What’s Inside ACRIS? Your Guide in Searching NYC Property Records

By: ROS Team

Suppose you are into a real estate transaction within the five boroughs. In that case, the Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS) is one of the most valuable tools you can utilize. The system is designed to notify property owners of any deeds, mortgages, or other related papers recorded against a particular property. The site’s navigation is free and does not require any registration.

Prior to the system’s deployment, if you are a resident who wanted to access the information, you would have to spend an entire day falling in line at the County Clerk’s office. Now with just one click away, you’ve got the complete guide to search for the required information about a property.

What is ACRIS?

ACRIS stands for Automated City Register Information System. ACRIS is responsible for all the information about a property online. Anyone can visit the information on an ACSIR website, be it buyer, seller, broker, and those interested in any capacity in the property details in New York.

The ACRIS shows the record of Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, and Brooklyn from 1966 to onward.

You can access the address at this link. You will get to see search records for an individual or a specific property once you get to the website. If a person searches for papers by a party’s name, they can go to “Search Property Records.”

However, if a user is looking for documents related to a specific property, they will require the property’s section, block, and lot number. If you are unclear about the section, block, and a lot of the property, go to the home page and click on the “Find Addresses and Parcels” link. Once there, you may enter the property’s street address, and the database will automatically populate the section block and lot information.

When you visit the website’s home page, you’ll notice a blue rectangular box with the message “Begin using ACRIS.” Once you click on this box, it opens a menu that will help you navigate the ocean of information to get the desired result.

What are the Primary options on ACRIS?

The main menu on ACRIS includes six main options. They search NYC property records, find addresses and parcels, apply for personal exemptions, create tax forms/cover pages, calculate taxes/fees, and electronic data services.

Search Property Record:

The open menu serves a myriad of purposes and hence shows various options regarding property records to tax forms and calculation of taxes.

The first line in the list is your go-to option if you are seeking a property record. It runs like this: search property record.

It will lead you to a new page with various options, again. These options are actually to make your search user-friendly so that they take less time and even lesser energy for you to get your required document.

The opened page has seven options which means that information has been saved in seven different ways and knowing any single information may lead you to the actual document.

Read Also: Find Out the History of a House

First, Party Name:

The first available option is a party name. The party name is the person who owns the property or someone who remained involved in the property transaction. The name is recorded in the documents in many ways, and it could be that of a buyer, seller, lender, or broker.

The steps below must be followed if you want to search by party name.

Step 1:

You must enter the name of an individual or a business. An individual’s character is that you enter the last name first, followed by the first name and middle name.

Or you may enter the business name in the single option given below.

Note: the search result will be shown out of recorded documents only.

Step 2:

Search by name only can be messy sometimes. To help you out and narrow down the list, an option is given below it. You may set a date range which means the duration you think your purposed document dates to. It will bar a lot of irrelevant information for the searched results.

Note: The correct pattern to enter the date is MM/DD/YYYY

Step 3: Select Party Type

You may select the party type from the drop-down list. Various options might help you reduce the searched load, or if you do not choose an alternative, the default setting will be selected, which will search out of all parties.

Step 4: Select the Borough/ Counties

Another primary filter is the option of selecting borough/counties. There are all boroughs given in the drop-down list, and you have to choose the required one. By selecting one, only documents will be retrieved from that particular borough. In case you do not pick anyone, it will use the default option by itself.

Step 5: Select the Document Class:

The last option given at the bottom is the document class. The drop-down lists open with the following options:

Deeds and other conveyance
Mortgages and other instruments
Other documents
UCC and federal lines.

You may use any option, or in case you don’t, the default setting is “all document classes.”

Search By Parcel Identifier:

The parcel identifier option was the second option on the main menu. The next page will open if you click on it. To do a parcel identifier search, you will need the following information.

Borough, Block, and Lot (“BBL” ):

Alternatively, it is referred to as BBL and is identifiable by the package number. Each property unit in New York is assigned a BBL number. This number can be found on any of the property’s documentation. To do a BBL search, follow the steps below.

Select the borough from the list:

Then there are three entries respectively: enter block, enter the lot, and enter the unit.

The date range is also given to help you narrow down the information, which shall be filled in as explained earlier.

You may select a document class to ease out things for yourself.

Search By Document Type:

To search the property record, you may search through the document class option.

Once you click on it, you are lead to a new page that has a different option.

Fist available option is document class, and you are advised to select an option if you know about your required record.

Then there is an option of the document type, which drops down a long list of document types. Kindly select the document type which you are searching for.
There is an option to set the date range according to the documents.
The last option is to select the borough from the drop-down list.

The following four options only have the data since January 2, 2003. So if you aim to know data past January 2003, you may exploit these options as well. Those four options are as below.

You may search the record by document ID/ city register file number by entering the number in the asked box.
You may search the file by transaction no. as well if you know about the transaction number.
Reel and page is another option in the main menu that helps you find the data by entering the reel.
UCC/ federal lien file number sorts the data for you by entering file no.

The land record of New York City is organized most finely. If you know any single information about the document, you may find the same document and all relevant information through ACRIS.

Alongside, when searching for a document in the ACRIS system, keep in mind that the database only contains documented documents. As a result, any recent conveyances will be withheld until the title company records the document with the County Clerk’s office. Furthermore, the database only applies to records dating back years ago, so if you require an older document, you’ll have to make the dreaded trip to the County Clerk’s office.

The website is quite user-friendly and does not bother the user at any step. All the options are mentioned clearly, and detailed options are given to the user to make things as easy as possible.