The Camden County Clerk and What It Holds
Camden County Clerk Pamela R. Lampitt leads this office, an elected county post that stands apart from the courts. The Clerk records and safeguards land documents for the whole county. Deeds, mortgages, discharges, and liens all pass through here. None of these are court case files. That distinction matters. The New Jersey Judiciary controls Superior Court case records through the Camden Vicinage and the Clerk of Court, a different function with a similar name. So if you want a property deed or a recorded mortgage, the County Clerk is the right office. If you want a civil lawsuit or a criminal case, that belongs to the courts.
Beyond property, the office does a lot. It registers trade names for businesses. It issues passports and provides notary services. It runs election services, including vote-by-mail resources, and supports veterans with discharge filings and benefit cards. A property alert tool warns owners when a document is recorded against their name. E-recording lets title firms submit documents online. There is also a realty transfer fee calculator and required recording cover sheets. The office sits in the heart of Camden and serves residents, lenders, attorneys, and title searchers every day.
Camden County Clerk's Office
Clerk: Pamela R. Lampitt
Room 102
520 Market Street
Camden, NJ 08102
(856) 225-5300
countyclerk@camdencounty.com
Services the Camden County Clerk Provides
The Clerk's role goes well past recording deeds. The office page lists a broad set of public services, and most of them touch records of some kind. A look at the main service hub shows how the office groups its work. The Clerk treats property records and e-recording as flagship online tools.
The county service page is the best lead-in to all of it. The county explains the full County Clerk service list at the Camden County Clerk page, which gathers links for property, business, and election tasks in one place.
From that hub you can branch into deeds, trade names, or passports. The main services include the following:
- Property records, deeds, mortgages, and e-recording for real estate documents.
- Trade-name registration and dissolution for businesses.
- Passport applications and passport photographs.
- Notary public services and notary commission filings.
- Election services, vote-by-mail resources, and veteran services.
A property alert feature rounds out the list. It lets an owner sign up to get notice when something records against their name, which helps catch deed fraud early.
Camden County Clerk Online Property Records
Property records run online through the Clerk's records system. The database holds documents from 1978 to the present, and the county updates it nightly. Personal data such as Social Security and bank account numbers has been redacted from the public view. So a deed shows the parties and the legal description, but not a private account number. The county splits access into two tiers, free and premium, and most people never need to pay.
The online property records page lays out both tiers clearly. You can read the county's full description of access levels on the online property records page, which sets the rules for free and premium use.
That page makes the split easy to compare. Free access needs no account and watermarks every document as unofficial. Premium access drops the watermark and opens the full document set. The table below puts the two side by side.
| Feature | Free Access | Premium Access |
|---|---|---|
| Account | None needed | One-time registration |
| Cost | Free | $25.00 per month |
| Watermark | All documents unofficial | No watermark |
| Documents | Deeds, mortgages, discharges, cancellations | All, plus lis pendens, liens, trade names, powers of attorney |
| Printing | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Browser / system | Most browsers and devices | Microsoft Edge, Windows Vista or later |
Premium use comes with real tech requirements. It only supports Microsoft Edge, needs Windows Vista or newer, and asks for a one-time install of Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and SAP Crystal Reports Runtime. That setup matches the in-depth search tool the Clerk's staff use at the counter.
Note: Free public access covers deeds, mortgages, discharges, and cancellations, so most property searches need no account and no monthly fee at all.
Property Records Search Fields
The records portal, branded as BrowserView, asks for a specific key depending on how you search. You can look up by party name, document type, town, instrument number, book and page, lot and block, or parcel ID. Each path wants its own input, and the system runs a CAPTCHA check before it returns results. Matching your identifier to the right field cuts down on dead-end searches.
You can reach the search tool directly to try it. The Clerk hosts the live search at the property records portal, where the field layout matches the table below.
The fields and their format rules appear in the table that follows.
| Field | Required | Format / Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Party Name | Yes for party search | Last name first, e.g. "Smith Al"; company name allowed; no commas. |
| Document Type | No (optional) | Type or pick a code; separate multiple codes with commas. |
| Town | Yes for town search | Pick from the loaded town list. |
| Date Range From / To | No (optional) | MM/DD/YYYY; quick buttons for 7, 30, and 90 days. |
| Consideration Amount | No (optional) | Returns results equal to or above the amount entered. |
| Instrument Number | Yes for instrument search | Numbers or characters, e.g. 1999002121. |
| Book / Page | Yes for book/page search | Two fields, e.g. 12345/1234. |
| Lot / Block | No (optional) | Lot and block pair. |
| Parcel ID | Yes for parcel ID search | Enter the parcel ID to search. |
| CAPTCHA | Yes | Verify you are not a robot before results load. |
Result sets carry their own labels. Verified records show first, and the system flags records that are replaced, corrected, or not yet verified, so read the status column before you rely on a hit.
How to Search Camden County Property Records
A property search moves fastest when you bring a few details up front. A name works, but a full legal name plus a town narrows the field. A book and page or an instrument number lands the exact document. The disclaimer that opens the search warns users to try every spelling variation of a name, since one record might read "Robert" and another "Bob." Start broad, then tighten.
- Open the property records portal and accept the launch disclaimer, which sets the record range at January 1, 1978 to present.
- Pick a search type, such as Party Name, Document Type, Town, Instrument Number, Book/Page, or Parcel ID.
- Enter your key in the matching field, using last name first for party searches and MM/DD/YYYY for any date range.
- Clear the CAPTCHA, then run the search and review the verified results.
- Open a document to view it, then print the free watermarked copy or add it to the cart for an official copy.
There is also a mobile-friendly tool for quick lookups. The Clerk offers a streamlined search at the SearchAnywhere portal, built for phones and tablets when you are away from a desktop.
Both tools draw from the same nightly-updated index, so a recent deed should appear in either one.
What a Property Record Shows
Each document in the system returns a set of standard fields. A deed or mortgage record carries the document type, an instrument number, the recording date, and a book and page cite. It also shows the parties, the consideration, the parcel ID, and the legal description. Reading these fields in order helps you confirm you have the right property before you pull a copy.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Type | The document type, such as deed, mortgage, or discharge. |
| Instrument No. | The unique file number for the recorded document. |
| Date and Time | When the document was recorded. |
| Book / Page | The book type and book and page where it is filed. |
| Pages | The page count of the document. |
| Consideration | The dollar amount tied to the transaction. |
| Parcel ID | The parcel and case identifier for the property. |
| Legal | Legal description lines for the parcel. |
| Direct / Indirect Party | The grantor and grantee or borrower and lender names. |
| Linked Documents | Related filings by type, file number, and book and page. |
District, map, sub map, parcel, and town fields fill in the rest. The image view can be restricted or absent on some records, and account login is required for cart and print-all functions.
Search Disclaimer and Tech Support
The launch disclaimer sets expectations before any search. It says the data covers official records of Camden County from January 1, 1978 to present. The office tries for accuracy but gives no warranty or guarantee. It tells users to search all possible spelling variations of proper names and disclaims liability for errors or damages from use of the data. None of this blocks a free search; it just frames what the records are.
Help is on hand if the tool acts up. The records system posts a help guide and a support line for users. The portal's help notes and search tips live on the records search help page, which walks through search types and result flags.
For live help, technical support answers at (203) 652-1376 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern. Call that line for login trouble, premium install issues, or document display problems.
Camden County Clerk Recording Fees
The Clerk charges set fees to record documents, and the county publishes a full schedule. Most fees price the first page higher and add a smaller charge per added page. A deed runs $30 for the first page and $10 for each added page, with a minimum of $55. Mortgages and discharges follow a similar shape. Knowing the fee before you file keeps a recording from getting kicked back for short payment.
The official schedule covers far more than these basics. The county posts the full recording and fee list on the recording and fees page, which spells out every document type and charge.
The most common charges appear in the table below.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Deed, first page | $30.00 |
| Deed, each additional page | $10.00 |
| Deed, minimum fee | $55.00 |
| Mortgage, first page | $30.00 |
| Mortgage, additional page | $10.00 |
| Cancellation of mortgage | $20.00 plus $5.00 Homeless Trust Fund |
| Trade name registration | $57.00 |
| Trade name dissolution | $25.00 |
| Federal tax lien filing or release | $25.00 |
| Construction lien filing | $15.00 |
| Camden County search | $3.00 |
| Map recording | $55.00 |
| Land or business records photocopy | $2.00 per page |
| Certified copy | $2.00 plus copy fee |
| Notary service, per document | $2.50 |
Self-service copies cost less than staff-pulled copies. A letter-size self-service copy is $0.05 per page and a legal-size copy is $0.07 per page. A passport photograph is $10.00. The realty transfer fee on a deed is figured on the sale price, starting at $2.00 for the first $500 up to $150,000 and rising in steps above that.
County Clerk vs Clerk of Court in Camden County
The two offices sound alike but do not overlap. The County Clerk is elected and keeps land, business, and election records for the county. The Clerk of Court is part of the New Jersey Judiciary and keeps court case files for the Camden Vicinage and the Superior Court Clerk's Office. Sending a request to the wrong one wastes a trip. The short answer: real estate and business filings go to the County Clerk, while lawsuits, criminal cases, and judgments go to the court system.
Which office do I want for a deed or a court case? For a deed, mortgage, lien, or trade name, use the County Clerk's property records system. For a civil suit, criminal case, family matter, or money judgment, use the New Jersey Courts case search and the Clerk of Court request process. For estate files and wills, the Surrogate's Court handles probate. County government records that fall outside the courts, such as open public records requests, are explained on the public records page.