Whenever a debt or other obligation secured by a deed of trust, mortgage, or vendor's lien on real estate has been assigned, the assignor or the assignee, at its option, may cause the instrument of assignment to be recorded in the clerk's office of the circuit court where such deed of trust, mortgage, or vendor's lien is recorded, provided that such instrument is otherwise in recordable form, or may cause a certificate of transfer signed by the assignor to be recorded in such clerk's office, and such instrument of assignment or certificate of transfer, upon recordation, shall operate as a notice of such assignment. The instrument of assignment or certificate of transfer shall be indexed in the name of the assignor and in the names of the obligor or maker, and the trustees, as applicable, all of whose names shall be set forth in such instrument or certificate. The certificate of transfer shall conform substantially to the following:
CERTIFICATE OF TRANSFER
Place of Record:
Clerk's Office of the Circuit Court of the ________ of ________, Virginia
Date of [Deed of Trust/Mortgage/Vendor's Lien]: ________,
Deed Book ________, Page ____
Name of Obligor or Maker:
________________
Names(s) of Trustee(s) [if a Deed of Trust]:
________________
________________
Name of Original Payee or Obligee:
________________
Original Amount Secured [if applicable]: $____
The undersigned, the original payee or obligee [or the subsequent assignee] of the obligation secured by the above-mentioned [Deed of Trust/Mortgage/Vendor's Lien], hereby certifies that the obligations secured thereby have been assigned to ______
________________
[If a credit line deed of trust, the name and address to which notice may be mailed or delivered to the Noteholder as provided by § 55.1-318 is as follows:
________________
________________ ]
Given under (my/our) hand(s) as of the ______ day of ________, ____.
________________
(Assignor)
______ of ______
County/City of ________, to wit:
Subscribed, sworn to, and acknowledged before me by ________ this ______ day of ________, 20__.
My Commission Expires: ________
________________
Notary Public
Notary Registration Number: ________
For purposes of this section, the word "assigned" includes endorsed, pledged, hypothecated, or otherwise transferred. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to invalidate any other form or notice of assignment that may have been recorded prior to July 1, 1994. Nothing in this section shall imply that recordation of the instrument of assignment or a certificate of transfer is necessary in order to transfer to an assignee the benefit of the security provided by the deed of trust, mortgage, or vendor's lien.
1994, c. 806, § 55-66.01; 1995, c. 807; 1997, c. 205; 2019, c. 712.