A New York title bill mixes charges that look alike but follow different rules. Some have a fixed price by law. Some are set by the title company. Some are taxes the title company collects for the government.
- The premium and endorsements come from a rate manual filed with the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS). They can’t be discounted or marked up.
- Extra service fees, such as municipal searches and recording service charges, are set by the title company. They must be disclosed, but no filed rate fixes them.
- Taxes and government recording fees pass straight through. The title closer collects them for the government.
- Closer fees, such as a pick-up fee, follow local custom. They have been largely unregulated since a 2019 court decision.
This guide covers New York City and Westchester County. Both are in Zone 2 of the Title Insurance Rate Service Association (TIRSA) rate manual. For how the premium is calculated, see what title insurance costs in NYC and Westchester.
How each charge is set
| Charge | Who sets it | Same at every company? |
|---|---|---|
| Premium | Filed TIRSA rate | Yes, except approved lower rates |
| Endorsements | Filed TIRSA rate | Yes |
| Extra service fees | Title company | Varies by company |
| Taxes, recording fees | Law, government | Yes, set by law |
| Closer fees | Custom | Varies by closer |
The premium and endorsements: fixed by filed rates
Title insurers in New York charge from the TIRSA Rate Manual, Seventh Revision, effective October 1, 2024. Its charges can’t be waived, reduced or increased except as New York insurance law allows. The only lawful exception is a lower rate that an underwriter has filed and had approved, called a deviation. It matters mainly for owner’s policies under $1 million.
In Zone 2, the premium already includes the title search and tax search for one tax lot. It also includes one update of each search, called a continuation. Extra tax lots cost more.
An endorsement adds to or changes the policy’s coverage. Each one has its own filed charge. Many common home endorsements cost a flat $50 each. Some cost nothing, and a few are a percentage of the premium. For example:
| Endorsement | Policy | Charge |
|---|---|---|
| TIRSA Residential Mortgage (1-4 family) | Loan | $50 |
| TIRSA Waiver of Arbitration | Owner’s or loan | $50 |
| TIRSA Environmental Protection Lien | Loan | $50 |
| TIRSA Condominium | Owner’s or loan | $50 |
| TIRSA Planned Unit Development | Owner’s or loan | $50 |
| ALTA 6-06 Variable Rate Mortgage | Loan | $50 |
| ALTA 9 series (residential) | Owner’s or loan | $50 each |
| TIRSA Market Value Endorsement | Owner’s | 10% of owner’s rate |
| Standard New York Endorsement | Owner’s or loan | No charge |
| TIRSA Cooperative Endorsement | Owner’s or loan | No charge |
The lender usually decides which endorsements go on the loan policy. Its closing instructions list them. On the owner’s policy, endorsements are the buyer’s choice.
An endorsement charge is a filed rate, just like the premium. If a bill shows an endorsement at a different price, ask which part of the manual supports it.
Extra service fees: separate, disclosed, not fixed
The premium doesn’t include extra services, which the manual says may include searches of municipal departments. The manual also allows extra charges when the closing runs over two hours or needs unusual travel.
Common extra service lines in NYC and Westchester:
- Municipal or department searches. In NYC these check building, fire, street, emergency repair and similar records. They often include violations from the Department of Buildings, OATH/ECB (the city’s hearing office) and HPD (the city’s housing agency). In Westchester they check the local building department and certificate of occupancy records, which vary by municipality. See NYC property violations at closing and Westchester open permits and certificates of occupancy.
- Name searches. Patriot Act (OFAC) searches, which check names against federal sanctions lists, plus bankruptcy and similar searches on the parties.
- Survey inspection. This applies to an owner’s policy on residential property without a current survey the company accepts. The manual requires the company to charge for an inspection. The inspection lets the policy drop its exception for changes since the old survey.
- Recording service charge. The title company’s fee for handling recording, separate from the government fee.
- Escrow, overnight delivery and administrative fees.
Two rules apply to these fees. Under New York insurance law, a title agent may charge an extra fee only for services the premium doesn’t include. The agent also needs a written memo, signed by the person charged, listing each fee and the total. Under a DFS disclosure rule:
- insurers must post these fees on their websites
- agents must post them at their office and online, and give you a written copy
- the agent must give you a list of actual title costs at or before closing
Because the title company sets these fees, they can differ between companies. They are the part of the bill worth comparing.
Taxes and government fees: passed through
The title closer usually collects these and pays them to the government at recording:
- mortgage recording tax
- New York State transfer tax
- the NYC Real Property Transfer Tax or a Westchester city transfer tax
- county clerk or City Register recording fees
The title company doesn’t set or keep these amounts. They are often the largest numbers on the bill.
- Mortgage recording tax: see mortgage recording tax in NYC and Westchester.
- The state transfer tax is $2 per $500 of the price (state tax law). Large NYC sales pay a higher rate.
- Westchester city transfer taxes: see Yonkers, Mount Vernon and Peekskill transfer taxes.
- Recording fees depend on the number of documents and pages. In NYC (except Staten Island), documents are recorded with the Department of Finance’s City Register. In Staten Island and Westchester, they go to the county clerk.
A bill sometimes puts a government recording fee and the company’s own recording charge on one line. You can ask for them to be split.
Closer fees: set by custom
The title closer may charge a pick-up fee for taking the seller’s mortgage payoff checks to the lender after closing. By custom the seller pays it. New York State Bar Association surveys for Brooklyn (Kings County) and Westchester both describe a pick-up fee. The Westchester survey says the closer’s attendance is included in the premium there (see who does what at a New York closing). The rate manual doesn’t set a pick-up fee, so the amount varies by company and closer. The seller’s attorney should ask for it before closing.
Which fee limits still apply
A DFS regulation once capped many extra service fees and closer payments. A 2019 court decision struck down part of it. Where things stand today:
- Patriot, bankruptcy and most municipal and department search fees are no longer capped. They must still be disclosed.
- At least some underwriters treat the caps on recording service, survey inspection, escrow and overnight delivery as still in force.
- The regulation no longer limits closer pick-up fees or direct payments to closers. Another part of the same regulation, which bans giving anything of value to steer title business, still applies.
The details are in the professional section below.
A sample bill (hypothetical)
This is a sample buyer’s title bill for a Zone 2 purchase with a bank loan. The premiums come from Example 1 in what title insurance costs at the TIRSA rate. Search, recording and tax amounts are shown as “Varies” because they depend on the property, the title company and the documents.
| Line | Amount | Category | Fixed by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner’s policy, $800,000 | $3,525 | Premium | TIRSA rate |
| Loan policy, $640,000 (simultaneous) | $734 | Premium | TIRSA rate |
| Residential Mortgage endorsement | $50 | Endorsement | TIRSA rate |
| Environmental Protection Lien endorsement | $50 | Endorsement | TIRSA rate |
| ALTA 6-06 Variable Rate (adjustable loan) | $50 | Endorsement | TIRSA rate |
| Municipal departmental searches | Varies | Extra service | Company |
| Patriot and bankruptcy searches | Varies | Extra service | Company |
| Survey inspection | Varies | Extra service | Company |
| Recording service charge | Varies | Extra service | Company |
| Deed and mortgage recording fees | Varies | Pass-through | Government |
| Mortgage recording tax | Varies | Pass-through | Law |
On the seller’s side, a separate bill or seller section usually lists the transfer taxes and any pick-up fee for the payoff.
How to review a title bill before closing
- Ask for a pro forma bill, an advance itemized bill, several days before closing. It should list every line, not just a total.
- Check the premium against an underwriter’s New York rate calculator. Ask which underwriter issues the owner’s policy, since that decides whether a lower rate applies.
- Match each endorsement to the lender’s closing instructions or the owner’s request, and confirm its filed charge.
- Compare extra service fees with the company’s posted fee schedule, which the DFS disclosure rule requires. Ask what each municipal search covers.
- Separate pass-throughs from company charges, especially on recording lines.
- Confirm closer charges in advance, including any pick-up fee, so the seller’s attorney can budget for it.
Details for attorneys and title professionals
- Where the endorsement charges are. The no-charge endorsements, the ALTA 9 series charges, the $50 default for endorsements not otherwise priced and the Market Value Endorsement charge each have their own section of the manual. Official sources lists them.
- What the old fee caps said. The DFS regulation (fee rule) capped these fees on residential closings: Patriot, bankruptcy and municipal searches at 200% of cost; recording service at $25 per document plus government fees; survey inspection at $75 plus the surveyor’s cost; overnight mail at cost; and escrow at $50. It also required the company, not the applicant, to pay the closer. And it required three days’ notice to the seller of any payoff fee.
- What the court struck. On January 15, 2019, a New York appeals court, the Appellate Division, First Department (decision), struck the caps on Patriot, bankruptcy and municipal search fees and the closer payment rules. It upheld the rest, including the inducement ban and the rate rules. DFS then said in a circular letter that “the ancillary fee and closer payment restrictions” in the fee rule were annulled. It said insurers and agents need not comply with them.
- What survived. The court’s order names only those search fee caps and the closer payment rules. The caps on searches billed by a municipality, recording service, survey inspection, overnight mail and escrow were not struck. At least one underwriter told its agents in January 2020 that those caps remain in effect. That underwriter also noted the broader wording of the DFS letter.
- Regulation numbers are easy to mix up. Each DFS rule in this guide has two numbers: a DFS regulation number and a different number in the state’s official code of rules. A citation that pairs a DFS regulation number with the code’s “Part” or “Section” label is almost always a mix-up. Official sources pairs the correct numbers for the disclosure rule and the fee rule.
Official sources
- TIRSA Rate Manual, Seventh Revision, effective October 1, 2024 (Sections 2(A), 2(G), 2(J)(1), 3(C), 3(D); Section 30 for ALTA 9 series; Section 33(A) for no-charge endorsements, 33(D)(7) for the Market Value Endorsement and 33(G) for the $50 default)
- NY Insurance Law § 2119, including (f) on title agent ancillary fees
- NY Insurance Law § 2339, charging of rates and deviations
- 11 NYCRR § 35.6 (Regulation 206), disclosure of fees and other charges
- 11 NYCRR § 228.5 (Regulation 208), ancillary or other discretionary fees; § 228.5(a)(1)-(3) and (d)(1)-(2) annulled, (a)(4)-(8) not addressed; § 228.2 inducements and § 228.3 rates upheld
- Matter of New York State Land Title Assn. v. NYS Dept. of Financial Services, 169 AD3d 18, 2019 NY Slip Op 00245 (1st Dept, Jan. 15, 2019)
- DFS Insurance Circular Letter No. 2a (2019)
- Stewart Title bulletin NY000634 (January 2020), remaining Section 228.5 caps
- NY Tax Law § 1402, real estate transfer tax
- NYSBA practice surveys: Kings County and Westchester