How to Search ACRIS by Address or BBL

To search ACRIS, open the city’s Automated City Register Information System, choose “Search Property Records,” and search by parcel (borough, block and lot) for everything recorded against a property, or by party name to find documents a person or company signed. Each result has an image link so you can read and print the actual deed, mortgage or other document for free.

ACRIS covers Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens from 1966 to today. Staten Island records are kept by the Richmond County Clerk instead.

Before you start: get the BBL

ACRIS works best with the property’s BBL: borough number (1 Manhattan, 2 Bronx, 3 Brooklyn, 4 Queens), block and lot. Addresses can be written many ways; the BBL is exact. You can find it on the property’s tax bill, at nyc.gov/bbl, or on any Roofy building page (shown as “Block / lot” under Building details). ACRIS also has a “Find Addresses and Parcels” option that converts an address to a BBL. More in BBL and BIN explained.

The search types

DOF says you can search by party name, parcel identifier (BBL), document type, document ID or City Register file number, transaction number, reel and page, or UCC/federal lien file number. Here is when to use each:

Step by step: search a property by BBL

These steps describe what you will see on screen.

1. 1

   Open ACRIS and choose “Search Property Records”

   From the DOF ACRIS page, choose the link to start using ACRIS. The ACRIS home screen offers “Search Property Records.” Pop-up blockers should be off; DOF lists them as a system requirement.
2. 2

   Pick “Parcel Identifier” and enter the BBL

   Choose the borough from the dropdown, then type the block and lot numbers. Leave other filters at their defaults to see everything.
3. 3

   Read the results list

   Each row typically shows the document type (DEED, MORTGAGE, SATISFACTION OF MORTGAGE, and so on), the recorded date, the amount, and the parties. Party 1 and party 2 change meaning by document type: on a deed they are seller and buyer; on a mortgage, borrower and lender.
4. 4

   Click “IMG” to view the document

   The image viewer opens the scanned or e-recorded pages. Use the print icon at the top right to print or save a copy at no cost.
5. 5

   Order a certified copy if you need one

   For a court or title matter, tick the box under the ending page, add it to the cart and pay. DOF can mail it, or you can collect it at a City Register office.

Condo and co-op quirks

• Condos: each unit is its own tax lot, so searching at the building level may bring up only building-wide documents such as the condo declaration. Get the unit’s own lot number (from its tax bill or DOF records) and search that.
• Co-ops: you buy shares in a corporation, not real property, so there is no deed. In ACRIS a co-op sale shows up as a transfer tax filing (often typed “RPTT&RET”) indexed to the building’s block and lot with the apartment number in the unit field and property type “single residential co-op unit.” Co-op loans are filed as UCC financing statements, which DOF says the City Register records for co-ops.

Records ACRIS does not have

• Before 1966: DOF says documents filed before January 1, 1966 are not online. Visit the Land Records Research Library at the Queens City Register office.
• Staten Island: use the Richmond County Clerk’s records search.
• Unrecorded documents: ACRIS only shows what someone submitted for recording. Co-op share transfers have no deed, and many private agreements are never recorded.

How Roofy surfaces the same records

Roofy building pages pull from city open data, not by scraping ACRIS. Each page shows the owner of record from city planning data, the sales history from the Department of Finance sales file (with $0 transfers labeled “Non-market transfer”), and the block and lot you need for an exact ACRIS search. For documents behind those sales, like mortgages, assignments and the deed image itself, go to ACRIS. Browse recent sales citywide at NYC sales.

Common problems

• No results by address: switch to BBL. A building with several addresses, or a corner building, may be indexed under an address you didn’t try.
• Too many results by name: narrow by borough and date, or switch to the property search once you know the BBL.
• Blocked or slow: DOF restricts robots and automated scripts and caps daily bandwidth at 400 MB. For bulk research, use the ACRIS datasets on NYC Open Data.
• Look-alike sites: DOF warns that sites such as ACRISasap and ACRIS.com are not approved by the Department of Finance.