Martinsville clerk urges property owners to enroll in free VADeed Alert service

Martinsville property owners have a new tool to watch for suspicious land-record filings before a paperwork problem turns into a much larger fight over ownership. The Office of the Clerk of Circuit Court announced on Monday, March 9, that residents can now sign up for VADeed Alert, a free notification service that sends an email whenever a recorded document matches a person's name, business name, or tax map and parcel number.

The service does not block a filing from being recorded, and it does not rule on whether a document is valid. What it does offer is speed. For homeowners, landlords, heirs, and anyone holding family property, an early email could mean the difference between quickly checking a filing and discovering a title problem long after papers have already circulated through the system.

City officials describe the tool as a practical response to a national rise in deed-fraud schemes. Those cases often involve forged signatures or unauthorized transfers that are hard to catch if owners are not routinely checking court records. Martinsville Clerk Jean Nunn said the goal is to give people a simple way to know when something has been recorded under their name so they can contact the clerk's office or seek legal advice if a filing looks wrong.

Residents can register online in a matter of minutes. Once enrolled, they can monitor their own name, a company name, or a parcel identifier tied to real estate they want to watch. That makes the program useful not only for owner-occupied homes, but also for rental property, inherited family land, and small-business holdings that may not be checked every week.

For Martinsville readers, the announcement is a reminder that property security is no longer only about locks, insurance, or keeping tax bills current. It now includes digital awareness and quick follow-up when public records change. In a market where more transactions are handled electronically and scams can spread faster, local officials are effectively asking residents to treat land records the same way they treat bank-account alerts: as a basic layer of protection.

Source: Reporting based on the City of Martinsville's March 9, 2026 Circuit Court clerk notice on VADeed Alert. Readers can review the original announcement or enroll through the Virginia courts portal: City notice and VADeed Alert sign-up.