New York · RecordingNew York deed signing and recording: acknowledgment, the required statements and the transfer report

A New York deed is recorded with the clerk of the county where the property lies once it has been acknowledged or proved and the acknowledgment or proof is certified as the Real Property Law requires (RPL §291). The acknowledgment can be made only by the person who executed the deed; a proof can be made only by another person who witnessed the execution and signed the deed as a witness at the same time (§292). Within the state, an acknowledgment may be taken anywhere before a notary public, a supreme court justice, an official examiner of title or an official referee, and within their districts before judges and clerks of courts of record, commissioners of deeds, county clerks and other listed officers (§298). The certificate must conform substantially to the statutory form, stating that the signer appeared personally, was known to the officer or proved by satisfactory evidence, and acknowledged executing the instrument in the stated capacity (§309-a). The recording officer won't record or accept a conveyance unless it states the residence of each party, including street and street number if any, and, for a deed, the city, town and village where the property is located – though a missing statement doesn't invalidate a deed already recorded – and unless it is accompanied by the receipt issued by the commissioner of taxation and finance or a transfer report form in the commissioner's prescribed form with its fee (§333(1-a), (1-d), (1-e)).