What happens if the title search finds a problem before closing?

Read the commitment as two lists. Schedule B-I is the punch list of things that have to happen before the policy issues. Schedule B-II is what will still be on your title afterward. Almost every New York file has entries on both, and most B-I items are routine.

The common ones repeat. A mortgage paid off years ago whose satisfaction was never recorded, which is cured by getting the satisfaction from the lender or its successor and recording it. A judgment or lien search hit against a person with a name close to the seller's, which is cured by an affidavit of identity.

Money problems are handled at the table. Open judgments, tax liens and unpaid water and sewer charges are typically paid out of the seller's proceeds and satisfied on the closing statement, so the deed and the payoff move at the same time.

Harder items need judgment. A missing heir, a break in the chain, an old deed with a defective acknowledgment, or an encroachment the survey picked up may need an indemnity, an affirmative insurance request to the underwriter, an escrow holdback, or in some cases a quiet title proceeding under RPAPL Article 15.

If an item cannot be resolved, the contract governs what happens next. The buyer's attorney should raise it as a title objection within the contract time, since the remedies (adjournment, price reduction, cancellation and return of the deposit) usually depend on giving proper notice.