How to Check Mineral Rights

When a piece of land is sold the mineral rights may be kept by the owner or sold with the land. It is public record who owns the land and the mineral rights. If the lands mineral rights have been sold, or leased there will be a record of it. If there is no record of a sale or lease of the mineral rights then it is safe to say the current landowner holds mineral rights.

Go to the place where the land records and deeds are kept in your county. This is usually the county clerks office. Do this in the county that the land parcel is located in. Check the phone book for a number and address. Ask the clerk for help looking up mineral right ownership and present the address of the property your are inquiring about.

All older deeds are organized in large books, and the newer land records are kept in computer systems. The county clerk will either give you a book and page number or direct you to the county's computer system. Make sure to ask for help while searching if you need it. The clerk or secretary will be more than happy to guide you.

Once you find the correct piece of land in the records look for the current owners name. Have a pen and paper ready and jot it down, along with their contact information. Scan back through the records and see if you see anything about a mineral rights sale, lease or transfer. If there is nothing listed about a sale, lease or transfer of the mineral rights for that property than you can assume that the current owner is the one who owns all mineral rights.

Mineral rights are important. When you are selling a property know that you can retain those mineral rights for future use. If you are interested in leasing out the mineral rights of your property for natural gas or what have you it is always a good idea that you are the owner of them. Many people are getting checks each month from natural gas companies because they have leased their mineral rights to the companies and natural gas was actually found under the surface of their property.

Mineral rights pertain to all varieties of mineral. Iron, natural gas, gemstones, copper, and other metals are all included in mineral rights. If you own the rights you can sell the minerals. If you do not own the rights another person will make the profit.

Checking to see who owns the mineral rights to any parcel of land is simple. Go to the county clerks office in the county where the land is located and present the address of the said parcel. Ask for help if you need it and make sure to jot down any important info for future reference. Thanks for reading and take care.