Title Search and Title Report in New York: What They Show and How to Read Them

A title search is a review of public records that shows who owns a property and what claims are against it: mortgages, liens, judgments, taxes and recorded rights of others. In New York, the title company turns that search into a title report. The report says what the insurer will insure, what it will not (the exceptions in Schedule B), and what must be cleared before closing (the requirements). The buyer’s attorney reviews the report and raises objections with the seller’s side.

This guide covers New York State, with notes on New York City and Westchester County records. The report is not a title insurance policy. It states the terms on which the insurer will issue one.

What a title search checks

The chain of ownership, and how far back it goes

The examiner traces the deeds from the current owner back through earlier owners (the chain of title). The examiner checks that each transfer was signed by the person who owned the property at the time and was properly recorded. No New York law fixes how far back the search must go. Each title insurer sets its own standard.

Stewart Title’s New York guidelines (Dec. 13, 2022), for example, call for a 40 to 60 year search for purchases, commercial deals and refinances over $750,000. They allow a 10-year search for home refinances under $750,000. Practice also varies by region. A 2019 Chicago Title presentation for Western New York notes that Erie County contract practice runs the search back to the first recorded source of title or a deed recorded before 1920. Many other counties go back only 40 or 60 years.

Liens, judgments and name searches

Beyond the deeds, the search covers:

Search Run against Where filed (NYC 4 boroughs; Westchester)
Mortgage records Property NYC: City Register (ACRIS). Westchester: County Clerk
Easements, covenants, leases Property NYC: City Register (ACRIS). Westchester: County Clerk
Money judgments Owners’ names County Clerk in both
Lis pendens, mechanic’s liens Property, owners County Clerk in both
Federal tax liens Owners’ names NYC: City Register. Westchester: County Clerk
State tax warrants Owners’ names Dept. of State and County Clerk in both
UCC fixture filings Property/owner NYC: City Register. Westchester: County Clerk
Bankruptcy, Patriot Act All parties Federal records in both
Taxes, water and sewer Property NYC: DOF, DEP. Westchester: Local receiver, water dept.

Mortgage records include assignments (transfers of the mortgage to a new lender) and satisfactions (recorded proof of payoff). A lis pendens is a notice that a lawsuit affects the property. A mechanic’s lien is a contractor’s or supplier’s claim for unpaid work or materials.

UCC fixture filings, which claim items attached to the building, go to the office where a mortgage on the land would be recorded. That is the City Register in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, and the county clerk elsewhere (New York’s commercial code). Staten Island land records are at the Richmond County Clerk, not ACRIS. Where each lien type is filed, how long it lasts and how it is cleared is covered in what happens when a title search finds a lien or judgment.

Name searches run against every party: the seller, the buyer and, under Stewart’s guidelines, earlier owners in the chain who transferred the property for no payment. That is why the report often lists judgments against unfamiliar names.

Municipal and departmental searches

Under Stewart’s guidelines, tax, water and sewer, bankruptcy and Patriot Act searches are always required. Building, certificate of occupancy, fire, street and similar searches are ordered too, but they are for information only. They are not insured and not updated to the closing date. What each one shows is covered separately for NYC, Westchester and commercial property.

The title report: “certificate of title” or “commitment”

Professionals use several names for the same document: title report, certificate of title, certificate and report on title, or commitment for title insurance (Chicago Title presentation). They all mean the insurer’s offer to issue a policy on stated terms.

State rules require the title agent to deliver the report to the person who applied for the insurance, or that person’s attorney, at least three days before the scheduled closing. The first page must say in bold that the report is not a title insurance policy, may set out exclusions and may not list all liens, defects and encumbrances.

A New York report usually arrives as a package: a cover page and certification, Schedule A, Schedule B, closing requirements, the survey reading, a list of mortgages, tax and water results, judgment and lien results, municipal searches, bankruptcy and Patriot results, and a copy of the last deed (Stewart guidelines). Layout varies by company.

Schedule A

Schedule A gives the effective date of the search, the proposed insured, the amount of insurance and the type of ownership insured (usually full ownership, called fee simple). It also names who now holds title and by what deed, and gives the legal description (Stewart guidelines).

Check three things:

  • The owner named should match the seller on your contract.
  • The legal description should match the survey and tax map. Stewart requires any mismatch to be raised in Schedule B.
  • The effective date shows how current the search is. Stewart notes it usually runs a week or two behind, because recorded documents take time to be indexed.

Schedule B: exceptions and requirements

Schedule B matters most. It holds two kinds of items, sometimes in separate sections and sometimes mixed in one list:

  • Requirements: things the insurer says must be done before it will issue the policy, such as paying off the seller’s mortgage or filing a satisfaction of a judgment.
  • Exceptions: things the policy will not cover. If an exception is not removed by closing, the buyer takes title subject to it, without insurance.

Exceptions come in two types. Standard exceptions appear in every report. They include taxes and water charges as shown in the tax search, rights of tenants and people in possession, recorded covenants and easements, survey matters when there is no survey, and water charges since the last meter reading, among others.

In NYC, extra standard items cover emergency repair liens, Department of Buildings (DOB) fees and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) water charges. Special exceptions are specific to the property: a particular recorded easement, an open mortgage, a judgment against the seller, a declaration of covenants.

The examiner sorts each special item into one of three outcomes: it will be cleared at or before closing, it will be removed once proof is given, or it will stay in the policy.

How to read Schedule B: an example

Below is a hypothetical Schedule B for a one-family house purchase, with wording shortened.

Item (hypothetical) Type What it means; likely outcome
1. Taxes per tax search Standard Unpaid taxes not covered; paid at closing
2. Rights of tenants Standard Occupants’ rights; removed with a sworn statement (affidavit)
3. Survey exception Standard Boundary risk; survey reading replaces it
4. Mortgage, $410,000, 2019 Special Seller’s open loan; payoff at closing
5. Judgment v. J. Smith Special Name match only; removed with a sworn statement that the seller is a different person
6. Mechanic’s lien, 2024 Special Contractor claim; removed by a bond or a filed release (satisfaction)
7. Utility easement, 1958 Special Recorded right; stays in policy
8. Proof of LLC authority Requirement Seller is an LLC; docs before closing

For each special item, ask which outcome applies. Items 4 to 6 are the seller’s to clear. Item 7 is normal. A utility easement is a recorded right for a utility to run lines or pipes across the land, and it is rarely removed. The question is whether it affects how you can use the property, and the survey answers that. Anything you cannot classify is a question for your attorney before the objection deadline in the contract, not at the closing table.

The final update at closing

Before closing, the title company runs a final update, called a continuation, bring-down or redate, to pick up anything recorded or filed since the effective date. Stewart requires the final continuation to be ordered before closing and received on the closing date, together with a tax update. In NYC and Westchester, which are in Zone 2 of the TIRSA rate manual that sets title premiums, the premium already includes one continuation and one tax continuation (what title insurance costs).

At the closing the closer marks up the report to show which items were cleared, removed or kept. The policy is issued from that mark-up (who does what at a New York closing). Municipal searches are not updated, so a weeks-old building department letter says nothing about a newer violation.

How long does a title search take?

No official source sets a turnaround time, and figures on commercial websites are unsourced. What drives timing:

  • Property type. A single-lot house moves faster than a multi-lot, mixed-use or condo-conversion file.
  • Chain complexity. Estates, foreclosures, LLC transfers and old unsatisfied mortgages add examination work.
  • Records. Older documents not in an online index (ACRIS starts in 1966) have to be pulled by hand.
  • Municipal searches. These come from separate city, town and village offices, each on its own schedule, and are often the last pieces to arrive.
  • Clearing. The report can arrive quickly while clearing its items (payoffs, satisfactions, IRS lien discharges) takes weeks.

Order title as soon as the contract is signed. The clearing work, not the search, is what usually sets the closing date.

“Free title search”: ACRIS and the County Clerk vs an insured search

You can search NYC land records for free in ACRIS, which covers Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx from 1966 forward (DOF, ACRIS). In Westchester, the County Clerk offers a free online index search through Westchester Records Online, with document images on public terminals in the office (Westchester County Clerk, Search land records). Judgment and lien reports there are by subscription or per printout (Westchester County Clerk, Judgments and liens).

A self-search is useful before a contract, to confirm the seller owns the property and see the recorded mortgages. It differs from an insured search in three ways:

Self-search Title company search
Records covered One office All offices, name searches
Examined by You Examiner
Backed by Nothing Insurer, via the policy

In NYC a free ACRIS search misses money judgments, lis pendens and mechanic’s liens (all at the County Clerk), unpaid taxes and water charges, and violations. The gaps are listed in how to read ACRIS for title. No search, paid or free, shows a forged signature or an unrecorded claim. That risk is what the owner’s policy covers; see what title insurance is.

Details for attorneys and title professionals

  • Underwriter guidance. The search periods, required searches, name searches, report package, Schedule A checks, standard exceptions and continuation rules above come from one underwriter’s published New York guidelines (Stewart). Other underwriters set their own standards. The section of the guidelines behind each point is listed under Official sources.
  • Terms. Stewart calls the 40 to 60 year search an “abstract.” What this guide calls standard exceptions, Stewart calls “permanent” exceptions.

Official sources

Related guides

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.