California · Cal. Civ. Code §2941California reconveyance after payoff: the lender's 30 days, the trustee's 21 and the title company's release

Within 30 calendar days after the obligation secured by a California deed of trust is satisfied, the beneficiary delivers to the trustee the original note and deed of trust, a request for full reconveyance and the other documents needed; the trustee then executes the full reconveyance and records it within 21 calendar days after receiving them and the fees (Cal. Civ. Code §2941(b)(1)). If the trustee hasn't recorded within 60 calendar days of satisfaction, the beneficiary, on the trustor's written request, substitutes itself or another as trustee and issues the reconveyance (§2941(b)(2)); if there is still no reconveyance at 75 days, a title insurance company may record a release of the obligation after mailing 10 days' notice to the trustee, trustor and beneficiary, and the release is the equivalent of a reconveyance (§2941(b)(3)). A beneficiary may also substitute the escrow's title company as trustee (§2941(b)(7)). For a mortgage, the mortgagee records a certificate of discharge within 30 days (§2941(a)). A violator is liable for all damages and forfeits $500 to the person affected (§2941(d)); a reconveyance fee of $45 or less is conclusively presumed reasonable, and it can be charged only if it was in the payoff demand statement (§2941(e)).