Deed Theft in NYC: How It Happens, How to Check ACRIS, Free Alerts and What Title Insurance Covers

Deed theft is when someone records a deed transferring your property without your knowledge or real consent. The city records any document that meets its paperwork rules. It does not check that the signature is genuine. The NYC Department of Finance (DOF) says the City takes no responsibility for recording documents later found to be fraudulent.

You can protect yourself in three ways:

  • Check the record. In Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, look up your property in ACRIS, the city’s free records database. On Staten Island, records are with the Richmond County Clerk.
  • Sign up for free alerts. DOF and Westchester County each run a free service that tells you when a document is recorded.
  • Know what your title policy covers. A standard policy usually covers fraud before you bought, not after.

How deed theft happens

The NYC Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention and the NYS Attorney General describe two main patterns:

  • Forgery and impersonation. A thief forges the owner’s signature, or poses as the owner, sometimes with a fake ID or a forged power of attorney. The thief records a deed to themselves or a shell company. They may then borrow against the property or sell it.
  • Tricking a real owner. The owner signs something under false pretenses: a “foreclosure rescue” offer, a promised loan modification, or papers presented as something other than a deed.

Properties at higher risk include those that are vacant, in foreclosure, or behind on taxes or utilities. So are homes where the owner died and the heirs never transferred title (see buying or selling from an estate in New York). Tax or water bills that stop arriving are a warning sign.

Forged or tricked: why it matters

New York law treats these two patterns differently.

  • A forged deed is void. In a 2015 decision, New York’s highest court held that a forged deed passes no ownership at all. A later buyer or lender who relied on it is not protected, even if they paid and had no idea of the forgery. There is no deadline to sue to set aside a forged deed.
  • A deed you were tricked into signing is voidable. It stands until a court sets it aside, and a later good-faith buyer or lender may be protected.

That difference can decide whether an owner gets the property back free of a later mortgage.

How to check ACRIS for a fake deed

ACRIS covers documents recorded with the City Register for Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. The full walkthrough is in how to read ACRIS for title. For a fraud check:

  1. Find your borough, block and lot number (BBL) at the ACRIS portal. Search by parcel, with all document classes and the widest date range.
  2. Sort by recorded date. The most recent DEED (the code for a deed) should show you or your company as Party 2, the buyer. A later DEED naming someone else as buyer is the red flag.
  3. Open the image of anything you don’t recognize: deeds, mortgages, powers of attorney, correction deeds and court orders. Check the signature, the notary stamp and the name of the person who signed in front of the notary.
  4. Search your own name as a party. A mortgage or other document listed by name may not show up the way you expect in a parcel search.

The Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention recommends checking at least once a year. Staten Island owners search land records at the Richmond County Clerk, not ACRIS.

Free recording alerts

NYC (DOF) Westchester County Clerk
Service Notice of Recorded Document Property Alert Service
Cost Free Free
Watches One property (BBL) A name or address
Sent by Email, text or mail Email
Sign up nyc.gov/finance pas.westchesterclerk.com

NYC. DOF’s Notice of Recorded Document program tells you, usually the day after recording, when a listed document is recorded against your property. The list includes:

  • Deeds, including correction and confirmatory deeds.
  • Mortgages and satisfactions (papers showing a mortgage was paid).
  • Powers of attorney.
  • Contracts and memoranda of contract.
  • Court orders and judgments, among others.

Owners and their agents can register, including managing agents, attorneys, lienholders and estate executors or administrators. You register each property separately, and it stays active until you opt out. Register online through DOF’s “Recorded Document Notification” link, or by mail (call 311 for the paper form).

DOF advises co-op and timeshare owners not to register. Their units have no separate tax lot, so alerts would cover the whole building. Condo units have their own lots.

Westchester. The County Clerk launched a Property Alert Service in September 2026. You register a name or an address and get an email when a matching land record is recorded. Registering both catches documents listed either way.

What alerts don’t do. Neither service stops a recording. The Westchester site says the service does not prevent a transaction from occurring. An alert gives you time to act early, often before a thief sells or mortgages the property to someone else.

What to do if a deed you didn’t sign was recorded

These are the steps the City, the Attorney General and the courts provide. You can take them at the same time.

  1. Get the document. Pull the image from ACRIS, or from the Richmond County Clerk for Staten Island. Save its CRFN (the City Register file number) or document ID. Keep copies of anything you signed and any messages from the people involved.
  2. Report it to the City. Fill in the Deed Theft Prevention Intake Form. The Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention sits within DOF. It was created by Executive Order 16 on April 24, 2026. It works with the Sheriff, HPD and other agencies and flags suspicious filings. The City also says to report to the NYPD or the Sheriff’s Office, and to the district attorney in the property’s borough. If someone is trying to evict you, contact the Sheriff’s Office or a City Marshal.
  3. Report it to the Attorney General. The AG’s deed theft unit takes complaints at 1-800-771-7755, at deedtheft@ag.ny.gov or through its online form. The AG covers the whole state, so this applies in Westchester too, along with the Westchester District Attorney.
  4. Tell your title insurer. If you have an owner’s policy, send written notice of the claim promptly, with a copy of the recorded document. Whether the loss is covered depends on when the fraud happened (see below). Late notice can hurt a claim that would otherwise be covered.
  5. Clear the record. A forged deed is void, but it stays on the record until removed. The usual route is a lawsuit to settle who owns the property, often called a quiet title action (state law). It ends with a judgment that can be recorded. After a conviction for a crime affecting title, the district attorney, the Attorney General or a police agency can also ask the court to declare the fake documents void (state law). Owners with limited means can get free legal help through the Homeowner Protection Program at 1-855-HOME-456.

What changed in New York law in 2023 and 2024

Two state laws, both backed by the Attorney General, changed how deed theft cases work statewide.

2023 civil law (signed November 14, 2023):

  • Cases put on hold. A court must pause an eviction, foreclosure or ownership case involving a home in certain situations (state law). These include when a government agency investigating title fraud in good faith asks for it, when criminal charges about the property are filed against a party, or when a government civil case is pending. In a housing court eviction, a real dispute over ownership triggers a 90-day pause so the issue can go to the right court.
  • Public warning on the property. Once there is probable cause that a crime affecting title happened, or once charges are filed, a district attorney or the Attorney General can file a lis pendens against the property (state law). A lis pendens is a notice that a lawsuit affects the property. It warns later buyers and lenders.
  • Fraud is presumed after a conviction. A conviction for deed theft or a related crime means the court in an ownership case starts from the presumption that the transfer was fraudulent (state law). The other side can try to prove otherwise.

2024 criminal law (effective July 19, 2024):

  • Deed theft is a crime. It is now grand larceny no matter what the property is worth:
    • Third degree for one commercial property.
    • Second degree for one residential property, one mixed-use property with a home in it, or two or more commercial properties.
    • First degree, the most serious, for an occupied home; a home owned by someone elderly, incompetent, incapacitated or physically disabled; or three or more residential properties.
  • More time to prosecute. Charges can be brought within five years of the crime, or within two years after the owner discovers it, whichever is later (state law).

These laws don’t remove a fake deed from the record by themselves. Clearing title still takes a court judgment or order.

What an owner’s title policy covers

An owner’s policy insures your title as of the Date of Policy, usually your closing date. Since October 1, 2024, New York owner’s policies have used the 2021 ALTA owner’s policy form. Older policies use the 2006 form. Read your own policy for the exact terms.

Forgery before you bought. If a deed in your property’s history was forged before your closing, the standard owner’s policy covers it. The 2021 ALTA owner’s policy insures against problems from “forgery, fraud, undue influence, duress, incompetency, incapacity, or impersonation.” It also covers unauthorized transfers and documents signed under an invalid power of attorney.

Forgery after you bought. The standard owner’s policy generally does not cover a forged deed recorded against you years after closing. It excludes problems created after the Date of Policy, with narrow exceptions for the time before your own deed is recorded. Because a forged deed is void, you still own the property, but the cost of clearing the record may fall on you.

Extended coverage. New York buyers can choose the TIRSA Owner’s Extended Protection Policy at 120% of the regular owner’s rate. It is for homes (one- to four-family houses and individual condo or co-op units used as a home) insured to a person or a living trust. It covers forgery or impersonation that happens after the policy date. There is no deductible or separate cap; the limit is the policy amount. See market value and extended owner’s coverage.

In 2025 the American Land Title Association released the ALTA 49 and 49.1 endorsements. These add-ons give a new or existing home owner’s policy coverage for deed and mortgage forgery after the policy date. They are not listed in the New York rate manual in effect since October 1, 2024. ALTA said in June 2026 that availability varies by state and insurer, so ask before assuming they’re offered in New York.

A title policy doesn’t watch your property. It pays covered losses and legal defense costs under its terms. It won’t alert you to a recording; the free DOF and Westchester alerts do that.

Details for attorneys and title professionals

  • The 2015 decision. It also held that a claim to set aside a forged deed is not barred by any statute of limitations, and that later buyers and lenders who paid without notice are not protected.
  • Case pauses. The pause law covers eviction, ejectment, foreclosure and quiet title cases involving residential property. A court must grant the pause when a government agency moves for one. The 90-day pause applies in housing court eviction cases. The law does not apply to cases brought for forcible or unlawful entry.
  • Crime classes. Third-degree grand larceny is a class D felony, second degree a class C felony and first degree a class B felony. The 2024 changes were part of the state budget bill (Part O).
  • Policy terms. In the 2021 ALTA owner’s policy, the forgery coverage is Covered Risk 2(a) and the post-policy exclusion is Exclusion 3(d). The extended policy is in Section 20 of the TIRSA rate manual. Its form (01/11/2001) is printed in Part VI of the manual, with forgery and impersonation as Covered Risk 3 and post-policy events as Covered Risk 7.

Official sources

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Korvane Title is preparing to launch in New York. It is not licensed as a title insurance agent and does not accept title orders. Content on this site is general information, not legal advice.