New York Quitclaim Deed Instructions

Step 1: Find the Recording Office, Which in Most of New York City Is the City Register, Not a County Clerk

Outside New York City, a deed is recorded with the county clerk for the county where the property is located, which need not be the county where you live. New York has no single state directory of its 62 county clerks. Some post their recording pages on the court system's website and others on the county's own site, so search for the county's name and "county clerk." Inside New York City, four of the five boroughs use a different officer. A deed of property in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, or Queens is recorded with the City Register, a division of the city's Department of Finance. Every document there goes through its online system, ACRIS, which prepares the cover page and the tax forms before you submit the packet. Staten Island is the exception: property in Richmond County is recorded on paper with the Richmond County Clerk.

Recording is what protects the grantee. A conveyance that is not recorded is void against a later buyer who takes the same property from the same grantor in good faith, for value, and records first. So a quitclaim deed left in a drawer binds the grantor, but it does not protect the person it was given to against the grantor selling again. One more thing happens at recording in New York. For residential property, the clerk or register mails a printed notice of the transfer to the owner of record, headed "Notice of Sale or Transfer of Ownership of Your Residential Property." The person recording the deed pays a small mailing fee for it. It is a deed-fraud measure, and it means the previous owner will hear from the clerk after your deed goes on record.

Step 2: Set Up the Deed With What the Recording Statute Requires on Its Face

New York's Real Property Law prints a statutory short form of quitclaim deed and says using it is lawful, though other forms are allowed. The form is an "indenture" between the party of the first part, the grantor, and the party of the second part, the grantee. In it the grantor, in consideration of a stated sum, does "remise, release, and quitclaim" the described premises, "together with the appurtenances and all the estate and rights of the party of the first part in and to said premises." The grantee takes them "to have and to hold" to the grantee "and assigns forever." Those three verbs are what make it a quitclaim; the warranty deed's form says "grant and release" and adds five covenants.

Whatever form you use, the recording statute says what a recording officer may not record without. The deed must state the residence of every seller and purchaser, with the street and street number where there is one; in a city of over 200,000 people the street number is required. It must state the city, town, and village where the property is located. It must be in English, or carry a sworn English translation. In Suffolk County the deed must also carry the tax map designation from the county's property maps, with a $3 verification fee for each parcel. The statute sets no margins, type size, or paper, but many clerks generate their own cover page, which counts as a page of the deed for the fee. Check the clerk's website before you print.

Step 3: Fill In the Grantor, and Decide Whether a Spouse Signs

The grantor is the party giving up whatever interest they hold: a person, a married couple, a trustee, or a company. Give the full legal name exactly as it appears on the deed the grantor received, because the clerk indexes by name and a title examiner has to match the two. Give the grantor's residence address as well, which the deed must state. Where the grantor is a trust, the trustee signs as trustee; where it is a company, an officer signs with their title. If the grantor or the grantee of a one- to four-family house is a limited liability company, the transfer tax return must come with a list of the company's members and managers. The list is traced through any company that is itself a member until it reaches living people, or the return will not be accepted.

New York is not a community property state, and dower and curtesy, the old survivor's shares, have not arisen in property acquired since August 31, 1930. So a spouse whose name is not on the title has no interest that a deed needs to release, and does not sign. A spouse whose name is on the title is a co-owner and must sign like any other co-owner. A married couple who took the deed together hold as tenants by the entirety, so a deed of the whole property needs both signatures. A deed signed by one of them alone passes at most that spouse's own interest, and the other spouse's survivorship still hangs over it. Some grantors add "married" or "single" after the name; the statute does not ask for it.

Step 4: Fill In the Grantee, With a Residence Address, and Say How Co-Owners Take Title

Name the grantee, the party taking the interest, by the full legal name that should appear on the next deed and on the tax bill. Give the grantee's residence address, which the deed must state; the transfer report repeats it as the new owner's mailing address. A trust takes title through its trustee, so write "Jane Doe, as Trustee of the Doe Family Trust"; a company takes it under the exact name on its state filing.

Two or more grantees need one more phrase saying how they hold title, and New York's estates law supplies the default if the deed is silent. A deed to two or more people creates a tenancy in common, separate shares that pass by will or inheritance, unless it is expressly declared to be a joint tenancy. A deed to a husband and wife creates a tenancy by the entirety, in which each owns the whole and the survivor keeps it, unless the deed expressly says joint tenancy or tenancy in common. A deed to two people who are not married but are described in it as spouses creates a joint tenancy. So a parent deeding to two children who want the survivor to take the whole writes "as joint tenants with right of survivorship." A married couple who want the same thing need write nothing, because the entirety gives it to them.

Step 5: Add the Legal Description and the Consideration

Copy the legal description word for word from the current deed: the metes and bounds, or the lot on a filed map with the map's filing reference. A street address is not a legal description, though the deed carries it too. The description names the city, town, and village, which the recording statute requires, and the county. Most deeds also carry the tax map designation, the section, block, and lot from the tax roll, because the transfer report asks for it and Suffolk County requires it on the deed itself.

The statutory form states the consideration, "in consideration of ____ dollars." For a gift, state that the transfer is made for no consideration, or for a nominal sum, and say the same on both state forms. The transfer report asks for the full sale price, and the Tax Department's instructions say to enter $0 for a transfer with none. Consideration for the transfer tax means everything paid or required to be paid for the property, including a mortgage the grantee takes subject to. That is why Step 7 matters for a mortgaged house given to a child.

Step 6: Sign Before a Notary, With New York's Own Certificate Wording, in Person or Online

A conveyance may be recorded only when it has been acknowledged before an authorized officer, or proved by a subscribing witness, and the officer has signed a certificate. No witnesses are required for the ordinary route: you appear before a notary public and acknowledge that you signed. New York then adds a requirement of its own. The certificate of acknowledgment for a deed of New York property, taken in New York, must conform substantially to the form in the statute. In it the notary states that you "personally appeared, personally known to me or proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the individual whose name is subscribed to the within instrument," and acknowledged executing it. Beneath the signature the notary prints their name, the words "Notary Public State of New York," the county where the notary qualified, and the commission's expiration date. A notary in New York City adds the county clerk's number. A deed signed in another state may use that state's certificate or the New York form for acknowledgments taken outside the state.

New York allows electronic notarization, and since January 31, 2023 that is the only remote form. A notary who has registered with the Department of State as an electronic notary, and who is physically in New York at the time, may take your acknowledgment over audio-video technology while you are somewhere else. The notary first confirms your identity by two different processes. The notary keeps the recording for ten years, and the certificate must state that you appeared through communication technology. You may be outside New York, or outside the United States if the deed concerns property here. A paper printout of the electronic deed can be recorded if a notary attaches a certificate of authenticity, and the recording officer must accept it. Our Remote Online Notarization by State page compares the states.

Step 7: Complete Form TP-584, the Transfer Tax Return, Whether or Not Any Tax Is Due

New York's real estate transfer tax is $2 for each $500 of consideration, or fraction of $500, on every conveyance where the consideration is more than $500. The grantor pays it. If the grantor does not pay, or is exempt, the grantee must. For a one- to three-family house or a single condominium unit, and for any conveyance under $500,000, the consideration excludes the value of a mortgage or lien that stays on the property. That rule is what saves most family deeds: a parent who gives a child a house with a mortgage still on it is not taxed on the mortgage balance. On top of the base tax, a residence conveyed for $1 million or more carries an additional 1 percent, the so-called mansion tax, paid by the grantee. In New York City, sales of $2 million or more carry further state taxes, and the city adds its own, which Step 9 covers.

The statute exempts a conveyance made without consideration and otherwise than in connection with a sale, including a bona fide gift. It also exempts a deed that only confirms or corrects an earlier one, a deed given to secure a debt, and a deed that merely changes the form of ownership with no change in who benefits. A deed between spouses under a divorce or separation agreement may be taxed. The Tax Department presumes its consideration equals the fair market value of the interest conveyed, because marital rights are being given up for it. Whatever the answer, a joint return on Form TP-584 must be signed by grantor and grantee and filed with the recording officer before the deed may be recorded. The clerk charges $5 to file it. The form's Schedule B is where the exemption is claimed, and its Schedule D is where a New York resident grantor certifies residence. A grantor who lives outside New York files Form IT-2663 with an estimated income tax payment as well, unless the property was the grantor's principal residence or another exemption on the form applies. Inside New York City the return is Form TP-584-NYC, prepared through ACRIS.

Step 8: Complete Form RP-5217, the Transfer Report, on the Tax Department's Barcoded PDF

The second state form has nothing to do with tax on the transfer; it feeds the assessment rolls. The recording statute says a recording officer shall not record any deed unless it comes with a transfer report on the form the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance prescribes, and a fee. That form is RP-5217. It asks for the new owner's mailing address, the tax billing address if different, the tax map designation, the full sale price, whether the parcel is in an agricultural district, whether the deed conveys the whole parcel, and whether any subdivision needed approval. Grantor and grantee each sign it; where there are several, one signature on each side is enough. The form is required even when nothing is sold and only the names on the deed change: a gift, a transfer on marriage or divorce, a life estate.

The form must be completed on the Tax Department's Form RP-5217-PDF, in Adobe Acrobat, because it prints a scannable barcode. The county clerk will not accept a copy filled in by hand or a look-alike from another site. The fee, set by the same statute, is $125 for a one- to three-family home, a rural residence, a residential condominium, or farm property, and $250 for any other property. A mistake on the form does not invalidate the deed; the statute says so. In the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens the report is generated inside ACRIS with the rest of the packet, and on Staten Island the county clerk uses the city version, Form RP-5217-NYC, with the same fees.

Step 9: For New York City Property, Prepare the ACRIS Packet and the City's Own Transfer Tax Return

Property in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens cannot be recorded without going through ACRIS first. Every document is prepared in that online system, which produces a recording and endorsement cover page, the state forms, and the city's Real Property Transfer Tax return, Form NYC-RPT; the packet is then brought or mailed to the City Register, or sent through an electronic recording service. That return must be filed within 30 days of the transfer whether or not any tax is due, and the city can enter a judgment against grantor and grantee for tax it is owed. The city's tax reaches transfers where the consideration is more than $25,000. For a one- to three-family house, a condominium unit, or a cooperative apartment it is 1 percent of the price up to $500,000 and 1.425 percent above that, with higher rates for other property. Deeds given as security, deeds that merely change the form of ownership, and deeds by an executor under a will are among the exempt transfers. A gift with no consideration owes nothing, but the return is filed all the same.

The City Register's recording fee is $32 plus $5 for each page and $5 for the cover page, so a two-page deed costs $42, with $2 for each additional tax block and $3 for each additional lot. The transfer report fee is the same $125 or $250 as elsewhere, and the notice of transfer to the previous owner is mailed here too. On Staten Island the packet goes on paper to the Richmond County Clerk, with Form RP-5217-NYC, Form TP-584-NYC, and the NYC-RPT.

Step 10: Record the Deed, With the Fees, and Register for the STAR Credit

Outside the city, take or mail the acknowledged deed, Form TP-584, Form RP-5217, and payment to the county clerk. The recording fee is set by state statute at $5 plus $3 a page, but the statute lets a county raise that by local law to $20 plus $5 a page. The state adds $20 to every recorded instrument, $5 for local records management and $15 for the cultural education account. With the clerk's cover page counted as a page, that is why county fee schedules quote $45 for a deed plus $5 a page. Add $125 or $250 to file the transfer report, $5 to file the tax return, the clerk's mailing fee for the notice to the previous owner, and any transfer tax due. Include a stamped envelope or the return address for the recorded deed, and keep it with the property's papers.

A new owner who will live in the home should register with the Tax Department for the STAR credit, the school tax relief that does not pass with the deed; the RP-5217 instructions carry the reminder. And if your reason for the deed is to pass the house at your death, New York has offered another route since July 2024: a transfer on death deed. It names a beneficiary, takes effect only when you die, and can be revoked at any time. It needs two witnesses as well as a notary, and it must be recorded before death. It is not a quitclaim deed, and it changes nothing while you live.

Where do I record a New York quitclaim deed?

With the county clerk for the county where the property is located, whether or not you live there, except in New York City. Property in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, or Queens is recorded with the City Register through its ACRIS online system, and property on Staten Island with the Richmond County Clerk. A conveyance that is not recorded is void against a later good-faith buyer from the same grantor who records first. For residential property the clerk or register mails a notice of the transfer to the previous owner of record.

Does my spouse have to sign a New York quitclaim deed?

Only if your spouse is on the title. New York is not a community property state, and dower and curtesy have not arisen in property acquired since 1930, so a spouse whose name is not on the deed has no interest to release and does not sign. If you took title together as husband and wife you hold as tenants by the entirety, and a deed of the whole property needs both signatures. A deed by one spouse alone passes at most that spouse's own interest, subject to the other's survivorship.

Do I owe New York transfer tax on a quitclaim deed to a family member?

Not on a true gift. The tax is $2 for each $500 of consideration above $500, paid by the grantor, and the statute exempts a conveyance made without consideration and not in connection with a sale, including a bona fide gift. For a one- to three-family house, a mortgage that stays on the property is not counted as consideration, so a mortgaged house given to a child is still a gift for the tax. A deed between spouses under a divorce agreement is different: the Tax Department presumes the consideration is the fair market value of the interest conveyed. Every deed still files Form TP-584, with the exemption marked on Schedule B.

What forms go with a New York deed besides the deed itself?

Two state forms on every deed, gift or sale. Form TP-584 is the transfer tax return, signed by grantor and grantee, filed before the deed may be recorded, with a $5 filing fee. Form RP-5217 is the transfer report for the assessment rolls, completed on the Tax Department's barcoded PDF and never by hand, with a $125 fee for a home or $250 for other property. In the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens the ACRIS system prepares both, plus a cover page and the city's NYC-RPT return; on Staten Island the county clerk uses Form RP-5217-NYC and Form TP-584-NYC. A grantor who lives outside New York adds Form IT-2663 with an estimated income tax payment, unless an exemption on the return applies.

How is a quitclaim deed different in New York City?

Three ways. It is recorded with the City Register rather than a county clerk, through the ACRIS online system, for the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens; Staten Island keeps its county clerk. Every transfer files the city's own Real Property Transfer Tax return, Form NYC-RPT, within 30 days. The city taxes transfers above $25,000 at 1 percent of the price up to $500,000 and 1.425 percent above that for a house, condominium, or co-op, on top of the state tax. And the recording fee is the City Register's: $32 plus $5 a page and $5 for the cover page.

Can I get a New York quitclaim deed notarized online?

Yes, through a New York electronic notary. Since January 31, 2023, a notary who has registered that capability with the Department of State, and who is physically in New York at the time, may take an acknowledgment over live audio-video technology from a signer anywhere. The notary first confirms identity by two different processes. The recording is kept for ten years, and the certificate states that the signer appeared through communication technology. The recording officer must accept a paper copy of the electronic deed that carries a notary's certificate of authenticity.

Where do I get a New York quitclaim deed form?

New York prints a statutory quitclaim form in the Real Property Law, and any form that says the grantor does remise, release, and quitclaim the property does the job. What a form written for no particular state leaves out is what the clerk refuses. The deed must state the residence address of every grantor and grantee and the city, town, and village where the property is located, or the recording officer may not record it. The notary's certificate must follow New York's own wording. And the deed is nothing without Form TP-584 and the barcoded Form RP-5217 beside it. If you would rather start from something built for this state, our Quitclaim Deed Help page lists prepared forms and deed preparation services.