The Land Records Committee of the Association had its quarterly meeting with Annette Hill, Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Finance/City Register, her deputies and with members from the Department of Finance and Department of Environmental Protection, on Thursday, September 17, 2015.

Please note the following:

City Register Topics

Rejections-Annette Hill is aware of the rejections and it appears that many incorrect rejections are made as a result of overzealous employees misinterpreting the law or the scope of the Register’s power to review. In order to better educate the examiners and locate and teach the employees that incorrectly reject many documents, the Register has been pulling rejections for review prior to returning same to the submitter. Once again, she hopes the situation will improve (albeit gradually) in the coming months.

If you get an erroneous rejection contact the rejections desk and/or Mary Scheman-Stella (Scheman-StellaM@finance.nyc.gov) – the document will be reviewed quickly. Please note – if you send an email disputing a rejection to the rejections desk or to Ms. Scheman-Stella, please attach a copy of the document in question.

Smoke Detector Affidavits – the ACRIS system creates a Smoke Detector Affidavit whether or not one is required. There is some relief for members that are sick of notarizing such affidavits and attaching same to the deed and ACRIS docs for recording – Smoke Detector Affidavits ARE ONLY REQUIRED for properties improved by a one or two family house or for a residential condominium unit in a building containing three or less condominium units. For all other properties, the Smoke Detector Affidavit is not required and a deed will not be rejected if the submitted docs do not contain such affidavit. Of course, the deed will not be rejected if a commercial property deed is submitted with a Smoke Detector Affidavit.

Update of consolidation of Borough Offices to Queens – No dates yet. The City Register is waiting for approvals to move forward.

Condominium Floor Plans/Maps – The Register is looking into the feasibility (i.e. cost) of having Condominium Floor Plans/Maps that were recorded before 2009, available on ACRIS. An RFI will go out to potential contractors for the project within the next six to eight weeks.

Condominium Floor Plans/Maps recording – This is an issue only if you e-record. Lately, recording of Floor Plans have been rejected even though the “oversized” box is checked when preparing Cover Pages for Floor Plans. Most, if not all Floor Plans are 11 X 17 and are scanned (when e-recording only) horizontally before submitting to the City Register. The City Register then turns the document vertically before accepting for recording. During this process part of the Maps are cut off and the City Register then rejects the Maps. A solution has then been to reduce the Maps to 8.5 X 11 and scan vertically, and then submit same for recording. However, quality is lost and you have already paid for a larger document. We will work with the City to figure out a solution to this problem. Any member that has had Floor Plans/Maps rejected for this reason should notify Mary Schemen- Stella (Scheman-StellaM@finance.nyc.gov).

UCC-1 Rejections – 1. A UCC should not be rejected if Box No. 6 (indicating that the UCC to be filed in the real estate record) is checked. 2. Of course, UCCs need not be signed and if signed, definitely do not need to be acknowledged. However, if a UCC is rejected for lack of acknowledgement, immediately contact a supervisor.

Richmond County Transfer Tax Payments - We requested as to whether or not it was possible to allow the pre-payment of transfer taxes on Richmond County deeds via ACRIS, and have all other recording functions left with the Richmond County Clerk. The City Register believes that this is already possible. However, she will meet with the Clerk of Richmond County and see if this is so. Ms. Hill will advise the Association after contacting the Richmond County Clerk.

Online Fee Schedule and Calculator – a Fee Schedule (to help calculate the exact cost of recordings) will soon be made available in a conspicuous place so that same will be easy to find. (AT present it is almost impossible to find the fee schedule.) In addition thereto, the City Register is in the beta Testing phase of having available a recording fee calculator. The Register hopes to have same available to the public at the beginning of October.

Completion of ACRIS forms when Referee sells a Cooperative Apartment - The Association requested that the City Register clarify as to how to complete ACRIS forms for a UCC foreclosure of a Cooperative Apartment. This query was made because membership felt that there was industry wide confusion as to how to fill out the ACRIS forms in connection with a UCC foreclosure of a cooperative, and in particular, how the grantor should be listed.

We were told the following:
-- Party One should be the Referee – as to Social Security Number – “99999’s are fine”;

-- Creditor of the Transferor should also be named;

-- Type of transfer should be Box Q – transfer to successful bidder;

-- Terms of Sale will be accepted

Status of Certified Copies Turnaround Times – If the number of documents are LESS THAN 10 are as follows:
Bronx – same day;
Brooklyn – next day, however it may be longer (depending on page count);
Queens – next day, however it may take longer (depending on page count); and
Manhattan – If a bulk order – will be three business days. It will be less if it is not a bulk order.

Contact Names for Complex Recording Issues - Assistant Deputies can resolve most issues. However, if a document requires further approval or review than contact the following parties:
-- Colette McCain-Jacques McCain-JacquesC@finance.nyc.gov
-- Zena Spence SpenceZ@finance.nyc.gov
-- Mary Scheman-Stella Scheman-StellaM@finance.nyc.gov

Kings County (and Manhattan) – Microfilm not being re-indexed by staff or examiners – A constructive discussion between City Register management and the NYSLTA regarding this ongoing issue. Some of the larger examining companies offered to volunteer their employees to do a one-time clean up.

The City Register stressed that examiners must put the microfilm away when finished with its use. Both sides agreed to work together and will consider a reasonable long term solution to the problem.

MEMBERS – THE INTEGRITY OF THE LAND RECORDS AT THE REGISTER'S OFFICES AND AT THE COUNTY CLERKS’ OFFICES ARE IMPORTANT FOR OUR BUSINESSES – WE MUST ALL MAKE AN EFFORT TO CARE FOR SUCH RECORDS.