Post reply

Re: Manhattan Club Lawsuit (by Irene S.):

HOW TO USE ACRIS ACRIS is a wonderfully useful website that allows users to obtain valuable information about properties in the 5 boros (information is quite limited for Staten Island however), including copies of various documents, including deeds and mortgages. The site is absolutely free and you don't even have to register. Also, you don't even need any specialized or advanced computer knowledge to operate the site and it is fairly straightforward and easy to navigate. By the way, "ACRIS" stands for the Automated City Register Information System.

One more note before we proceed. ACRIS contains a recitation of only recorded documents. These are documents that have been recorded by the county clerk and are now a public record. In the past, if you wanted to access this information, you would need to visit the County Clerk's office and stand in line and waste a day. Now you can access this information from home any time you want. The ACRIS website only covers documents dating back to 1966, so if you want older documents, you must still visit the County Clerk.

Unrecorded documents cannot be found on ACRIS. Thus, if you purchased a house recently and want to get a copy of your deed (the title, it won't appear on ACRIS until the title company finally records it. It is a wonderful thing to be able to check regularly to make sure that the deed has been recorded. The same thing applies to a seller who recently paid off a mortgage. You can regularly check ACRIS to make sure that the Satisfaction of Mortgage was recorded.

To check ACRIS, click on the link in the upper right hand corner, then proceed as follows:

Click "Begin using ACRIS";

At this point, you have a few options, however, the first one, "Search Property Records", is the most useful one. You should click on the 2nd one, "Find Addresses and Parcels", if you need to find the Block and Lot of a particular property.

If you don't need the block and lot, or if you already have it or have found it using the "Find Addresses and Parcels" option, then click on "Search Property Records".

You are then presented with a few choices and again the first two are the most useful ones.

If you want to search the history of a particular individual, including what he owns and what he owes, you can simply click "Party Name" and then conduct a search using someone's name. That search can be refined by date, type of document, boro, etc., so you can really narrow down what you are seeking and find it quickly.

If you want to search the history of a particular property, then click on "Parcel Identifier", and upon entering the boro, block and lot of the property, you will then be presented the history of the property from 1966 to the present.

Once you enter information you will get a list of various transactions and typically two choices, either "DET" or "IMG". "DET" stands for details and by clicking it, you can get a capsule summary of the document. By clicking "IMG", you can actually see the recorded document and even print a copy for yourself.

ACRIS is perhaps the single most essential tool that you have at your disposal prior to selling or purchasing property in NYC. While some people may worry about privacy considerations or the possibility of fraud, the advantages of having this much valuable information accessible at your fingertips far outweigh the downside. Additionally, it must be remembered that the documents you are searching are all public records which, as said, could have previously only been accessed by visiting the County Clerk's office. Making public records more public doesn't seem like such a horrible thing.