Closings glossary

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.

Which title requirements does curative work clear?

Quick Answer

The requirements cleared are the recorded ones: old mortgages paid off, missing satisfactions recorded, releases obtained, a misspelled name in a deed corrected, estate documents sourced. Each item cleared before closing removes a requirement that would otherwise sit as an exception on the issued policy.

The full definition

The clearance steps taken between commitment and closing to remove title requirements: releases, satisfactions, corrective deeds, estate paperwork and payoffs of stale liens.

Which related terms should you know?

These are the terms that come up alongside curative work in the same file.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

Where does curative work come up in a New York City closing?

A Brooklyn file needs a 2003 satisfaction that the bank recorded against the wrong block, and that corrective filing is the curative work holding the date.

What else should you read before closing?

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Legal Disclaimer: This page is general information about New York practice. It is not legal advice, it does not account for the terms of any particular contract, building or transaction, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. This is attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.