Can I Use a Quitclaim Deed in New York?
Yes. A quitclaim deed can be used in New York to transfer whatever ownership interest you have in a property. You are not promising that you own the entire property or that the title is free of liens or other claims. And if there is a mortgage, signing the deed does not make the loan disappear or automatically release anyone who signed it.
Quitclaim deeds are commonly used when property is being transferred between people who know one another — for example, to add a spouse or adult child to the title, transfer a home into a trust, divide property after a divorce, or give your share of a property to a co-owner.
You'll see two terms throughout this New York guide. The grantor is the person transferring the property. The grantee is the person receiving it.
🛟 Need a little extra help? If you would rather not prepare the deed entirely on your own, see Need Help With Your New York Quitclaim Deed, further down this page, for resources that can help.
âš¡ New York Quick Facts
- Signing: The person transferring the property signs the deed before a notary.
- State forms: Every deed packet includes two state forms, even when the property is a gift: Form TP-584, the transfer tax return, and Form RP-5217, which reports the transfer for assessment purposes. RP-5217 must be prepared using the Tax Department's official PDF because it creates the barcode used when the deed is recorded.
- New York City: Deeds relating to property in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens are not recorded with the County Clerk. Instead they are recorded with the City Register. The city requires you to prepare the deed packet online using the land records website. That website is called ACRIS, which stands for Automated City Register Information System. Once it's prepared, you can print the packet and bring or mail it in, so preparing online doesn't mean recording online. Staten Island is different: deeds are recorded with the Richmond County Clerk, although New York City forms still apply.
- Transfer tax: A true gift can be exempt, and New York State doesn't count a mortgage that stays on a one- to three-family home or condo as part of the price.
- Co-owners: If the property is going to two or more people, the deed should state how they will hold title together.
- Recording cost: There isn't one statewide price. The amount depends on the county, the number of pages, the property and whether any transfer tax is due.
What You Need Before Filling Out the Deed
Before you start filling in names, have everything on the list below ready. A New York clerk looks for every item on this list, either on the deed itself or in the papers filed with the deed.
- Your current deed, so you can copy your name and the legal description exactly
- The property's tax map number (its section, block and lot), from your tax bill
- Home addresses for you and for everyone receiving the property, because the clerk won't record a deed without them
- The city or town, and the village if there is one, where the property is located
- The ownership wording, if two or more people are receiving the property
- A notary, either in person or a New York electronic notary online
- Form TP-584, the transfer tax return, which you and the grantee both sign
- Form RP-5217, the report that tells the assessor about the transfer, filled in on the Tax Department's own PDF so it prints its barcode
- In the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan or Queens: the cover page that ACRIS prints to go on top of your deed, and the city's own real property transfer tax return, Form NYC-RPT
- Money for the recording fee, the transfer report fee and any transfer tax
Many mortgages have a due-on-sale clause, which lets the lender demand the whole loan be paid off if you transfer the property. It can apply even when no money changes hands, so read your loan papers before you sign, especially if you're transferring after a divorce or into a trust. Our guide to removing an ex-spouse from a deed explains how the title and the loan differ.
How to Fill Out a New York Quitclaim Deed
Step 1: Find the Recording Office
Outside New York City, you record the deed with the county clerk in the county where the property is located. New York City works differently. In the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, the City Register records deeds, and you prepare the paperwork in its online system, ACRIS. Staten Island is the exception inside the city: its deeds go to the Richmond County Clerk.
Step 2: Set Up the Deed
New York law prints short-form quitclaim deed wording you can follow, though you don't have to use it word for word; other wording can be valid too. The published version uses the words "remise, release, and quitclaim," and those three verbs are what make it a quitclaim. Here's the core of it, with blanks for your details, including the consideration, meaning whatever the grantee gives you in return:
[Grantor], in consideration of [amount] dollars, does hereby remise, release and quitclaim unto [Grantee], [the grantee's heirs or successors, as appropriate] and assigns forever, all [full legal description], together with the appurtenances and all the estate and rights of the grantor in and to said premises. To have and to hold the premises herein granted unto [Grantee], [the grantee's heirs or successors, as appropriate] and assigns forever.
That's only the heart of the deed, not the whole thing. Around it, the deed needs the home address of every grantor and grantee, with the street number where there is one, and it has to name the county, city or town, and village where the property is located. If any of the deed is in another language, it needs a sworn English translation.
New York law doesn't set statewide margins, type size or paper rules, so each county clerk's own format rules cover those. Outside the city, the clerk makes the cover page itself, and it may be charged as another page.
Step 3: Enter Your Name and Check Whether Your Spouse Signs
Write your full legal name exactly as it appears on your current deed, along with your home address. If the property is in a trust, you sign as trustee. If a company owns it, the person signing for the company writes the company's name and their own title.
If you and your spouse own the property together, you'll both sign to transfer the whole thing. If it's only in your name, your spouse usually doesn't sign. New York doesn't require a spouse who isn't on the title to sign just because you're married.
Many married couples in New York own property as tenants by the entirety, a kind of joint ownership only a married couple can have. If that's how the two of you own it, you can't hand over the whole property on your own. A deed from just one of you passes only your interest, and your spouse keeps the right to the whole property if they outlive you.
A divorce case changes the answer. Once a New York divorce case is filed and served, automatic court orders take effect that usually stop either of you from selling, giving away or mortgaging property, whether it's in one name or both, unless the other spouse agrees in writing or the court allows it.
Step 4: Name the New Owners and How They'll Hold Title
Write the grantee's full legal name and home address. If you're deeding to a trust, name the trustee, for example "Jane Doe, as Trustee of the Doe Family Trust." For a company, use its exact registered name.
If two or more people are receiving the property, decide how they'll own it before you write their names, because New York fills in an answer when the deed says nothing. Name two people with no other words, and New York generally treats them as tenants in common. Each owns a separate share, and when one dies, that share goes to their heirs or to whoever their will names, not to the other owner.
If you want the survivor to end up with the whole property, the deed has to say so, with words such as "as joint tenants with right of survivorship." Say you're giving the house to your two children and want it to go to whichever of them lives longer. That's the wording you'd use.
A deed to a married couple works differently. New York makes them tenants by the entirety, which already includes that survivorship right, unless the deed says they'll own it some other way.
Step 5: Add the Legal Description and Consideration
Copy the legal description from your current recorded deed exactly, down to every comma and measurement. It might trace the boundary lines with distances and directions, or it might point to a lot on a filed map. A street address isn't a legal description.
Add the tax map number too, the section, block and lot from your tax bill, because RP-5217 asks for it. If the property is in Suffolk County, which the state recording law names separately, the number has to be on the deed itself, and the clerk charges $3 to check each parcel.
Fill the consideration blank with what actually changed hands, which is usually money. If your deed names a token amount like one dollar and no money really changes hands, don't report that token amount on the tax forms as if it were a sale price.
Step 6: Sign Before a Notary
Sign the deed in front of a notary, who completes the acknowledgment: the notary's statement that you appeared and confirmed the signature is yours. If there's more than one grantor, each of you signs. You don't need witnesses.
A New York notary uses the acknowledgment wording New York law publishes. Under the signature, the notary prints their name, the words "Notary Public State of New York," the county where they qualified and the date their commission expires. When it's required, the notary also adds the official number the county clerk assigned.
Step 7: Complete Form TP-584
Form TP-584 is New York's real estate transfer tax return, and every deed needs one, even when no tax is due. You and the grantee both sign it. On it, report what actually changed hands. If your transfer is exempt, you claim that on Schedule B, the page of the return where exemptions are claimed. Schedule D asks whether you're a New York resident.
If you're giving the property away and getting nothing back, you won't owe New York State transfer tax.
A mortgage can change that. When a mortgage stays on the property, the state usually counts the amount still owed on it as the price, as if the grantee had paid you that much, even if they never make a payment on the loan. That way a gift can end up taxed.
If you're giving away a one-, two- or three-family house or a single condo unit, or any property where the price is under $500,000, the mortgage doesn't count as the price. As long as nothing else changes hands, you owe no state transfer tax.
When tax is due, it's $2 for every $500 of consideration, with any part of $500 counted as a full $500, once the consideration is more than $500. As the grantor, you normally pay it; if you don't, the grantee becomes responsible. TP-584 is due within 15 days after the deed is delivered, and it normally goes to the recording office with the deed. If the deed won't be recorded within those 15 days, the Tax Department's instructions explain how to file the return directly.
Step 8: Complete Form RP-5217
RP-5217 is the property transfer report, which the assessor uses to update the tax rolls. You need it even for a gift or a deed that only changes whose names are on the title. It asks for the new owner's mailing and tax billing addresses, the tax map number, the full sale price and the kind of property. The full sale price includes what's still owed on any mortgage that stays on the property, even if the grantee never takes over the payments, so a gift of mortgaged property isn't $0 on this form. If nothing is paid and no mortgage stays on the property, enter $0. It also asks whether the whole parcel is changing hands, whether the land is in an agricultural district and whether any subdivision needed approval. You and the grantee both sign. If several people are on one side, one signature for that side is enough.
Download the Tax Department's current Form RP-5217-PDF and fill it in with Adobe Acrobat, so the form creates its scannable barcode. Don't fill the whole form in by hand, and don't use a copy of RP-5217 from anywhere else, because only the Tax Department's version carries that barcode. If you spot a small mistake after printing, a few neat corrections are allowed, and a mistake on the report doesn't make the deed invalid. The filing fee is $125 for a one- to three-family home, a rural residence, a residential condo or a farm, and $250 for other property. In the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, ACRIS produces the report for you. On Staten Island you fill in Form RP-5217-NYC, the New York City version of the same report, and the two fees are the same.
Step 9: Prepare the New York City Forms
If the property is in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan or Queens, the city requires you to prepare the packet online, in ACRIS. That's the city's own rule, so it applies only there. ACRIS produces the cover page, the state forms and Form NYC-RPT, the city's real property transfer tax return. Preparing the packet online doesn't mean you have to record online either. You can bring the finished packet in, mail it, or send it through an e-recording service, a company the city approves to file documents electronically for you.
NYC-RPT is due within 30 days of the transfer, whether or not any tax is owed. A true gift, with nothing given in return, can owe no city transfer tax but still needs the return, so keep a record showing it really was a gift.
When city tax is due on a one- to three-family house, a condominium unit or a co-op apartment, the rate applies to the whole price: 1 percent if the price is $500,000 or less, and 1.425 percent of the entire price if it's more. There's no city tax when the price is $25,000 or less.
On Staten Island, you still prepare and file NYC-RPT electronically through ACRIS, and the city also requires the paper forms to go to the Richmond County Clerk with the deed.
Step 10: Record the Deed
Outside New York City, take or mail the signed and notarized deed to the county clerk, together with Form TP-584, Form RP-5217 and payment. Include a return envelope if the office asks for one. What Will Recording Cost? breaks down each charge.
Record the deed promptly. An unrecorded deed can still bind you, but it won't protect the grantee if someone later buys the property in good faith, pays for it and records first.
After a deed for a home is recorded, the clerk or City Register mails a notice of the transfer to the previous owner, which is usually you. Whoever records the deed pays that office's mailing charge. The notice is there to catch deed fraud, and you don't have to prepare anything for the notice.
Special Situations That May Change the Paperwork
An LLC is giving or receiving the property. If a limited liability company is the grantor or grantee and the property is a one- to four-family house, the transfer tax return has to list the company's members and managers. If one of those members is itself a company, the list keeps going through that company until it reaches actual people.
The deed describes two unmarried people as spouses. New York treats them as joint tenants. The recording law doesn't require a deed to say whether you're married or single, though some deed forms include it.
You sign outside New York. Since November 22, 2024, a deed you acknowledge before a notary in another U.S. state or territory can be recorded in New York on the strength of that notary's signature and title. The recording office can't demand a separate certificate proving the notary's authority or showing that the notary's wording matches New York's.
You use a New York electronic notary. The notary has to be on New York's electronic notary registry and physically in New York during the live video session. Expect identity checks, a recording the notary keeps for ten years, and wording on the certificate saying the signing used communication technology. You can be outside New York, and for a deed to New York property, even outside the United States. A paper copy can be recorded when it carries the required certificate of authenticity. Our Remote Online Notarization by State page explains how it works.
The deed only fixes a mistake, secures a loan or changes the form of ownership. These deeds can be exempt from transfer tax when the people who really own and benefit from the property stay the same.
The transfer is part of a divorce. It can be taxable, because the Tax Department can treat the marital rights each of you gives up as payment for the property.
You don't live in New York. If you're a nonresident individual, estate or trust, you may have to pay New York income tax on the gain up front when you transfer New York property, using Form IT-2663, the nonresident's estimated tax form.
The property is a high-value home. A home transferred for $1 million or more can owe an extra state tax of 1 percent, long known as the mansion tax, and high-value transfers in New York City can owe more state tax on top of that. The instructions to the transfer tax return set those out: Form TP-584, or Form TP-584-NYC, the version used in New York City.
What Will Recording Cost?
Outside New York City, there's no single price. The number of pages, the kind of property, the number of tax parcels and the price all change the total.
New York law sets the recording charges. Each county clerk uses one of two schedules: $5 plus $3 for each page, or, where the county has passed a law choosing it, $20 plus $5 for each page. The clerk's cover page counts as a page. Every deed also carries two more state charges, $5 and $15. On top of those come the $125 or $250 RP-5217 fee, the TP-584 filing and notice mailing charges, and any tax.
In the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, the City Register charges $32 for a deed, $5 for the cover page and $5 for each page after the first, so a two-page deed costs $42 to record. On top of that come the $125 or $250 transfer report fee, any block or lot charges and any tax.
New York Quitclaim Deed FAQ
Where do I record a New York quitclaim deed?
Outside New York City, you record a New York quitclaim deed with the county clerk in the county where the property is located. In the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, it goes to the City Register, prepared through ACRIS, and on Staten Island it goes to the Richmond County Clerk. Recording protects the grantee if someone later buys the property in good faith and records first, and afterward the office mails the previous owner a notice of the transfer.
How do I find the current New York deed?
Search the land records for the New York county where the property is located, usually by the current owner's name, then view or order a copy of the recorded deed. For the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, the records are in ACRIS; Staten Island's are kept by the Richmond County Clerk. Copy the legal description from the recorded deed itself, not from a tax bill or a real estate listing.
Does a New York quitclaim deed need witnesses?
No, not when each grantor signs and acknowledges the deed in front of a notary. A New York transfer-on-death deed is different: it needs two witnesses and a notary.
Does my spouse have to sign a New York quitclaim deed?
Usually only if your spouse owns part of the property. If you own it together, you both sign to transfer the whole thing, and if it's only in your name, your spouse generally doesn't sign. Once a New York divorce case is filed and served, automatic court orders can stop either of you from transferring property without the other's written consent or a court order.
Do I owe New York transfer tax on a quitclaim deed to a family member?
Not if it's a true gift, where you get nothing back. A mortgage that stays on the property can count as a price, but New York State leaves the mortgage out for a one-, two- or three-family house, a single condo unit, or any property where the price is under $500,000. You still file Form TP-584 either way, and a transfer in a divorce or a local transfer tax can change the answer.
What forms go with a New York deed besides the deed itself?
Outside New York City, every New York deed needs Form TP-584, the transfer tax return, and the current barcoded Form RP-5217, the property transfer report, even when it's a gift. New York City uses its own versions: Form TP-584-NYC for the state transfer tax and Form RP-5217-NYC for the transfer report, plus Form NYC-RPT, the city's own real property transfer tax return. In the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, the city's land records website, ACRIS, prepares all three. If you're a nonresident individual, estate or trust, you may also need Form IT-2663.
How is a quitclaim deed different in New York City?
In the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, you prepare the deed packet in ACRIS, record with the City Register, and file the city's NYC-RPT transfer tax return within 30 days, even if no tax is due. Staten Island deeds go to the Richmond County Clerk with paper city forms, but NYC-RPT is still filed electronically through ACRIS. Preparing forms in ACRIS doesn't mean you have to record electronically.
Can I get a New York quitclaim deed notarized online?
Yes, with a New York electronic notary. The notary must be on the state's registry and physically in New York during the live video session, and the process includes identity checks, a recording kept for ten years and special wording on the certificate. A paper copy can be recorded when it carries a certificate of authenticity. An ordinary video call with a notary isn't enough.
How much does it cost to record a New York quitclaim deed?
It depends on the county, the number of pages, the kind of property and any tax. Outside New York City, state law has county clerks charge either $5 plus $3 a page or, where the county has chosen it, $20 plus $5 a page, with the cover page counted as a page, plus two state charges of $5 and $15. The RP-5217 report adds $125 for a one- to three-family home, rural residence, residential condo or farm, or $250 for other property, and filing and mailing charges and any tax come on top. In the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, a two-page deed costs $42 to record before the report fee.
Where do I get a New York quitclaim deed form?
New York doesn't publish a blank quitclaim deed for you to download. What state law gives you is the wording: short-form quitclaim deeds for individuals and for companies. A generic form from the internet may leave out what a New York clerk checks for, such as the home address of every grantor and grantee, the city or town and village, and a notary certificate in the form New York accepts. It won't come with New York's transfer tax return and property transfer report either, and a New York clerk won't record a deed without them.
If you would rather start from something built for New York, see our Quitclaim Deed Help page.
Official Sources
New York's laws are collected in the Consolidated Laws, and a citation such as Real Property Law § 291 is an address: the law and the section. You do not need any of these to follow the steps above. They are here so that you can read the exact wording rather than take this page's word for it. Each section below links to its text on the State Senate's Open Legislation site, which opens in a new tab. The Tax Department's and the City Register's pages and forms are linked directly.
- Real Property Law § 258, Schedules G and H — New York's published short-form quitclaim deed wording for individuals and corporations, and the rule that other forms are lawful.
- Real Property Law § 291 — where a deed is recorded, what can happen if it is left unrecorded, and the notice mailed to the former owner after a deed for a home is recorded.
- Real Property Law § 333 — the party addresses and place names a deed must show, the English-language rule, RP-5217 fees, the $100 fee when a New York City tax form is filed without the transfer report, and Suffolk County's tax map number and $3 check fee.
- Real Property Law §§ 306, 309-a and 309-b — the certificate of acknowledgment and the published certificate wording for acknowledgments taken within and outside New York.
- Real Property Law §§ 299-a and 311, as amended by Chapter 502 of the Laws of 2024 — an out-of-state notary's signature and title are sufficient evidence of authority, and a recording officer may not require a certificate of authentication or conformity.
- Real Property Law §§ 189 and 190 — the old rights a widow or widower once had in a spouse's land, which New York ended long ago: curtesy for a wife dying after August 31, 1930, and dower in property a husband acquired after that date.
- Domestic Relations Law § 236(B)(2)(b) — the automatic orders that limit selling, giving away, or mortgaging property while a divorce case is pending.
- Real Property Law § 424 — the two witnesses and the notary a transfer-on-death deed needs, which is why a quitclaim deed's signing rules are not the same.
- Estates, Powers and Trusts Law § 6-2.2 — a disposition to two or more persons creates a tenancy in common unless expressly declared a joint tenancy; to a husband and wife, a tenancy by the entirety unless expressly declared otherwise; to unmarried persons described as spouses, a joint tenancy.
- Executive Law §§ 135-c and 137 — New York's e-notary registry, identity checks, ten-year video, required notary wording, paper-copy rule, and the details printed beneath a notary's signature.
- Tax Law §§ 1402, 1402-a, 1404, 1405 and 1409 — state rates, the continuing-lien rule, high-value home taxes, who pays, exemptions, the joint return, and the LLC member list.
- Civil Practice Law and Rules § 8021 — the county clerk's recording charges: $5 plus $3 a page, or $20 plus $5 a page where the county has chosen it; the $5 filing charge; the rule that the cover page counts as a page; and the $5 and $15 state charges on every deed.
- New York State Department of Taxation and Finance — Real estate transfer tax — current rates, who pays, New York City's extra taxes on high-value transfers, the LLC disclosure, nonresident forms, and exemptions.
- Form TP-584-I, Instructions for Form TP-584 (August 2025) — what counts as consideration, the continuing-lien rule, how to claim an exemption, the divorce rule, and the resident question on Schedule D; the form itself is Form TP-584.
- Instructions to download Form RP-5217-PDF — use the current barcoded form in Adobe Acrobat; a few clear corrections may be made after printing. New York City uses ACRIS and Form RP-5217-NYC. See also the Tax Department's RP-5217 questions and answers and line instructions.
- New York City Department of Finance — Recording property-related documents — the City Register records for the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens; Staten Island uses the Richmond County Clerk. The land records questions explain submission methods and recording fees; the Real Property Transfer Tax page gives the city's rates, exemptions, and 30-day filing rule; and Form RP-5217-NYC instructions give the city report fees.
On the figures. The amounts on this page were last checked against the sources listed here on September 17, 2026. Fees and tax rates change, sometimes in the middle of a year, so confirm the current figures with the recording office before you file.