Usually, the closing still happens. Most judgments and liens on a New York title report are paid from the seller’s sale money at closing, shown not to belong to the seller, or shown to have expired. Until one of those happens, the title company won’t insure over it. If nothing is done, it stays in the policy as an exception: the buyer takes the property subject to it, with no coverage.
Three questions decide what happens next. Whose name is it against? Does it actually attach to this property? Is it still in force? The rules below apply statewide. Where items are filed differs between New York City and Westchester County, as noted.
The four you will see most
| Item | Where it’s filed |
|---|---|
| Money judgment | County Clerk |
| Federal tax lien | City Register (4 boroughs); County Clerk elsewhere |
| NYS tax warrant | Dept. of State (from 7/1/2025), with a copy to the County Clerk; County Clerk for older warrants |
| Mechanic’s lien | County Clerk |
How long each lasts and how it is usually cleared:
| Item | Usual fix | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Money judgment | Payoff, then a satisfaction | 10 years from when the court clerk filed the judgment-roll (usually when the judgment was entered); can be renewed |
| Federal tax lien | IRS payoff, release or discharge | The IRS generally has 10 years to collect; it can refile to keep the lien |
| NYS tax warrant | Payoff, then a satisfaction | Lien follows the judgment rules; the tax debt ends after 20 years |
| Mechanic’s lien | Satisfaction, bond or deposit | 1 year unless extended or the contractor sues to foreclose |
A money judgment is a court’s order that someone owes money. A mechanic’s lien is a claim by a contractor or supplier who says they weren’t paid for work on the property. A satisfaction is the document that shows a debt was paid.
Other items show up too, such as NYC ECB judgments, emergency repair charges and condo common charge liens. For NYC violation liens, see NYC property violations at closing.
Where these are filed
Judgments and mechanic’s liens go to the County Clerk where the property is. In New York City that means the County Clerk for New York, Kings, Queens, Bronx or Richmond County, not the City Register. So they don’t appear in ACRIS (see how to read ACRIS for title). In Westchester, the County Clerk lists judgments, mechanic’s liens and lawsuit notices by debtor name. Later payoffs and renewals show on the same entry.
Federal tax liens are filed, under state law, with the City Register for Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx (code FL in ACRIS). In Staten Island, Westchester and the rest of the state, they go to the County Clerk. They are listed by the taxpayer’s name.
State tax warrants changed on July 1, 2025. A warrant is the state tax department’s tool to collect unpaid state tax. Warrants from that date are filed online with the Department of State. By state law, that filing is a lien on the debtor’s real estate anywhere in New York. The tax department still files a copy with the County Clerk, but the statewide lien comes from the Department of State filing. Warrants filed before July 1, 2025 stay liens where they were filed with a County Clerk. So searches cover both places (Stewart Title summary).
Searches are run against the seller, the buyer and past owners. That’s why names you don’t know can appear.
Judgments: when they attach and when they expire
A money judgment becomes a lien on the debtor’s real estate once it is filed with the County Clerk where the property is. If the debtor then sells, the lien still binds the property until ten years after the judgment-roll was filed. The judgment-roll is the court’s official file of the judgment. The court clerk files it when the judgment is entered. So the ten years run from that date, even in a county where the judgment was filed later.
The lien only covers the county where it was filed. A judgment filed in Kings County is not a lien on a house in Westchester, unless the creditor also files it in Westchester (state law).
- Renewal. In the last year of the ten, the creditor can sue for a renewal judgment. Its lien starts when the first ten years end (state law). A court can also extend the lien in a few limited cases.
- The 20-year rule is about the debt, not the lien. After 20 years, a judgment is presumed paid, unless the debtor admitted it in writing or made a payment (state law). The lien on the property still ends at ten years unless renewed or extended.
- Paid judgments that still show. A creditor who is paid in full must file a satisfaction with the clerk within 20 days. If not, it owes a penalty: $100 for judgments under $5,000 and $500 for larger ones (state law). If the seller paid years ago and no satisfaction was filed, the seller’s attorney asks the creditor for one before closing. Proof of payment alone may not be enough to remove it from the policy.
A judgment against a past owner
Timing decides it. A filed judgment is a lien on what the debtor owns, and selling the property doesn’t undo it.
- Filed while the past owner still owned the property: the lien stayed with the property through the sale. It binds the current owner for the rest of its ten years. Courts apply this even when the judgment used a common form of the name. In a 2011 appeals court decision, a judgment against “Bob” Conway was a valid lien on property later sold by “Robert” Conway.
- Filed after the past owner’s deed: the debtor no longer owned the property, so the judgment doesn’t attach. The title examiner compares the filing date with the deed date to confirm this, then drops it.
A valid judgment against a past owner is the current seller’s problem to solve, even though the seller never owed the debt. If it was missed when the seller bought, the seller can make a claim on their own owner’s title policy.
Most old judgments against past owners have simply expired. One filed more than ten years ago, with no renewal or extension on record, is no longer a lien on the property. It is typically dropped for that reason.
A judgment against someone with a similar name
Judgments and liens are searched by name, and common names bring up many hits. A judgment against “J. Rodriguez” or “John A. Smith” will appear for any owner with a similar name until it is ruled out.
The usual fix is a sworn statement from the owner that they are not the person named. It often includes details such as past addresses. One major underwriter’s standard requirement, a “Not Same Person Affidavit,” calls for sworn statements from the owner and another reliable person (Stewart standard exceptions). That is an underwriter’s rule, not a law, and each underwriter decides what proof it accepts. If the hit could plausibly be the seller, expect more questions or a requirement to pay it.
The same applies to the buyer. A judgment against the buyer attaches when the buyer takes ownership, and a lender will want it cleared or ruled out.
Tax liens and tax warrants
Federal tax liens. An IRS lien doesn’t count against a buyer until it is filed where state law says (federal law). At a sale, a federal lien against the seller is paid from the sale money. The IRS must release the lien within 30 days after the debt is paid (federal law). If the sale won’t cover the full debt, the seller can ask the IRS to release just this property, called a certificate of discharge. IRS Publication 783 asks for the application at least 45 days before closing.
NYS tax warrants. A filed warrant is a lien on real and personal property (state tax department). Underwriters differ on how long they treat it as lasting (see the professional section below). Once the balance is paid in full, the tax department sends a satisfaction to the Department of State and the County Clerk. It also issues a Notice of Pending Warrant Satisfaction. The department says title companies generally accept this as proof the lien will be removed. Where full payment isn’t possible, it offers lien releases or subordinations for sales and loans.
Tax liens are usually not handled by holding money back at closing. They are paid off. One major underwriter’s New York rules, for example, require a payoff for state and federal tax liens.
Mechanic’s liens
A contractor or supplier files a mechanic’s lien with the County Clerk. It must be filed within eight months after the last work or materials, or four months for a single-family home (state law). Unlike a judgment, it is a lien on the property itself. So it binds a buyer no matter who owns the property.
It lasts one year from filing, unless the contractor sues to foreclose and files a lawsuit notice, or extends it (state law). The contractor can file one extension in that first year, for up to one more year. After that, or on a single-family home at any point, only a court order can keep it alive. An expired lien with no lawsuit or extension on record is cleared on that basis.
A live lien can be cleared by:
- A recorded satisfaction from the contractor.
- A bond for 110% of the lien.
- A court order, or a court ruling for the owner.
- A quick court order removing a lien that is invalid on its face (state law).
- A deposit of the amount claimed plus interest with the County Clerk, before any foreclosure suit starts (state law).
If the seller disputes the bill, a bond or deposit lets the sale close while the dispute goes on.
Who does what to clear it
The work splits the way it does across a New York closing (see who does what at a New York closing):
- Buyer’s attorney lists each judgment and lien as an objection and requires the seller to clear it.
- Seller’s attorney does the clearing: orders payoff letters, gets satisfactions, prepares “not the same person” statements, and arranges bonds or deposits for disputed mechanic’s liens.
- Title company handles each item one of four ways: paid at closing (the closer takes the check and the satisfaction follows), dropped (proof shows it is expired, paid or not the owner’s), escrow (money held from the seller’s proceeds until a satisfaction is filed), or exception (it stays in the policy, without coverage).
- Underwriter (the insurer behind the title company) sets the rules and approves anything outside them, especially escrows.
Payoffs, escrows and affidavits show on the closing statement and title bill; see the title bill explained.
What to do next
Sellers: go through the judgment and lien list the day the title report arrives. Tell your attorney which items are yours, which you paid, and which are not you. Tax payoffs, IRS discharges and creditor satisfactions take weeks.
Buyers: ask your attorney which items will be paid at closing, dropped, or held in escrow, and whether anything will stay as an exception in your owner’s policy. An item left as an exception is not covered.
Both: in an estate sale, judgments against the person who died and against the heirs need their own review; see buying or selling from an estate. For an old open mortgage, see clearing an old or unsatisfied mortgage.
Details for attorneys and title professionals
- Extending a judgment lien. Apart from renewal, a court can extend the original lien in limited cases, such as where the creditor was stopped from enforcing it or a sale under an execution is under way.
- Federal lien refiling. The IRS must refile its lien notice within a window around the ten-year collection mark to keep its priority (federal law). The IRS generally has ten years from assessment to collect (federal collection law).
- How long a state tax warrant lasts. State tax law applies the judgment-lien time limits to warrant liens on real estate, including those filed with the Department of State. A separate provision ends the tax debt itself after 20 years. Underwriters read these differently. Stewart’s 2022 New York guidelines treat state tax warrants as effective for 20 years from the first date they could be filed.
- Underwriter escrow rules. Stewart’s New York guidelines say escrow cannot be held to clear state or federal tax liens; a payoff is required. For a judgment about to expire, they allow an escrow of double the face amount, with underwriter approval needed above $10,000. Other underwriters set different terms.
Official sources
- CPLR 5203: judgment liens on real property
- CPLR 5014: renewal judgments
- CPLR 5018: docketing in other counties
- CPLR 5020: satisfaction-piece
- CPLR 211: 20-year presumption of payment
- Lien Law § 10, § 17, § 19, § 20, § 240
- Tax Law § 6, § 174-A and § 174-B
- 26 U.S.C. § 6323, § 6325, § 6502; IRS Publication 783
- NYS Department of State, State Tax Warrant Notices
- NYS Department of Taxation and Finance, Tax warrants
- Westchester County Clerk, Judgments and liens
- Matter of Accounts Retrievable Sys., LLC v Conway, 2011 NY Slip Op 03590
- Stewart Title, New York Guidelines for Out-of-State and New Agents (2022), sections XIV.C.1.c, XIV.C.4 and XIV.C.5, and standard exceptions, Names (underwriter guidance)
- Stewart Title, New York State tax warrant filing changes