To produce fair and uniform valuations of all assessable property and preserve and protect our historic and contemporary records and filings related to people, businesses, and property, as mandated by law, while providing excellent customer service.

Restrictive covenants that prohibited some from purchasing, leasing, or occupying properties because of their race, nationality, or religion is a piece of local history that remains in many recorded documents today. While racially restrictive covenants are now illegal, many property owners throughout Marin live in homes that still have discriminatory covenants referenced in their properties’ title reports. California Assembly Bill 1466 (2021), effective July 1, 2022, requires county recorders to take a proactive approach by locating documents that contain discriminatory restrictions. Recorders are then required to record modifications that clarify these restrictions have been void since their creation.

ARCC’s Restrictive Covenant Team has reviewed some 5,800 recorded documents in its search for illegal language and mapped those parcels with the assistance of the County’s Information Services and Technology (IST) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) specialists. The team has so far identified 8,000 parcels for which deed modifications are necessary, completing nearly 3,500 thus far.

Elimination of illegal racially restrictive and discriminatory covenants from Marin County homeowner title reports will represent a proactive approach toward ensuring that such restrictions have been void since their creation. Continuing publication of parcel data on the Restrictive Covenant Project website will serve as a way to bring awareness to this history so that the community can work towards a more equitable housing market.