Malheur County Clerk
About the Malheur County Clerk
Malheur is Oregon's second-largest county by land area, and nearly all of it is open rangeland — the Bureau of Land Management alone controls more than 70% of the ground. The exception is the Treasure Valley in the northeast corner, where irrigation turns the desert into productive farmland for onions, potatoes, and sugar beets, and where Ontario, not the county seat of Vale, has grown into the county's largest city. Malheur is also the only Oregon county that runs on Mountain Time (its far-southern corner, around Jordan Valley, keeps Pacific Time instead) — a genuine local quirk worth knowing if you're calling the Clerk's office in Vale to schedule a filing, since there's no online index to check your document status yourself.
Cities and Communities Served
Recording jurisdiction runs countywide, not by city limits — if the property sits anywhere within Malheur County, this is the Clerk’s office that will accept the deed. That includes:
Incorporated cities: Adrian, Jordan Valley, Nyssa, Ontario, and Vale (county seat).
Unincorporated communities: Arock, Basque, Beulah, Burns Junction, Cairo, Ironside, Jamieson, Owyhee, Rome, and Westfall.
The Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation extends into the southern part of the county along the Oregon/Nevada state line, shared between the two states. This land is not part of the County Clerk's recording jurisdiction; it's noted here only for context.
Office Details
Address: 251 B St W, Suite 4, Vale, OR 97918
Phone: (541) 473-5151
Hours: Monday – Friday, 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Recording Fee: Oregon recording fees are set individually by each county and change periodically — check Malheur County's current fee schedule or call the office to confirm the exact amount before filing.
How to File a Document
- Prepare Your Document: Make sure your deed meets Oregon's formatting and content requirements before you file.
- Get It Notarized: Have the document signed in front of an Oregon notary public or other authorized official. No notary nearby in Vale? Oregon allows remote online notarization — you can have your Malheur County deed notarized online by an Oregon-commissioned notary instead.
- Meet Oregon's First-Page Requirements: Oregon law requires your deed's first page to show the title, grantor and grantee names, the true consideration, and an address for tax statements. If your document doesn't already include this, you'll need to attach a cover sheet, which adds $5 to the recording fee.
- Record It: You can file in person or by mail with the Malheur County Clerk's office.
- Pay the Recording Fee: Oregon recording fees are set individually by each county and change periodically — check the current fee schedule or call the office to confirm the exact amount before filing.
- Keep Your Receipt: Your recorded document (or a certified copy) is your proof of filing.
Filing? Get a Deed the Malheur County Clerk Will Accept
FREE generic forms are the most common reason Oregon deeds get rejected — usually over formatting, the legal description, or notary acknowledgment.
Two ways to avoid that:
Both are Oregon-compliant and built for the Malheur County Clerk’s exact requirements.
Disclosure: affiliate links to Standard Legal, our partner — no extra cost to you.
You are not on the official Malheur County government website. OregonQuitclaimDeed.com is a privately owned website and is not affiliated with any government agency.