Start with the deed or map reference you already have. Archives identifies separate recordings, deed text or attachment, and plat figures as easement containers; Landmark’s Easement filter covers separate recordings only. A blank filter result therefore leaves the deed and map questions open. The County’s recorded-documents guide explains the routes.
What the filter result leaves unresolved
Write down the exact question before switching searches. Are you looking for a freestanding easement instrument, the language within a particular deed, or the map on which a line or notation appears? Those are different containers, even when they concern the same parcel. An address alone does not identify the relevant clause or map page. Keep the document title, parties, date, recording number and legal description from the paper in hand. Mark any missing field as unknown.
Archives documents Landmark Name, Legal and Book and Page routes. Follow a citation to the referenced item rather than treating the citation as the item itself.
Read the King County recording number before you search
An easement citation usually gives a recording number (also called an instrument or auditor’s number). It identifies one document; it isn’t the Assessor’s ten-digit parcel number. King County Archives’ recorded-documents guide explains two formats:
- 1853–1971: one running sequence, from 1 up to 6728719. After 1915 these numbers are seven digits long.
- From 1971: year, month, day and a sequence number. The County’s example, 19790801001, is the first document recorded on August 1, 1979. Microfilmed recordings from 1971 to 1991 are filed directly by this number.
The format tells you the era and therefore the route: a seven-digit number points to the Archives’ pre-1971 microfilm, and an eleven-digit number dated before August 1991 points to an Archives microfilm copy rather than a Landmark image. Archives also suggests a practical shortcut for easements: open a post-1991 deed for the parcel in Landmark and look for references to older recordings. It warns that this misses any recording the newer deed doesn’t mention.
If you have only an address, the County’s Parcel Viewer gives the parcel number and an abbreviated legal description. Its District Report links to digitized plats and surveys when they exist, which is often the quickest way to see an easement drawn on a recorded plat.
A four-part note for a mixed packet
Use one short note for each document you actually see. This keeps a promising reference from becoming an assumed result:
- Starting paper: copy its exact title, date and recording number, if shown. Record the printed legal description separately from a street address.
- Where the easement appears: label it “separate instrument,” “deed text or attachment,” “map figure,” or “not yet located.” Use a label only after inspecting that container.
- Cross-reference: copy the cited recording number or map book and page exactly. If the number is absent, write “not supplied” and keep the parties and approximate year for a narrower inquiry.
- Next document: name the specific image or older copy needed to test that reference. Leave the relationship unconfirmed until the two documents can be matched.
For example, imagine a fictional file with a deed but a blank filtered list. The useful next step is to preserve that deed’s own recording number and the clause or attachment location, then look for any cited instrument or map page. If a different map number turns up, do not merge the two records by address alone. Compare the legal descriptions and recording references before writing that they concern the same feature.
An index entry is not always the document image
Landmark indexes 1976–July 31, 1991 recordings without images; Archives holds them. It describes digitized images from August 1, 1991 onward. Earlier deeds use parties and an approximate year. These are access routes, not a promise that a particular easement or attachment will be present.
If the needed item is older, the Archives copy page describes how to request a pre-August 1991 recorded-property document from microfilm. Ask for the identified document, supplying its recording number when known, or the parties, approximate year and legal description you can substantiate.
When the containers disagree
A deed may identify one reference while a map points to another. Do not resolve that difference by choosing the newest date or the closest street address. Put each reference beside the source that printed it, and ask for the missing document by its own number or map page. If a search has no row, distinguish a missing index result from a document you opened and read. The King County plat-record guide addresses recorded map changes and agreements; the permit-data limitations guide explains why online absence alone supports a narrow conclusion.
An easement reference doesn’t prove the easement’s legal scope, boundary, enforceability or permit status. For older assessor records on the same parcel, see our King County assessor card guide.
King County Archives recorded-documents guide checked October 20, 2026.