As used in this article, unless the context requires otherwise:

"Day" means calendar day.

"Document" means information that is:

1. Inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form; and

2. Eligible to be recorded in the land records maintained by the clerk.

"Electronic," as defined in the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (§ 59.1-479 et seq.), means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.

"Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government, or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality or any other legal or commercial entity.

"Real property" means real property that is used for residential or nonresidential purposes.

"Recording data" means the date, and deed book and page number or instrument number, that indicates where a document is recorded in the land records of the clerk of the circuit court pursuant to Chapter 6 (§ 55.1-600 et seq.).

"Secured creditor" means a person that holds or is the beneficiary of a security interest or that is authorized both to receive payments on behalf of a person that holds a security interest in real property and to record a satisfaction of the security instrument upon receiving full performance of the secured obligation. "Secured creditor" does not include a trustee under a security instrument. "Secured creditor" also includes "lender" as used in Chapter 10 (§ 55.1-1000 et seq.) and "lien creditor" and "servicer" as defined in § 55.1-339.

"Secured obligation" means an obligation the payment or performance of which is secured by a security interest.

"Security instrument" means an agreement, however denominated, that creates or provides for a security interest, whether or not it also creates or provides for a lien on personal property.

"Security interest" means an interest in real property created by a security instrument, securing payment, or performance of an obligation and includes a mortgage or deed of trust.

"Sign" means, with present intent to authenticate, accept, or adopt a document:

1. To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or

2. To attach to or logically associate with the document an electronic sound, symbol, or process.

"State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

"Submit for recording" means to deliver, with required fees and taxes, a document sufficient to be recorded under this article to the office of the clerk of the circuit court pursuant to Chapter 6 (§ 55.1-600 et seq.).

2006, c. 907, § 55-66.9; 2019, c. 712.