Title Company vs Real Estate Attorney: Who Does What at a New York Closing

In a New York home sale, the attorneys run the deal and the title company insures it. The seller’s attorney usually prepares the contract and holds the buyer’s down payment in an attorney escrow account. The buyer’s attorney orders title and deals with whatever the title report turns up.

The title company, a licensed title agency, searches the property’s records and issues the title report. After closing it issues the policy for a title insurer. The title closer is the title company’s representative at the closing: the closer collects title charges, handles mortgage payoffs and takes the documents for recording.

This attorney-run model is custom, not a legal requirement, but it is how home closings are done across New York City and Westchester County. It differs from states where a title or escrow company holds the deposit and runs the closing.

Who’s who at a New York closing

Seller’s attorney. Works for the seller. Prepares the contract, holds the deposit, prepares the deed and transfer tax forms, and gets payoff letters for the seller’s mortgage. Holds money: yes, the contract deposit, in an attorney escrow account (an IOLA or other special account).
Buyer’s attorney. Works for the buyer. Reviews and negotiates the contract, orders title, reviews the title report and survey, makes the seller clear objections, and coordinates the closing. Holds money: sometimes, money held back after closing; pays out the funds in an all-cash deal.
Lender’s attorney. Works for the lender only. Prepares and reviews loan documents, enforces the lender’s closing instructions, and funds the loan. Holds money: sometimes, the loan money, depending on the lender.
Title agency. The licensed agent of a title insurer. Searches and examines title, issues the title report (the commitment to insure), clears problems, and issues the owner’s and loan policies. Holds money: title premiums, recording fees and taxes, payoff funds handed to the closer, and any escrow it agrees in writing to hold.
Title closer. Works for the title agency or insurer that sends them. Attends the closing, marks up the title report, collects title charges, takes payoff checks, and takes documents for recording. Holds money: yes, for the day (the checks collected at the table).
Title insurer (underwriter). Works for itself. Carries the risk on the policy, sets the rules for what it will insure, and appoints and oversees agents. Holds money: not at the table.

The attorneys run the deal

Across New York City and Westchester, each side of a home sale usually hires its own attorney. The attorneys, not the title company, drive the deal from contract to closing. The New York State Bar Association’s county practice surveys describe the same pattern in Queens, Kings County (Brooklyn) and Westchester.

In those surveys, the contract is prepared on the seller’s side. In Queens and Brooklyn it is sometimes on a broker’s form, with the seller’s attorney involved. The seller’s attorney holds the deposit, usually 10% of the price, and the buyer’s attorney orders the title report.

Seller’s attorney

The seller’s attorney prepares the contract, holds the down payment, prepares the deed and the transfer tax and recording forms, and orders payoff letters for the seller’s mortgage. The deposit sits in the attorney’s escrow account. Under New York’s rules for lawyers, a lawyer holding someone else’s money must hold it in trust for the person it belongs to. The lawyer must keep it in a separate special account, apart from the firm’s own money, at a bank in New York State.

An out-of-state bank is allowed only with the owner’s written approval in advance. The contract says when the deposit is released, usually at closing as part of the price.

Buyer’s attorney

The buyer’s attorney negotiates the contract, then orders title from a title agency the buyer chooses. When the title report arrives, the buyer’s attorney reviews it and sends the seller’s attorney a list of objections. The attorney follows each one until the seller clears it or both sides agree how to handle it at closing. In a refinance there is no seller, and the Queens survey notes the bank usually orders the title search.

Lender’s attorney

If you are financing, the lender usually has its own attorney, often called the bank attorney. That attorney represents only the lender, even when you pay the fee. A New York State Bar Association ethics opinion says a lender may require the borrower to pay its attorney for work actually done. But that attorney “represents the mortgagee alone” (the mortgagee is the lender), and the borrower is represented by their own attorney.

The lender’s attorney prepares the loan papers, confirms the title report meets the lender’s requirements and controls the release of the loan money.

The title agency insures the deal

A title agency is a licensed agent of a title insurance company. New York law defines a title agent by what it does when a policy is issued. It sells or negotiates the policy and decides, based on a title search, whether the property can be insured. It also does at least one of these: collects or pays out premiums, escrows or related funds; prepares or marks up the title report; prepares or delivers the policy; or negotiates how title problems get cleared.

Anyone paid to do this must be licensed by the state’s insurance regulator, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) (licensing law). Attorneys are not exempt from licensing. A New York attorney in good standing skips the pre-licensing course and exam. The attorney still needs the license to act as a title agent, as DFS confirms in its title agent licensing FAQs.

In practice the agency runs the search (deeds, mortgages, liens, judgments, municipal searches) and has it examined. It issues a title report listing what the policy will not cover and what must be cleared before closing. It works with the attorneys to clear those items, then records the documents and issues the owner’s and loan policies after closing.

Agency vs underwriter

The title insurer, often called the underwriter, is the insurance company that carries the risk. DFS regulates it, and the agency is its licensed representative. The agency’s name may be on the title report, but the policy is the insurer’s contract. One agency may be appointed by several underwriters and place a given policy with any of them.

Premiums for the policy itself are set by filed rates (see what title insurance costs in NYC and Westchester). Under DFS rules, an agent may charge separate fees only for extra services the premium does not cover, and must disclose them to you.

The agency’s handling of money is also regulated. State law requires a title agent to hold money it receives or collects as an agent in trust for the people it belongs to. It may not mix that money with its own without the consent of the party it acts for.

The title closer at the table

The title closer is the person the title company sends to the closing. DFS rules define a closer as anyone who, for pay, “represents a title insurance corporation or title insurance agent at a closing.” The closer may be an employee or an independent contractor. The insurer or agent that uses a closer must take reasonable steps (“due diligence”) to make sure the closer is competent and trustworthy. It is also responsible for the closer’s acts in issuing the policy (DFS rules).

At a typical closing, the closer:

updates the title report to the closing date (the “bring-down” or continuation search) and confirms nothing new has been recorded;
marks up the title report to show what was cleared, what was removed and what will stay as an exception, which the attorneys review before signing off;
collects the title premium, recording fees, and recording and transfer taxes, usually by check from the buyer, seller or lender;
takes payoff checks for the seller’s mortgage and delivers them to the lender (a “pick-up”), so the satisfaction can follow;
takes the deed, mortgage and transfer tax forms for recording.

The closer does not represent the buyer, the seller or the lender, and does not give legal advice. Questions about whether to accept an exception or close with an item still open go to the attorneys.

Pick-up fees are a long-standing local charge. The Kings County and Westchester surveys both describe a pick-up fee when the closer handles a mortgage payoff. The Westchester survey adds that the closer’s attendance is included in the title premium.

A DFS rule once limited closer payments, but a New York appeals court struck those limits down on January 15, 2019. DFS then confirmed that agents and insurers need not follow them (DFS circular letter, 2019). Ask for the title bill in advance so every closer and ancillary charge is visible before closing day.

Recording: NYC vs Westchester

The title company usually records the documents in both places, but the recording office differs:

Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx: documents are recorded with the NYC Department of Finance’s City Register, and the records are searchable in ACRIS (see how to read ACRIS for title).
Staten Island: documents are recorded with the Richmond County Clerk, not the City Register, as the Department of Finance notes.
Westchester County: documents are recorded with the Westchester County Clerk’s Land Records Division. It requires cover pages and two state forms, the TP-584 (transfer tax return) and RP-5217 (property transfer report), to be prepared in its online Property Records Electronic Portal (PREP). The Westchester survey notes the PREP input is done either by the title company for a fee or by the seller’s attorney.

What “escrow” means at a New York closing

Many online explanations, including AI-generated answers, describe New York title companies as escrow agents that hold the earnest money and run the closing. That is how it can work in states such as Florida. There, the state’s consumer guide says an attorney or a licensed title agent may handle the closing, and whoever handles it holds the earnest money.

It is not how a typical New York home closing works. In New York the deposit usually sits with the seller’s attorney, there is no separate escrow company, and the attorneys run the closing.

When New York professionals say “escrow” at closing, they usually mean one of three things:

The contract deposit, held in the seller’s attorney’s escrow account until closing.
Money held back after closing. If something can’t be cleared by closing (a lien waiting on a satisfaction, a violation still being resolved, a repair the seller agreed to finish), part of the seller’s proceeds may be held back until it is resolved. Depending on the agreement, one of the attorneys or the title company holds it. A title company typically holds the money when the escrow is the condition for leaving an exception out of the policy. A written escrow agreement then says what must happen before the money is released.
The lender’s escrow account for property taxes and insurance. That is a mortgage servicing account and has nothing to do with the closing escrow.

If someone in a New York deal mentions “the escrow,” ask which one they mean and who holds it.

What to do next

Buyers: review the title report with your attorney and ask which items will be cleared before closing, which will be excepted, and which will be escrowed.
Sellers: give your attorney your mortgage account details early so payoff letters are ready. Expect an unresolved lien or violation to become a holdback from your proceeds (see NYC violations at closing and clearing an old unsatisfied mortgage).
Everyone: get the title bill before closing, confirm in writing who holds any post-closing escrow and on what terms, and check payoff and wiring instructions directly with the source. New York does not permit closing protection letters, so who holds the money matters.

Details for attorneys and title professionals

Who counts as a title agent. Salaried employees of an insurer or a licensed agent who are not paid by volume of business are not title agents under the state definition.
The 2019 court rulings. The rule that limited closer payments also limited ancillary fees, and the January 2019 appeals court decision struck down both limits. The rest of that DFS regulation still stands, including its ban on gifts and other inducements for title business. In December 2019 the same court rejected a further challenge to the inducement ban.
Fee disclosure. The DFS rule on separate service fees is part of the regulation that also governs title report delivery, referral disclosures and closers.

Official sources

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.