HeritageDeed Blog
Practitioner notes on reading NYC, Florida and Texas property records: BBLs, condo master lots, tax lien sales, lis pendens, and where an automated title search stops.
11 articles · Last updated
A NYC condominium has two kinds of tax lot: unit lots numbered 1001–6999, one per apartment, and a billing or master lot numbered 7501–7599 covering the whole complex. Searching at building scope returns every unit’s mortgage, so a report showing 40 mortgages on one condo unit is a scope error, not a lien problem.
· HeritageDeed Research
ReadWhen an owner dies, title passes by will or by intestacy, and the record shows it through an executor’s or administrator’s deed, letters testamentary or letters of administration, an affidavit of death, or a survivorship deed. Nominal consideration of $1 or $10 is normal on these transfers and is not a sale price.
· HeritageDeed Research
ReadACRIS is the New York City Office of the City Register’s Automated City Register Information System, the online index of recorded property documents for Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens from 1966 forward. Search it by borough-block-lot, not by address. Each document is split across separate Master, Legals and Parties records that only make sense joined on document_id.
· HeritageDeed Research
ReadA mortgage stays in the public record forever; only a satisfaction, discharge or release closes it. An assignment transfers the loan to a new lender and closes nothing. A CEMA folds old mortgages into one new lien, so the originals look open when they are not. Match every mortgage to its discharge by document reference, not by date.
· HeritageDeed Research
ReadA judgment lien is a money judgment docketed or recorded in a county, attaching to real property the debtor owns there. It is not automatic on entry of judgment; docketing creates the lien. Because it attaches to the debtor, it reaches every parcel they own in that county, including property acquired later. Duration and renewal are set by state statute.
· HeritageDeed Research
ReadA lis pendens, or notice of pendency, is a recorded notice that a lawsuit affecting title to a specific parcel is pending. It is not a lien and not a judgment, and it names no dollar amount. It gives constructive notice: anyone who buys or lends after it is filed is bound by the case’s outcome.
· HeritageDeed Research
ReadHPD issues housing-maintenance violations on residential buildings in classes A (non-hazardous), B (hazardous), C (immediately hazardous) and I (orders). DOB issues construction and equipment violations plus OATH summonses in classes 1, 2 and 3. Open violations attach to the building, not the seller. Paying the penalty does not close them.
· HeritageDeed Research
ReadNew York City’s tax lien sale transfers unpaid property tax, water and sewer, and HPD repair debt, with accrued interest, from the City to a City-created Tax Lien Trust. The City sells the debt, not the property, and only to that single authorized buyer, never to individual investors. An unresolved sold lien can lead to foreclosure.
· HeritageDeed Research
ReadA title search examines the public record (deeds, mortgages, liens, judgments, lis pendens) and reports what is recorded against a property as of a stated date. Title insurance is a contract from a licensed underwriter that pays if that conclusion is wrong. A search finds problems; a policy pays for them. Lenders require the policy, not the search alone.
· HeritageDeed Research
ReadAn automated title search retrieves and matches what is recorded, indexed, and machine-readable. It misses unrecorded interests such as possession rights, short leases, and pre-filing mechanic’s lien windows; records held only on paper or microfilm; and anything hidden by name ambiguity. No matching threshold removes both false positives and false negatives at once.
· HeritageDeed Research
ReadA BBL is the 10-digit Borough-Block-Lot number that identifies every tax lot in New York City: one borough digit (1 Manhattan, 2 Bronx, 3 Brooklyn, 4 Queens, 5 Staten Island), a five-digit tax block, and a four-digit tax lot, each zero-padded. The Empire State Building is BBL 1008350041: borough 1, block 835, lot 41.
· HeritageDeed Research
ReadHeritageDeed runs an automated property title search against public records and returns a PDF report plus structured JSON. Coverage is New York City (all five boroughs, deepest), Florida and Texas. Reports are priced per search, with no subscription.
HeritageDeed does not sell title insurance and does not underwrite. A report is a search, not a policy. A buyer taking a mortgage cannot close on a search alone — the lender will require a title insurance commitment from a licensed insurer. Use HeritageDeed for due diligence before that point, not instead of it.
| Report | Price | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|
| Current Owner Search | $49 | Usually ready in minutes |
| Two Owner Search | $79 | Usually ready in minutes |
| 30-Year Search | $129 | Usually ready in minutes |
HeritageDeed provides public-record search reports only. Reports do not constitute title insurance, an attorney opinion of title, or a title insurance commitment.
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