New York adds deed theft funding and tighter notary rules

On June 17, 2026, the Governor announced:

• $4.5 million for deed theft enforcement, community outreach and education.
• $40 million in the state budget for the Homeowner Protection Program, which offers housing counseling and legal services.
• Stricter notary rules. Department of State regulations for notarial acts, with standards for checking who is signing.

Before a deed can be recorded in New York, the signature on it has to be acknowledged, usually before a notary. A forged deed needs that stamp too. A notary far from the property, or the same notary on a run of unrelated transfers, is one of the anomalies deed theft leaves in the record.

Every scheme in the news runs through the public record: a deed, a transfer, a new loan, each one recorded. We use our data and leverage the links and joins between those records to uncover the anomalies that deed theft, deed fraud and predatory deed transfers leave.

Your Homeowner Research Document shows every record on your property, connected and dated, with alerts when anything new is recorded. How the research works.

• Governor of New York: Actions to combat deed theft (June 2026)
• New York Attorney General: Deed theft

Checked in September 2026.