Reading a New York Title Report Before Closing, One Schedule at a Time

ByPawli Paola Meyer

Complaints about deed theft filed with the New York Attorney General’s Office rose from 149 in 2023 to 517 in 2025, according to figures CBS New York obtained from that office and reported in April 2026. CBS noted that greater public awareness of how to file complaints accounts for part of the climb, while prosecutors and the Attorney General say the crime is also becoming more common. Three weeks later New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani created a Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention by executive order, in the announcement that “The theft of a home is the theft of a family’s future.”

A home buyer sits on the other side of that headline. Before the closing table, the question is whether the person selling really holds title and what else is attached to the property. The document that answers both is the title report, and it tends to arrive as an email attachment that gets skimmed once and filed. This walkthrough takes it in the order it is written, then covers what the report cannot do after the keys change hands.

Governor Kathy Hochul signed deed theft legislation on November 14, 2023, saying the practice is “an injustice and one that must be eliminated.” The Governor’s office posted the signing on YouTube.

Where the title report lands in a New York purchase

After a contract is signed, a title company searches the public record and issues a report listing what it is prepared to insure and what it will leave out. In policy terminology that report is a commitment. A New York continuing-legal-education outline published through the University at Buffalo School of Law says a commitment expires six months after its effective date or when the policy issues, whichever happens first, and that it carries a notice warning that the report may not list every lien, defect or encumbrance.

That outline is built around Erie County practice and the Erie County Bar Association’s form of contract. Long Island contracts and local habits differ in places, so the specifics below are best read as a list of questions to bring to a buyer’s attorney rather than a description of any one deal. The outline also recommends reviewing the report with a real estate professional who represents the buyer’s interest, which in practice means getting the report to that person the day it arrives.

Earlier is better because every problem found in week two has weeks of runway for the seller to fix it. The same problem found the afternoon before closing becomes a postponement. For what a record search can miss entirely, see What a Title Search Does Not Find.

Step 1: Match Schedule A to the contract

Schedule A describes the transaction itself. According to the Buffalo outline it lists the effective date, the policy and the proposed insured, the estate being insured (usually fee ownership), the vested owner and the deed that vested title, and the property’s address and legal description. Five checks cover most of it:

  1. The buyer’s name is spelled exactly as it will appear on the deed, including any LLC or trust name.
  2. The seller named in the contract is the owner shown on the vesting deed.
  3. The address and the legal description describe the same parcel. On Long Island the legal description is tied to a section, block and lot, the same numbers county alert programs ask for.
  4. The effective date is recent enough that the search reflects the current record.
  5. The amount of insurance matches what the buyer’s attorney expects for the purchase.

The second check matters more than it looks. The American Land Title Association describes seller impersonation fraud as criminals posing as the true owner of property they do not own, with vacant lots and non-owner-occupied properties such as rentals and vacation homes the usual targets. Its listed warning signs are a price well below market, a demand for a very fast sale of about three weeks, and communication limited to phone or email with no in-person meetings. A seller who never appears in person, on a property that sits empty, is a reason to ask the attorney how identity is being verified.

Step 2: Sort Schedule B into two piles

Schedule B is where the real reading happens. The Buffalo outline splits it in two. Section 1 holds requirements, items the underwriter needs resolved before it issues a policy, such as proof of authority for a corporation or LLC, proof of death, or judgments. The outline says this section is often omitted in residential deals and shows up more often in commercial ones. Section 2 holds exceptions, matters the policy will not cover unless satisfactory curative is provided.

A highlighter marking a printed document table

The outline’s sample exceptions give a feel for the wording. Every report differs, so the table below is a reading aid and not a template.

Sample exceptionPlain meaningQuestion worth asking
Rights of parties in possession not shown of recordSomeone living on the property may hold a claim that was never recordedIs anyone other than the seller in occupancy, and will the home be delivered vacant?
Future special assessments payable with county taxesCharges that may be levied later and collected on the tax billIs this standard language, and does anything specific apply to this parcel?
Unpaid water chargesWater bills that are due but not yet paidHow will the balance be adjusted at closing?
Any state of facts an inspection would discloseThe policy does not cover what a physical look at the property would revealHas the buyer walked the boundaries with a survey in hand?
Survey-related matters, listed by survey job numberFences, encroachments or easements drawn on a surveyor’s mapWhich survey is cited, and is it current?

Each exception becomes a line item. Which ones the title company will remove, and what it will accept as proof, is a question for the buyer’s attorney and the title company, not something to settle in a text thread with the seller.

Step 3: Turn exceptions into questions for the seller’s side

The outline notes that under the Erie County Bar Association contract form the seller must convey marketable title, yet the buyer must still accept title if the defects are insurable. Whether a similar clause appears in a particular Long Island contract depends on the form signed, so the title paragraph of that contract deserves a careful read before any negotiation begins.

For every exception, three questions keep the conversation moving. Can it be removed, and by what: a payoff at closing, an affidavit, a new survey? Who is responsible for getting that done? And if it stays, what exactly does the policy not cover as a result?

One more item sits in the policy conditions. The outline describes a condition requiring the proposed insured to disclose actual knowledge of any defect not listed in Schedule B, and it says the insurer can be relieved of liability to the extent it is harmed by silence. A neighbor mentioning a long-running driveway dispute is the kind of detail that belongs in an email to the attorney the same day.

Step 4: Check the record directly

County clerks run searchable property records, and a buyer can look up the vesting deed before closing. The Suffolk County Clerk’s online kiosk searches records by property address, with condominiums requiring the exact Tax Map Number. New York City property records are searched through ACRIS, the Department of Finance’s recording system. Pull the deed, confirm the owner’s name and the recording details match Schedule A, and note any mortgages or liens recorded afterward that the report should also show. A mismatch is a question for the attorney, not a conclusion.

Step 5: Closing day and the document that matters afterward

At closing the title company’s authorized signatory signs and dates the commitment, which by then has been marked up to show what will be insured and what has been removed. The Buffalo outline’s author takes the view that a properly signed marked-up commitment, with the full premium paid and the documents to be recorded listed, binds the insurer to issue the policy. That is one practitioner’s opinion in a CLE outline and not a statement of law, but it explains why asking for a copy of the signed commitment before leaving the table is common sense.

The outline also describes gap coverage between the policy date and the recording of the deed, with exclusions for taxes and assessments. The policy itself follows after recording. Closing costs on Long Island add up quickly, and the premium is one line among many in this breakdown of what closing costs look like.

What an owner’s policy covers once the house is yours

Law firm Dayrel Sewell, PLLC, describes an owner’s policy as “a one-time cost that protects against forgery and fraud” in the chain of title. First American’s claim story gives a concrete case: a buyer learned months after closing that the deed into the seller was forged, a lawsuit followed, and the insurer defended the claim and paid the insured value, subject to the policy’s terms.

A Long Island shingled colonial home at golden hour

Both examples involve a forgery that predated the purchase. A thief who forges a deed to the home years after closing is a different problem. ALTA states that its Homeowner’s Policy covers certain risks arising after the policy date, including forgery and impersonation, which the standard Owner’s Policy does not, and adds that the homeowner’s form is not approved in every state and applies only to one-to-four family residential property. Whether an enhanced form is offered on a given New York purchase is a question for the title agent. For the risk that no policy addresses, the practical defense is early warning.

Step 6: Set the deed alerts the week of closing

Each of the three jurisdictions most Long Island readers deal with has a recording-notice service.

  • New York City: the Department of Finance’s Notice of Recorded Document program emails a notice, usually the day after a deed or mortgage is recorded against a registered property. Registration and email notices are free, and each property is registered separately.
  • Nassau County: the Clerk’s Property Fraud Alert Program is free and sends an email when a deed, mortgage, lien or similar document is recorded under the registered name or property, usually within a few days. The Clerk recommends registering with the Section, Block and Lot numbers, and warns that some alerts will be legitimate filings such as mortgage satisfactions.
  • Suffolk County: the Clerk’s Homeowner Watch List, known as HOWL, is registered through the property kiosk and sends an email notice of documents recorded against the property. The registration instructions say a confirmation email should arrive within 48 hours and that the county does not guarantee the completeness or timeliness of notices. For a purchase made within roughly the last eight to ten weeks, the new deed may not be recorded yet, so the owner information may not display correctly. The instructions do not state whether the service is free.

The New York Attorney General’s deed theft guidance also advises owners to check their property records with the county clerk, to avoid signing over a deed without an independent attorney’s advice, and to avoid anyone who promises a buy-back later. A filing nobody recognizes can be reported to the Attorney General at 1-800-771-7755 or deedtheft@ag.ny.gov, to the Homeowner Protection Program at 855-466-3456, or to the county district attorney.

Keeping the closing paperwork where it can be found

A purchase produces a stack that matters for decades: the marked-up commitment, the policy, the recorded deed and the survey. These products are common choices for storing and copying it.

Questions buyers ask

Who should read the title report?

The Buffalo outline recommends reviewing it with a real estate professional representing the buyer’s interest. Reading it first is still worthwhile, since the buyer will recognize details the file may not flag, such as an occupant or a boundary dispute.

Is the title report the same as the policy?

No. The report is the commitment the title company issues before closing. The policy follows after closing and recording, and the commitment itself expires six months after its effective date or when the policy issues, per the Buffalo outline.

Does title insurance stop someone from stealing a deed after closing?

ALTA’s position is that the standard Owner’s Policy does not cover forgery or impersonation occurring after the policy date, while its Homeowner’s Policy covers certain post-policy risks but is not approved everywhere. Recording alerts are the standard early warning in either case.

This article is for informational purposes only — consult a licensed attorney or financial advisor for your specific situation. Complaint figures, program details and registration steps were checked against the sources below in October 2026 and can change.

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