 2026
Deed Fraud Study Final Report (RD690), Virginia Tech, George Mason University and HousingForward Virginia for the Virginia Housing Deed Fraud Technical Advisory Group, November 1, 2025
Va. Code § 18.2-168, forging public records, Virginia Legislative Information System, checked October 25, 2026
Va. Code § 18.2-172, forging other writings, Virginia Legislative Information System, checked October 25, 2026
Va. Code § 18.2-10, punishment for felonies, Virginia Legislative Information System, checked October 25, 2026
HB 163 (2026 session), Chapter 364, Virginia General Assembly, approved April 8, 2026
Va. Code § 55.1-903, duty of settlement agent, Virginia Legislative Information System, checked October 25, 2026
Va. Code § 17.1-258.3:1, version effective July 1, 2027, Virginia Legislative Information System, checked October 25, 2026
Junk mail alerted woman to her stolen home, Justin Jouvenal, The Washington Post, via HeraldNet, December 1, 2019
Robert K. Harwood, L.C. v. Aranibar Chinchilla, Record Nos. 1600-24-4 and 1605-24-4, Court of Appeals of Virginia, published opinion, September 30, 2025
CA Descano Announces Multi-Million Dollar Embezzlement Indictment, Office of the Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney, May 23, 2022
Report a Financial Crime (FiCOR), Fairfax County Police Department, checked October 25, 2026
Fairfax County Police Department, Fairfax County, checked October 25, 2026
Office of the Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney, checked October 25, 2026
Legal Services of Northern Virginia, checked October 25, 2026
Real Estate Assessments and Taxes, Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration, checked October 25, 2026
Deeds (Historic Records Center finding aid), Fairfax Circuit Court, checked October 25, 2026
Site Records Viewer, Fairfax County Land Development Services, checked October 25, 2026
Land Records Recordation Taxes and Fees (PDF), Fairfax Circuit Court, effective July 1, 2026

This article is general information, not legal advice. Laws and county practices vary and change. For advice about your situation, talk to a lawyer licensed in your state. Written by Mo Ayadi, founder of Still My Home, which offers a home title protection service.

Fairfax County Land Records: How to Search Them and Check for a Forged Deed

Key takeaways