Closing questions
How long does a title search take?
Three to five business days for a clean NYC house or condo, longer for co-ops, estates and multi-parcel files. What slows a New York title search down.
How long does a title search take?
Quick Answer
The search is several searches running together. The chain of title and recorded documents come out of ACRIS in the five boroughs and out of the county clerk elsewhere. Separate runs cover judgments and liens against every named party, bankruptcies, federal tax liens, and a patriot search against sanctions lists.
Municipal or departmental searches are their own track: open permits and violations, emergency repair charges, water and sewer, sidewalk and street vault charges. These come from city agencies rather than the register, and they are frequently the reason a file that otherwise looks clean sits an extra few days.
Co-ops do not follow the deed chain at all. A co-op unit is personal property, so the work is a UCC search against the shares, a lien and judgment search against the seller, and coordination with the managing agent for the stock certificate, proprietary lease and recognition agreement. That schedule belongs to the agent, not to the register.
Estate deeds, foreclosure sales, referee deeds, properties held by entities, and buildings assembled from several tax lots all extend the timeline because more parties have to be run and more documents have to be read. So does a chain with a mis-indexed prior recording.
Order early. Contract signing is the right moment, not two weeks before the loan commitment expires. Time spent early on a Schedule B-I item is time not spent asking a lender to extend a rate lock. The searches are ordered through the attorney for the party paying title charges, which in New York is usually the purchaser.
Why does a co-op search take longer than a condo search?
Because a co-op transfer moves shares and a lease rather than a recorded deed. The work depends on UCC filings, the corporation's records and the managing agent's response time for the stock certificate, proprietary lease and recognition agreement. A condo unit has its own tax lot and a recorded chain in ACRIS.
When should the title search be ordered?
As soon as the contract is fully signed. Ordering at contract gives the parties weeks rather than days to clear Schedule B-I items, and it surfaces open permits, unsatisfied mortgages and name hits while there is still time to fix them without moving the closing date.
What else should you read before closing?
In the glossary
- Title searchThe records examination behind a title report, covering the chain of title, encumbrances and court filings against the owners. It precedes the comm...
- Municipal searchThe record search covering agency violations, municipal arrears and occupancy documents for a property. It runs alongside the land records search r...
- Co-op lien searchThe search performed on a co-op purchase covering UCC filings, judgments, liens and unpaid building charges tied to the shares and to the selling s...
- UCC searchA search of UCC filings for security interests in personal property, run against the seller and, on entity deals, against the entity itself.
- Patriot searchA search of federal sanctions lists confirming that no party to the closing is a blocked person. Common-name matches are cleared with identifying d...
Questions this raises
- What is the difference between a title search and a title commitment?The search is raw discovery. The commitment is the insurer's offer, split into Schedule A, B-I requirements and B-II exceptions. How to read both i...
- What happens if the title search finds a problem before closing?Schedule B-I requirements are the punch list, not a dead deal. How New York closings clear old liens, missing satisfactions and name hits before th...
- When does the lender get the title commitment?The commitment reaches the lender's closing department once issued, usually days after a clean search. Why simultaneous delivery keeps a New York f...
Building types
- Standard co-opThe ordinary New York City cooperative: you buy shares in a corporation and receive a proprietary lease to occupy a specific apartment.
- Standard condoA New York City condominium unit: real property conveyed by deed, recorded in ACRIS, with an undivided interest in the common elements.
- Condo in a converted buildingA condominium created by converting an existing rental building, where non-purchasing tenants, the reserve fund and building-wide conditions carry ...
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