Bullard passes bill to prevent deed theft

OKLAHOMA CITY – Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, on Tuesday passed legislation to crack down on deed theft across the state.

The Senate Local and County Government Committee approved Bullard’s Senate Bill 961 requiring notification to the original deed holder that another deed has been filed and working on a pathway to get ahead of the criminals who fraudulently file a deed. 

“There have been multiple cases statewide where criminals file a falsified deed on someone else’s land, sell the property to make a lot of money and then leave the original property owner on the hook for the new loan,” Bullard said. “These criminals are preying on vulnerable, elderly homeowners who don’t realize their property is being sold out from under them. I’m working with county clerks on Senate Bill 961 to ensure homeowners are quickly alerted to any changes in their property status while also getting local prosecutors involved in suspected fraud cases before suspicious deeds are finalized. We must protect our landowners from this new and rising onslaught of crime robbing us of lifelong work.”

Bullard said SB 961 is still a work in progress, and that he is in talks with county clerks, abstractors, closing companies, land and title groups and anyone else with ideas on how to solve this problem. We must stop deed theft before it happens, rather than notifying homeowners after the fact, Bullard said.

This bill is now eligible to be heard by the full Senate.

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For more information, contact: Sen. David Bullard at (405) 521-5586 or David. Bullard@oksenate.gov