ACRIS NYC Search 2026: Find Deeds, Liens & Owner Records Free

Need help looking up a specific property? I pull these records on every deal. Text me the address and I'll send you what I find.

Over 7 million property documents are publicly searchable through ACRIS NYC, the city's free online portal for deeds, mortgages, liens, and satisfaction records dating back to 1966. As a Licensed Real Estate Associate Broker with Keller Williams NYC, I use ACRIS on nearly every transaction to verify ownership history, confirm mortgage balances, and flag potential title issues before they derail a deal. In my 25+ years closing transactions across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, ACRIS has saved my clients from costly surprises more times than I can count.

Whether you are a first-time buyer researching a condo or co-op, an investor evaluating a multi-family property, or a seller preparing to list, understanding ACRIS NYC is one of the most valuable skills you can develop. This guide walks you through exactly how to use it.

What Is ACRIS NYC?

ACRIS stands for the Automated City Register Information System. It is operated by the New York City Department of Finance and provides free, public access to property records filed with the City Register. Every real property transaction in NYC, with the exception of most co-op share transfers in some boroughs, gets recorded here.

The system covers all five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. You can access ACRIS at a836-acris.nyc.gov directly from any web browser, no account or login required.

What Records Can You Find on ACRIS?

Step-by-Step: How to Search ACRIS NYC

Step 1: Go to the ACRIS Portal

Navigate to a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/Index. You will see several search options. The two most useful are "Parcel Identifier" (borough, block, and lot) and "Address."

Step 2: Search by Address

Click "Address" in the left menu. Select the borough, enter the street number and street name, and click "Search." ACRIS will return all recorded documents associated with that property. For condos, you will also need the unit number. For co-ops, ACRIS may not have individual unit records since co-op transfers are often recorded differently.

Step 3: Search by BBL (Borough, Block, Lot)

If you know the BBL number (available on NYC's property tax bill or the Department of Finance website), select "Parcel Identifier." Enter the borough code (1=Manhattan, 2=Bronx, 3=Brooklyn, 4=Queens, 5=Staten Island), then the block and lot numbers. This method is the most precise and avoids address formatting issues.

Step 4: Review the Results

Results appear in reverse chronological order. Each row shows the document type, date recorded, and parties involved. Click any row to view the full scanned document. I recommend checking deeds first to verify the ownership chain, then mortgages to understand the existing debt picture.

Active NYC Listings

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Co-op · 1910 RLS #RLS20094998

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210 E 63RD Street #5E

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Co-op · 1964 RLS #RLS20095849

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The Two Lookups People Actually Need, Click by Click

Most ACRIS visits boil down to one of two jobs: confirming who owns a building, or reconstructing its deed and mortgage history. Here is each one as a numbered sequence you can follow with the site open in another tab.

Walkthrough 1: Find Who Owns a Building (Including an LLC)

1. Go to a836-acris.nyc.gov and click "Search Property Records."
2. If you only have a street address, click "Find Addresses and Parcels" first. Select the borough, enter the house number and street name, and write down the Borough, Block, and Lot (BBL) it returns. BBL is more reliable than the address search because document addresses are recorded as they appeared at filing time.
3. Open Document Search and choose "Parcel Identifier" from the search options.
4. Select the borough, enter the block and lot, and set the Document Class dropdown to the deeds category (labeled "DEEDS AND OTHER CONVEYANCES"). Click Search.
5. Sort the results so the most recent document is on top. The newest deed controls; older deeds are history, not current ownership.
6. Open the detail view for that deed. The Party 1 entries are the grantors (the sellers); the Party 2 entries are the grantees (the buyers). Party 2 on the newest deed is the current recorded owner, whether that is a person or an LLC.
7. Click the document image link to open the scanned deed itself and confirm the owner's exact legal spelling. If the owner is an LLC, copy the name exactly as written on the deed; you will need it character for character in the LLC chain below.

One caveat: this works for condos, houses, and whole buildings. Individual co-op apartments will not show a unit deed because co-op ownership transfers by shares, not by deed.

Walkthrough 2: Pull the Full Deed and Mortgage History

1. Get the BBL using "Find Addresses and Parcels" as in walkthrough 1, then open Document Search and choose "Parcel Identifier."
2. Run the search once with the Document Class on the all-documents default. For a busy parcel with hundreds of records, run two narrower passes instead: one on the deeds class and one on the mortgage class (labeled "MORTGAGES & INSTRUMENTS").
3. Read the results from newest to oldest. Deeds mark every change of ownership and usually show the transfer amount. Mortgage documents mark each new loan with the lender and original amount. Assignment documents mean the loan was sold to another lender. Satisfaction documents mean a loan was paid off and released.
4. Match every mortgage to a later satisfaction, following any assignment chain in between. A mortgage with no satisfaction on record is the single most common cloud-on-title flag, covered in the buyer section below.
5. Open the document image on anything important and save the PDF. The scans are free and are true copies of the recorded instruments.

How Buyers Should Use ACRIS NYC

Before making an offer on any NYC property, I advise my clients to pull the ACRIS records. Here is what to look for:

• Ownership verification: Confirm the seller is actually the recorded owner. Deed records show every transfer since 1966.
• Outstanding mortgages: Check whether any mortgages lack a corresponding satisfaction record. If a mortgage from 2015 was never officially satisfied, it creates a cloud on title.
• Liens and judgments: Tax liens, mechanic's liens, and lis pendens can all affect your ability to get clear title.
• Sale price history: Deed transfer records often include the sale price, letting you see what the seller originally paid. This is valuable context for your offer strategy.

How Sellers Should Use ACRIS

Sellers benefit from checking ACRIS before listing. You want to confirm that any old mortgages show a satisfaction of mortgage on record. I have seen closings delayed by weeks because a lender from a refinance 10 years ago never filed the satisfaction. Catching this early lets your attorney resolve it before it becomes a closing issue.

Sellers should also verify their recorded deed matches their current legal name. Name changes from marriage or other reasons sometimes create discrepancies that require a corrective deed filing. If you are preparing to sell, my seller consultation page covers the full checklist.

ACRIS Limitations to Know

ACRIS is powerful, but it has blind spots. Co-op transfers in some boroughs may not appear because co-op sales involve the transfer of shares and a proprietary lease rather than a deed. For co-op due diligence, you will need to request information directly from the building's managing agent. Read more about the differences in my co-op vs. condo guide.

ACRIS records go back to 1966 for most boroughs, but earlier documents require a visit to the City Register's office. The search interface can also be finicky with address formatting, so using BBL numbers is almost always more reliable.

ACRIS NYC for Investors

Real estate investors use ACRIS to research properties before bidding. You can see every mortgage, refinance, and transfer associated with a property. If you are evaluating a multi-family building, ACRIS reveals whether the current owner has been refinancing aggressively (which may signal financial stress) or whether the property has been in the same hands for decades (potentially undervalued).

For studio and one-bedroom condo investors, ACRIS confirms the original offering plan sponsor's deed and whether any unsold sponsor units remain, which affects building governance and financing eligibility.

How to Search ACRIS by Owner Name (Party Name)

The address search works well when you know the property. When you need to find all documents tied to a specific person or company, the Party Name search is faster. From the ACRIS home page, choose "Party Name" in the left navigation. Enter the last name and first name, then use the Party Type dropdown to filter: "Grantor" means the person transferred or sold property (seller), while "Grantee" means the person received it (buyer). You can also filter by document class to narrow results to deeds, mortgages, or liens only.

Exact name matching matters here. If a property is held by "123 Main Street LLC" and you search for "Main Street LLC," you may get zero results. Try partial matches when you are unsure of the full legal name. This is why I always cross-reference the deed image itself, not just the search results summary, to confirm the owner's exact recorded name.

Party Name search is particularly useful for estate research (finding every NYC property a decedent owned), fraud checks (verifying the person claiming to be the seller is actually the recorded owner), and due diligence on LLCs buying property. If you are evaluating a multi-family building and the seller is an LLC, searching that entity as Grantor shows every prior sale or refinance they have executed across the city. That transaction history can reveal a pattern of aggressive refinancing or rapid flips that affects your negotiation. For more on evaluating these properties, see my multi-family investing guide.

When the Owner Is an LLC: Chaining ACRIS to the NY Department of State

The deed gives you the entity name and nothing else. New York does not publish LLC member lists, so no single database hands you the people behind "324 East Somewhere LLC." What works is a chain of free public sources, run in this order. I use this exact sequence before approaching an owner about an off-market deal, and it surfaces a human name more often than the paid lookup tools do.

1. Copy the exact LLC name from the deed image. Not from the search results summary, from the scanned deed itself. Punctuation and abbreviations matter; "182 Street Holdings, LLC" and "182nd St Holdings LLC" are different records in every database that follows.
2. Search the NY Department of State's Corporation and Business Entity Database at apps.dos.ny.gov/publicInquiry. The entity record shows the DOS ID, the county, the initial filing date, and the address designated for service of process. That address frequently belongs to a managing member, the LLC's attorney, or a registered agent, and it is often the fastest path to a real person. An out-of-state LLC buying NYC property must also register with NY DOS, so the record exists even for Delaware entities.
3. Go back to ACRIS and open the mortgage documents the LLC signed. Lenders require a human signature. The signature block on the final pages of a recorded mortgage names the person who signed as member, manager, or authorized signatory. That name became public the day the mortgage was recorded.
4. For residential buildings with three or more units, pull the HPD registration at hpdonline.nyc.gov. NYC requires annual property registration for multiple dwellings, and the registration lists the managing agent plus the individual names behind a corporate owner.
5. Cross-check the tax bill mailing address on the Department of Finance portal at propertyinquiry.finance.nyc.gov. Where the property tax bills actually go often points to whoever manages the asset day to day.

If the trail dead-ends at an attorney's office or a registered agent service, that is itself information: owners who layer their privacy this deliberately are usually experienced operators, and your offer strategy should assume a professional counterparty.

How to Find a Lis Pendens, Tax Lien, or Federal Lien on a Property

Liens are the most consequential records you will find on ACRIS, and they are easy to miss if you only look at deed history. To search for liens, use the address or BBL search and then apply the Document Class filter. Under "Other Documents," you will find subtypes including "Lis Pendens," "Federal Tax Lien," and "NYC Tax Lien." Run each search separately because the filter does not combine them by default.

A lis pendens, from the Latin for "lawsuit pending," means a court action has been filed involving the property's title. This is a serious red flag for any buyer. It could mean a foreclosure action, a dispute between co-owners, or a creditor claiming an interest in the property. The lis pendens does not tell you the outcome, only that litigation is active. Click the document image to read the underlying court filing and get the case number, then look up the case status in the New York Courts SCROLL system to see whether it is still pending or was resolved.

A federal tax lien means the IRS has a recorded claim against the owner for unpaid taxes. Unlike a mortgage, a federal tax lien attaches to all of a taxpayer's property, not just one address. It survives a sale unless specifically released at closing. NYC tax liens work similarly: unpaid property taxes become a lien that must be cleared before a clean title transfer can occur. This is the same workflow your title company runs when issuing title insurance, and understanding it yourself before signing a contract puts you in a stronger position. For more on the attorney's role in this process, read my guide to NYC real estate attorneys.

How to Download a Deed from ACRIS (Free)

Once you locate the record you need, click the document number in the results list. ACRIS opens the scanned document image in a new browser tab; on some browsers, it opens a PDF viewer with a download icon in the toolbar. Use the Print button (then "Save as PDF") if the direct download option does not appear. The resulting file is a true copy of the recorded instrument, legally sufficient for most reference purposes.

If you need a certified copy for legal proceedings, a mortgage application, or an estate matter, you must obtain it directly from the NYC City Register's office. Certified copies cost $4 per page plus a $10 fee and can be requested in person at any borough City Register office or by mail. The online version is free and useful for research, but it does not carry the official certification seal required in some legal contexts.

ACRIS vs. PropertyShark vs. StreetEasy: Which to Use

Each tool serves a different research need. Choosing the right one saves time and avoids the mistake of treating one source as comprehensive when it is not.

My workflow: I use ACRIS for every legal and title question, including ownership verification, mortgage payoff status, and lien checks. I use PropertyShark when I need to identify who owns a property without a known address, trace an LLC's full NYC portfolio, or pull foreclosure auction details. I use StreetEasy for what a specific unit sold for and to see how long a listing sat before going into contract. None of these tools replaces the others. Using all three for a major transaction takes under an hour and can surface issues that save buyers far more than that in renegotiation or avoided mistakes.

Bottom Line

ACRIS NYC is one of the most underused free tools available to NYC real estate buyers, sellers, and investors. Taking 15 minutes to search a property's records can reveal ownership history, outstanding debt, liens, and legal disputes that directly affect your transaction. I pull ACRIS records on every deal I handle at Keller Williams NYC, and I recommend you do the same. If you need help interpreting what you find, get in touch and I will walk you through it.