Deed theft and deed fraud in New York City

• November 2023. The Attorney General and district attorneys can pause an eviction, foreclosure or ownership case while they investigate deed theft, flag the title with a notice to buyers and lenders, and ask a court to void a forged deed.
• 2024. Deed theft became a crime of its own under the state’s larceny law. Heirs gained protections too: a right of first refusal when another heir sells, limits on forced partition sales, and transfer on death deeds.
• 2025. The Attorney General brought the first indictments under the new law, in a Queens case where a home was signed away while its owner was in hospice care, then borrowed against. The state also strengthened cease and desist zones, which let homeowners stop unwanted real estate solicitations.
• 2026. New York added $4.5 million for enforcement, outreach and education, $40 million for the Homeowner Protection Program, and stricter rules for notaries.

The details, with sources, are in New York’s deed theft laws, 2023 to 2026.

Deeds, mortgages and releases for the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens are recorded by the Department of Finance’s City Register and kept in ACRIS. Staten Island records are kept by the Richmond County Clerk. Each recording carries its parties, its date, its amount and a document type, and a deed arrives with transfer tax forms that state the price paid.

The Department of Finance reviews documents submitted for recording and refers suspicious ones to the Sheriff. The Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention coordinates the city’s response.

• A deed for a nominal price. A home worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, transferred for a few dollars, often to a new LLC.
• A power of attorney recorded just before a deed, especially one signed for an older or ill owner.
• A new mortgage right after a transfer. The pattern in the Attorney General’s first indictments: a transfer, a second transfer to a company, then a large new loan.
• A deed after the owner’s death that does not match what Surrogate’s Court shows about the estate.
• Homes already under strain. Tax liens, HPD or ECB judgments, or a foreclosure filing: the homes the Attorney General names as targets.
• The same names again. One buyer, company, notary or lender across a string of transfers in the same neighborhood.

We use our data and leverage the links and joins across ACRIS, the county clerk, the courts and city agencies to uncover these anomalies. How the research works.

• New York City Sheriff’s Office. (718) 707-2100, or report online through the Department of Finance.
• Your borough’s district attorney. The Brooklyn District Attorney keeps a deed fraud page with its own resources.
• New York Attorney General. 1-800-771-7755 or [email protected].
• Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention. Its intake form is on nyc.gov.
• Homeowner Protection Program. 855-466-3456, for housing counseling and legal services.

You can also call 311.

• NYC Department of Finance: Protect your property from deed fraud
• NYC Department of Finance: Mayor's Office of Deed Theft Prevention
• NYC Department of Finance: ACRIS
• New York Attorney General: Deed theft
• New York Attorney General: First indictments under the new deed theft law (August 2025)
• New York State Homes and Community Renewal: Deed theft law signed (November 2023)
• Governor of New York: Actions to combat deed theft (June 2026)
• CBS New York: Deed theft complaints, from the Attorney General's office (April 2026)
• Brooklyn District Attorney: Deed fraud information and resources

Checked in September 2026.