— TL;DR
How to use ACRIS to pull deeds, mortgages, and liens on any NYC property free — search by address or owner name, and what ACRIS won't show you.
01 · THE SHORT ANSWERWhat ACRIS is and how to search it
ACRIS (Automated City Register Information System) is NYC's free public database of recorded property documents — deeds, mortgages, satisfactions, and liens — run by the Department of Finance. It covers Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens; Staten Island records live with the Richmond County Clerk instead. Search by address, owner name, or document type, and view or print the actual recorded documents at no cost.
02 · STEP BY STEPFinding the records on a property
- Open ACRIS and choose "Find Addresses and Parcels" to convert the street address into its borough/block/lot (BBL) — the ID every NYC record system keys on.
- Run "Document Search" by parcel with that BBL to list every recorded document on the property, newest first.
- Open the documents. Each row links to a scanned PDF of the actual deed, mortgage, or lien — free to view and download.
- Search by party name instead if you're tracing what a person or LLC owns: "Party Search" matches buyers, sellers, and lenders across all four boroughs.
03 · WHO OWNS ITFinding a property owner in ACRIS
The most recent deed names the current legal owner. If the owner is an LLC — common in NYC — the deed still shows the LLC's name and the signing member, which is usually the fastest free path to a real name. Cross-check with the building's HPD registration, which lists the managing agent and officers for residential buildings.
04 · WHAT ACRIS WON'T SHOWTitle vs. compliance
ACRIS is the title record — ownership and money. It will not show building violations, complaints, open permits, or stop-work orders. A property can have a spotless ACRIS file and a six-figure violation problem. For the compliance side, run a free violation lookup or see every method for checking building violations. Buying? Work through the pre-closing violations checklist — liens in ACRIS plus open ECB judgments is the combination that stalls closings.
05 · COMMON QUESTIONSQuick answers
Is ACRIS free?
Yes — searching and viewing documents is free. Certified copies cost a fee from the City Register.
How far back does it go?
Digitized records generally reach back to 1966. Older documents exist on microfilm through the City Register's office.
Why isn't Staten Island in ACRIS?
Richmond County kept its own recording office; search Staten Island documents through the Richmond County Clerk.
06 · THE FULL PICTURERecords + violations, together
Title tells you who owns a building; the compliance record tells you what it will cost to own. ViolationWatch's detection engine fuses violations, complaints, and enforcement signals across ten NYC agencies into one live property record — so the surprises surface before you commit, not after. Run a free lookup or start a 7-day trial.
Last updated: July 2026.
— Data & sources
The figures in this article come from ViolationWatch's analysis of New York City building-violation records — more than 15 million violations across DOB, HPD, ECB/OATH, 311 and DOT. Explore the full data, borough breakdowns, fine trends, and downloadable dataset in our NYC Building Violations Statistics report.
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