Section 15-6-67. Recordation of maps and plats; specifications

   (a) The clerk of superior court shall file and record in his or her office maps or plats relating to real estate in the county.

(b) Maps or plats to be filed and recorded in the office of clerk of superior court shall be prepared in accordance with the minimum standards and specifications adopted in the rules and regulations of the State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors:

   (1) Material.

      (A) Any such maps or plats shall be a good legible copy or commercial print reproduced from an original.

      (B) The clerk shall enter manually or electronically the filing date, plat book number, and page number on the plats and shall cause the same information to be entered electronically on the digital copy presented for filing and shall return an original physical copy of the plat with the filing information on it to the land surveyor or the person filing the same for record. The clerk shall permanently retain the original physical and digital copy of the plat. Both the filing information and plat shall serve as evidence of the original drawing. The physical copy, the digital copy, or both may be displayed to the public in compliance with Code Section 15-6-68;

   (2) Caption. . Maps or plats shall have a title or name which shall be contained in the caption, and the caption shall also provide the following information:

      (A) The county, city, town, or village, land district and land lot, and subdivision, if the property lies within a particular subdivision;

      (B) The date of plat preparation and the date of the field survey;

      (C) The scale, stated and shown graphically;

      (D) The name, address, telephone number, and registration number of the land surveyor or the statement that he or she is the county surveyor and is not required by law to be a registered surveyor; and

      (E) All reproductions of original maps or plats shall bear the original signature, in a contrasting color of ink, of the registrant placed across the registration seal in order to be a valid or recordable map or plat. The provisions of this subparagraph shall apply to all maps or plats that are sealed by a land surveyor which depict and describe real property boundaries. Maps and plats which do not meet the requirements of this subparagraph shall not be sealed nor recorded;

   (3) Size. Maps or plats shall not be less than 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches and not larger than 24 inches by 36 inches, provided that the clerk shall be authorized to file maps or plats in compliance with this subparagraph. When an original map or plat is submitted to the clerk for filing and recordation, the clerk shall be authorized to accept the plat for recordation only upon receiving a minimum of two properly signed reproductions of the original physical plat and a digital copy that has been created at full scale, properly signed and in an electronic format acceptable by the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority. The digital copy shall be submitted via media approved by the clerk.

(c) If the plat meets the requirements of subsections (b) and (d) of this Code section, it shall be the duty of the clerk of superior court to file and record such plat and digital image of such plat.

(d) Whenever the municipal planning commission, the county planning commission, the municipal-county planning commission, or, if no such planning commission exists, the appropriate municipal or county governing authority prepares and adopts subdivision regulations, and upon receiving approval thereon by the appropriate governing authority, then no plat of subdivision of land within the municipality or the county shall be filed or recorded in the office of clerk of superior court of a county without the approval thereon of the municipal or county planning commission or governing authority and without such approval having been entered in writing on the plat by the secretary or other designated person of the municipal or county planning commission or governing authority. The clerk of superior court shall not file or record a plat of subdivision which does not have the approval of the municipal or county planning commission or governing authority as required by this subsection. Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection to the contrary, no approval of the municipal or county planning commission or governing authority shall be required if no new streets or roads are created or no new utility improvements are required or no new sanitary sewer or approval of a septic tank is required. Any plat of survey containing thereon a certification from a licensed surveyor that the provisions relative to this subsection do not require approval of the municipal or county planning commission or governing authority shall entitle said plat to record. Any licensed surveyor who fraudulently certifies that a plat of survey does not require the approval specified in this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Ga. L. 1933, p. 193, § 1; Code 1933, § 24-2716; Ga. L. 1961, p. 105, § 1; Ga. L. 1962, p. 632, § 1; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1616, § 1; Ga. L. 1980, p. 826, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 15; Ga. L. 1990, p. 8, § 15; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1505, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 1096, § 1; Ga. L. 1996, p. 1502, § 1; Ga. L. 2012, p. 173, § 1-13/HB 665.