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NYC Closings Glossary

The vocabulary of a New York City closing, defined one term at a time.

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What do the terms in a NYC closing actually mean?

Quick Answer

This page defines the vocabulary a buyer or seller meets once and is expected to already know: the taxes charged at a New York City closing, the documents that record, the searches that run against the property, and the contract terms that decide who pays for what. Each term also has its own page.

A7 terms

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Abstract of title: A summarized history of a property's recorded ownership and encumbrances, compiled from the public record. It is the raw material a title examiner reads before any policy is written.
ACRIS: New York City's public index of recorded property documents for Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. Deeds, mortgages, satisfactions, easements and many liens are recorded here, which makes it the starting point for confirming ownership in those four boroughs. Staten Island instruments are indexed by the Richmond County Clerk, not here, though a Staten Island transfer tax return is still filed through ACRIS.
Adverse possession: A doctrine under which long, open and exclusive use of another owner's land can ripen into legal title. It matters at closing when a survey shows a fence, wall or driveway sitting over the line.
Affidavit of title: A sworn seller statement given at closing affirming no undisclosed liens, judgments or claims against the property. It supports the coverage written between the final search and the moment of recording.
Appurtenance: A right or improvement that passes with the property when title transfers, such as an easement benefiting the parcel, a parking right or a fixture attached to the building.
Assessment (co-op or condo): A charge levied by a co-op or condominium board beyond ordinary maintenance or common charges, typically to pay for a capital project. It is disclosed in the managing agent's closing letter.
Aztech recognition agreement: The agreement in which a co-op corporation acknowledges a lender's security interest in a shareholder's shares and proprietary lease. The Aztech form is the version most New York co-ops accept.

B4 terms

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Bargain and sale deed: The deed form used in most New York transfers. It passes the seller's interest with limited or no warranty of title, commonly with a covenant against grantor's acts.
BBL (Borough-Block-Lot): The tax lot identifier for a parcel of New York City real property, written as borough, block and lot. Nearly every City record system keys on it rather than on an address.
BIN (Building Identification Number): A seven-digit Department of Buildings number identifying one building. A single tax lot holding a main house and a rear structure carries a separate BIN for each of them.
Bulk sale: A sale of substantially all of a business's tangible assets, carrying New York bulk sale notice requirements. It comes up on commercial closings where an operating business transfers with the real estate.

C13 terms

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CEMA (Consolidation, Extension and Modification Agreement): An agreement in which an existing mortgage is assigned and consolidated with new financing rather than being satisfied and re-recorded. It requires the current lender's cooperation and extra lead time.
Certificate of Correction: The filing that certifies to a City agency that a cited condition has been corrected. Acceptance by the agency, not the repair itself, is what closes the violation in the record.
Certificate of Occupancy (C of O): The Department of Buildings document that fixes a building's legal use and occupancy. Lenders and title companies read it to confirm the property can lawfully be used the way it is sold.
Chain of title: The sequence of recorded conveyances of a property, from an earlier known owner to the present one. Gaps and defective links in the chain are what a title search is designed to find.
Clear to close: The point at which lender conditions are satisfied and the transaction can be scheduled and funded. Title clearance and payoff figures usually have to land before a lender issues it.
Closing Disclosure: The federal disclosure listing a residential borrower's loan terms, closing costs and cash to close. It is delivered at least three business days before the loan is consummated.
Closing protection letter: An underwriter's letter covering a lender or buyer against defined misconduct or error by the settlement agent handling the closing funds and documents for a transaction.
Closing statement: The itemized accounting of every credit, debit and disbursement at a closing. Commercial deals use a HUD-1 or ALTA settlement statement; consumer mortgage closings pair it with the Closing Disclosure.
Cloud on title: Any claim or encumbrance that may impair the owner's title. New York owners resolve the serious ones through a quiet title action under RPAPL Article 15.
Co-op lien search: The search performed on a co-op purchase covering UCC filings, judgments, liens and unpaid building charges tied to the shares and to the selling shareholder. It supports no policy of insurance, so the protection comes from clearing what it reports before the closing rather than from insuring around it.
Common charges: The recurring charge a condominium levies on each unit for building operations and reserves. Real estate taxes are billed to the unit directly and are not part of the figure.
Covenant: A recorded promise or restriction that runs with the land and binds future owners. Restrictive covenants limit what the property may be used for or how it may be built on.
Curative work: The clearance steps taken between commitment and closing to remove title requirements: releases, satisfactions, corrective deeds, estate paperwork and payoffs of stale liens.

D1 term

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Deed: The instrument that conveys real property. Signature, acknowledgment and delivery make it effective between the parties, while recording is what protects it against later purchasers.

E5 terms

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Easement: A right to use part of another owner's property for a specific purpose. Easements appear as exceptions on a title report and generally survive a sale of the land.
ECB judgment: The judgment entered on an unpaid or defaulted summons heard at OATH (formerly ECB). It is a collectible City debt tied to the respondent and to the cited premises.
Encumbrance: Any interest in the property held by someone other than the owner, whether monetary such as a mortgage or lien, or non-monetary such as an easement or a covenant.
Endorsement: An add-on that modifies a title policy's coverage for a defined risk. Endorsement charges come from the filed New York rate structure rather than from negotiation.
Escrow (at closing): Funds or documents held by a neutral party until stated conditions are satisfied. At a New York closing it usually means a holdback from proceeds under a written escrow agreement.

F5 terms

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Fee simple: Ownership of land held indefinitely and freely transferable, subject only to recorded encumbrances and to government powers such as taxation, zoning and condemnation.
FISP (Facade Inspection Safety Program): The Department of Buildings program requiring periodic facade inspection and filing for buildings over six stories, on a five-year cycle with staggered filing windows.
Flip tax: A transfer fee charged by a co-op or, less often, a condominium when a unit changes hands. It is a creature of the building's governing documents, not a government tax.
Foreclosure search: A record search for foreclosure actions touching the property or the current owner. Prior foreclosures in the chain often need extra proof that every necessary party was served.
Forgery: A falsified signature or instrument in the chain of title. Because a forged deed passes no interest, it sits among the hidden risks a title policy is designed to answer.

G2 terms

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Gap coverage: Coverage for matters recorded between the effective date of the search and the recording of the insured instruments. The seller's affidavit of title supports it.
Grantor and grantee: The two sides of a conveyance: the grantor gives the interest and the grantee takes it. Both names index the instrument in the public record.

J1 term

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Judgment lien: A lien created by docketing a money judgment against the owner. It reaches real property in the county of docketing and is a routine payoff item at a closing.

L5 terms

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Land lease: A building whose land is leased rather than owned. The lease term and rent reset schedule sit in the offering plan and shape much of what the apartments are worth.
Lender's policy: Title insurance protecting a lender's lien position, issued in the loan amount. Its coverage falls as the principal balance falls and ends when the loan is paid off.
Letter of No Objection: A DOB letter confirming the lawful use of a building constructed before Certificates of Occupancy were required. It stands in for a C of O on many older buildings.
Lien: A claim against property securing payment of a debt. Liens rank by priority, and closing normally means paying or releasing every one ahead of the buyer's interest.
Lis pendens: A notice of pendency recorded against the property when litigation affecting title is filed. It warns the world and binds later purchasers to the result of the case.

M6 terms

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Maintenance (co-op): The monthly charge a co-op levies on each shareholder, covering building operations plus that shareholder's share of real estate taxes and the underlying mortgage.
Mansion tax: A New York State tax paid by the buyer on residential conveyances of one million dollars or more, graduated upward through a series of higher price tiers.
Marketable title: Title a reasonable buyer would accept, free of defects that would expose that buyer to litigation. Most New York contracts require the seller to convey it at closing.
Mechanic's lien: A statutory lien securing payment for labor or materials that improved real property. The filing deadlines run from the last date work was performed or materials furnished.
Mortgage recording tax: The New York tax due when a mortgage is recorded, computed on the new money secured. On a building with six or fewer apartments the lender pays 0.25 points of the combined rate and may not pass it to the borrower, so a buyer there budgets 1.8 or 1.925 percent rather than the full rate. A CEMA is the standard structure used to reduce the taxable amount.
Municipal search: The record search covering agency violations, municipal arrears and occupancy documents for a property. It runs alongside the land records search rather than inside it.

O4 terms

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OATH Hearings Division: The City tribunal, OATH (formerly ECB), that adjudicates summonses from most New York City enforcement agencies. Unpaid or defaulted summonses become collectible judgments.
Offering plan: The sponsor's filed disclosure document for a co-op or condominium, carrying its budget, share or common interest allocation, building rules and sponsor commitments.
Open permit: A DOB permit filed for work that was never signed off. Closing it usually means a licensed professional filing for inspection or formally withdrawing the job.
Owner's policy: Title insurance protecting the buyer's ownership interest, issued for the purchase price with a single premium. Coverage continues while the insured or their heirs own the property.

P5 terms

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Patriot search: A search of federal sanctions lists confirming that no party to the closing is a blocked person. Common-name matches are cleared with identifying details.
Payoff letter: A lender's statement of the amount required to satisfy and release a mortgage on a specific date, with a daily interest figure for any later date.
Power of attorney: Written authority for one person to act for another. New York requires the statutory short form for most real property transactions, with specific execution formalities.
Premium (title insurance): The one-time charge for a title policy, computed from the filed New York rate schedule by amount of insurance, plus any endorsement and search-related charges.
Proprietary lease: The occupancy lease a co-op corporation grants a shareholder for a specific unit. It is assigned at closing together with the stock certificate for the allocated shares, and its amendments, rather than the original text, carry the building's current rules.

Q1 term

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Quitclaim deed: A deed conveying the grantor's interest without warranties. It proves nothing about what the grantor owned, so it is used where the parties already know the answer.

R5 terms

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Recording: Filing an instrument with the register or county clerk so it becomes part of the public record. Recording establishes priority against later purchasers and lenders.
Reissue rate: A reduced premium for a property previously insured within the look-back window set by the filed rate schedule. The prior policy, or a copy of it, is the proof required.
RESPA: The federal statute regulating residential settlement disclosure and prohibiting kickbacks or unearned fees for referring settlement service business.
Right of first refusal: The right to match an offer before a sale closes. In condominiums it is exercised or waived by the board, and the written waiver is delivered at closing.
Right of way: An easement granting passage across land. Recorded rights of way run with the property and are listed among the exceptions on a title report.

S8 terms

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Satisfaction of mortgage: The instrument that releases a paid mortgage from the record. Until it is recorded, the old mortgage still appears as a lien against the property.
Schedule A: The part of a title commitment or policy naming the insured, the policy amount, the current owner, the estate insured and the legal description of the parcel.
Schedule B: The requirements and exceptions section of a title commitment. Requirements are cleared before closing; exceptions remain uninsured unless removed or endorsed over.
Simultaneous issue: Issuing an owner's policy and a lender's policy together on one transaction, which reduces the charge for the loan policy under the filed New York rate schedule.
Stock certificate (co-op): The certificate evidencing the shares allocated to a co-op apartment. Shares and the proprietary lease travel together and cannot be sold separately from each other.
Survey: A surveyor's drawing of the parcel, its improvements and any encroachments. Lenders on houses and townhouses generally require a current one or a survey inspection.
Survey reading: Review of an existing survey to confirm it still matches the property and the record. It determines the wording of the survey exception on the policy.
Survival clause: The contract provision that carries specified representations past the closing. Without it, the doctrine of merger extinguishes most representations when the deed is delivered.

T12 terms

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Tax search: The search reporting property tax status, water and sewer balances and municipal charges. Its results drive the tax adjustments shown on the closing statement.
TCO (Temporary Certificate of Occupancy): A Certificate of Occupancy issued for a limited period while construction is completed. Renewals are routine, but a lapse stops closings until the new one is issued.
Tenancy by the entirety: Joint ownership by spouses with a right of survivorship, where neither can transfer or mortgage the property without the other. It is the default for married New York grantees.
Tenancy in common: Co-ownership in undivided shares with no right of survivorship. Each share can be sold, mortgaged or left by will independently of the other owners.
TIRSA: The rate service organization whose filed manual sets New York title insurance premiums, endorsement charges and the reissue and simultaneous issue rules.
Title: Legal ownership of real property and the rights that come with it. A deed is evidence of a transfer of title, not title itself.
Title commitment: The document offering to insure title on stated terms, with Schedule A facts and Schedule B requirements and exceptions. It is the working agenda between contract and closing.
Title exception: A matter the title policy does not insure against, listed on Schedule B. Some exceptions are removed before closing and others are simply accepted by the buyer.
Title insurance: Insurance against loss from title defects that existed before the policy date. New York premiums come from a filed rate schedule, so the figure is calculated rather than negotiated.
Title officer: The person at a title agency or underwriter with authority over what a commitment requires and excepts. Clearance decisions on a file run through this role.
Title search: The records examination behind a title report, covering the chain of title, encumbrances and court filings against the owners. It precedes the commitment.
Transfer tax (RPTT and NYS): Taxes on the conveyance itself, one City and one State. Rates step up at higher prices, and who pays is set by custom and then confirmed by the contract.

U2 terms

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UCC search: A search of UCC filings for security interests in personal property, run against the seller and, on entity deals, against the entity itself.
Underwriter (title): The insurer whose policy is issued on a transaction. An agency prepares and issues on the underwriter's forms, and claims are ultimately paid by the underwriter.

V1 term

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Violation (cited against the premises): An agency record that a condition at a property does not comply with a code or rule. It attaches to the premises and follows the property through a sale.

W2 terms

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Wire fraud: A fraud in which spoofed or compromised email redirects closing funds. Verifying instructions by phone at a number obtained independently is the standard defense.
Wire instructions: The bank routing and account details used to send closing funds. Independent phone verification, not the contact details in the email itself, is what confirms them.

Z1 term

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Zoning lot certificate: A recorded declaration combining tax lots into one zoning lot for development purposes. Waivers and consents from affected owners and lienholders accompany it.

Which of these terms actually costs you money at closing?

The money terms are the transfer taxes, the mortgage recording tax, the mansion tax, the title premium on a condo or house, the flip tax on a co-op, and the recording fees. Which of them you pay depends on whether you are buying or selling and on the building type, not on a single standard split.

Why does a co-op use different vocabulary than a condo?

Because a co-op transfers shares in a corporation and a condo transfers real property by deed. That is why a co-op file talks about a proprietary lease, a UCC filing and a lien search, while a condo file talks about a deed, a recorded mortgage, ACRIS and an owner’s title policy.

Where should you go next?

The NYC closing help center

Every closing resource on this site in one place.

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Answer-first pages for what buyers and sellers ask.

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One page per defect, with the cure and the cost.

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Which violations block a deal, which only delay it.

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How the firm handles purchases, sales and refinances.

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Legal Disclaimer: These definitions are general and for informational purposes only. They do not constitute legal advice and do not account for the terms of any particular contract, building or transaction. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. This is attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.