ACRIS – The Helpful Tool You Want To Know About
ACRIS, the Automated City Register Information System, is a wonderfully useful website that many have not heard about.
Since purchasing a property tends to be not only the most expensive investment, but also one of the most complex and often complicated transactions you are likely to make in your lifetime, we believe that anything that can assist you in the process is worth learning about and utilizing.
ACRIS website allows you to search property records and view document images for the 5 boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, and Brooklyn, and covers the timespan from 1966 to the present.
You can obtain valuable property information including copies of various documents, such as deeds and mortgages. Not only is the site absolutely free and you don’t even have to register, but also it is fairly straightforward and easy to navigate.
ACRIS is possibly the single most fundamental tool that you have at your fingertips to use before you sell or purchase a property in NYC.
In the past, if you needed to access property information, the reality looked like this: you had to visit the County Clerk’s office in person, stand in line, and often waste a whole day.
Today, you can access this information any time you like from the convenience of your own home. Any recorded documents will be recited in the ACRIS. This means that the site will contain documents that have been recorded by the county clerk and are now available as public records.
More specifically, the ACRIS website allows you to:
- Find a Property Borough, Block and Lot (BBL) or Address
- Create Cover Pages and Tax Forms to Record Documents
- Compute Property Transfer Taxes
Now, even though you can easily obtain a copy of your deed using the ACRIS tool, it’s good to remember that the title will appear only after the title company records it, as an unrecorded document cannot be found on the website. The great thing about having this tool at your fingertips is that you’ll be able to check as often as you wish to make sure that the deed has been recorded.
Similarly, if you’re a seller who has recently paid off a mortgage, you can frequently check ACRIS to ensure that the Satisfaction of Mortgage was recorded.
Additionally, New York State City Register now accepts all recorded documents to be submitted electronically – all you have to do is be registered to use ACRIS and complete an agreement and eRecording Application.
Questions have been raised regarding privacy considerations or the possibility of fraud as ACRIS so easily offers property documents as public records to anyone. While some people may worry about this, the fact remains that the advantages of having such valuable information accessible at your disposal offsets the downside by far.
There are a few things to keep in mind when using ACRIS: the website only covers documents dating back to 1966, so if you want to see older records, you will still need to visit the County Clerk; and, another thing worth mentioning is that the information for Staten Island seems to be quite limited.
The ACRIS website is proving that making public records more public doesn’t seem like a terrible thing – on the contrary. Now, you don’t even need any specialized or advanced computer knowledge to navigate the ACRIS site and access information that can really help you during your real estate deals.
To protect your legal rights and obligations, and ensure all provisions in the real estate contracts and documents are in your best interest, trust the Levin Law Group’s experienced and dedicated real estate lawyers in New York City
We are here to expertly represent you in case any issues arise and to assist you during your residential or commercial real estate transactions.
Take steps to ensure your interests are protected – contact us today.