The Title Search Found a Lien or Judgment: What Happens Next in New York

A judgment or lien on a New York title report rarely stops a closing. Most are paid from the seller’s proceeds at the table, shown not to belong to the seller, or shown to have expired. Until one of those happens, the title company will not insure over it. Left alone, it stays in the policy as an exception: the buyer takes title subject to it, with no coverage.

Three questions decide what happens next: whose name the item is against, whether it actually attaches to this property, and whether it is still in force. The rules below are statewide. Where the item is filed differs between New York City and Westchester County, and that is noted where it matters.

The four filings you will see most

Lien type Where filed How long it lasts Typical cure
Money judgment County Clerk 10 years from docketing; renewable Payoff, satisfaction-piece
Federal tax lien City Register (4 boroughs); County Clerk elsewhere Tied to 10-year IRS collection period; refiled to extend IRS payoff, release or discharge
NYS tax warrant Dept. of State (from 7/1/2025), copy to County Clerk; County Clerk (older) Lien per CPLR; debt 20 years Payoff, warrant satisfaction
Mechanic’s lien County Clerk 1 year unless extended or foreclosed Satisfaction, bond or deposit

Other items show up too, such as NYC ECB judgments, emergency repair charges and condominium common charge liens. NYC violation-related liens are covered in NYC property violations at closing.

Where these are filed

Judgments and mechanic’s liens go to the County Clerk of the county where the property sits. In New York City that is the County Clerk for New York, Kings, Queens, Bronx or Richmond County, not the City Register, so they do not appear in ACRIS (see how to read ACRIS for title). In Westchester, the County Clerk indexes money judgments, mechanic’s liens and notices of pendency by debtor name, with later satisfactions and renewals shown on the same entry.

Federal tax liens on real property are filed under Lien Law § 240: with the City Register for Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx (document type FL in ACRIS), and with the County Clerk in Staten Island, Westchester and the rest of the state. They are indexed by taxpayer name.

State tax warrants issued by the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance (DTF) changed on July 1, 2025. Warrants from that date are filed electronically with the Department of State, and under Tax Law § 6 that filing is a lien on the debtor’s real property located anywhere in New York. DTF still files a copy with the county clerk named in the warrant (Tax Law § 6(3)), but the statewide lien comes from the Department of State filing. Warrants filed before July 1, 2025 remain liens where docketed with a county clerk. Searches therefore cover both systems (Stewart Title summary).

Searches run against the seller, the buyer and prior owners in the chain, which is why unfamiliar names appear.

Judgments: how they attach and when they expire

A money judgment becomes a lien on the debtor’s real property once it is docketed with the clerk of the county where the property is located. Under CPLR 5203(a), a transfer by the debtor is not effective against the judgment creditor from docketing until ten years after the judgment-roll is filed. The lien is county-specific: a judgment docketed in Kings County is not a lien on a house in Westchester unless a transcript is filed and docketed there under CPLR 5018(a).

Renewal. The creditor can start an action for a renewal judgment during the year before the ten years run out. The renewal judgment’s lien takes effect when the original ten years expire (CPLR 5014). Separately, a court can extend the original lien in limited cases, such as where the creditor was stayed from enforcing or an execution sale is under way (CPLR 5203(b)).

The 20-year rule is about the debt, not the lien. CPLR 211(b) presumes a money judgment paid after 20 years unless the debtor acknowledged it in writing or made a payment. The real property lien still ends at ten years unless renewed or extended.

Paid judgments that still show. A creditor paid in full must file a satisfaction-piece with the clerk within 20 days, with a $100 penalty for judgments under $5,000 and $500 for larger ones (CPLR 5020). If the seller paid a judgment years ago and no satisfaction was filed, the seller’s attorney asks the creditor or its attorney for one before closing. Proof of payment alone may not be enough to remove it from the policy.

A judgment against a previous owner

Timing is everything. CPLR 5203 makes a docketed judgment a lien on what the debtor owns, and a later transfer does not defeat it. So:

  • Docketed while the prior owner held title: the lien stayed with the property through the sale and binds the current owner’s title for the rest of its ten years. Courts apply this even where the docket used a common form of the name: in Matter of Accounts Retrievable Sys., LLC v Conway, a judgment docketed against “Bob” Conway was a valid lien on property later conveyed by “Robert” Conway.
  • Docketed after the prior owner’s deed: the debtor no longer owned the property, so the judgment does not attach to it. The examiner compares the docketing date with the deed date to confirm this and then omits it.

A valid prior-owner judgment is the current seller’s problem to solve, even though the seller never owed the debt. If it was missed when the seller bought, the seller’s own owner’s policy is the place to make a claim.

Most old prior-owner judgments have simply expired. One docketed more than ten years ago, with no renewal or extension on the docket, is no longer a lien on the property and is typically omitted on that basis.

A judgment against someone with a similar name

Judgment and lien indexes are searched by name, and common names return many hits. A judgment against “J. Rodriguez” or “John A. Smith” will show up on the report for any owner with a similar name until it is ruled out.

The usual fix is an affidavit from the owner stating that they are not the person named in the listed judgments, often with identifying details such as prior addresses. Stewart’s standard title requirement for this, a “Not Same Person Affidavit,” calls for an affidavit from the party and another reliable person stating the party is not the person against whom the listed items were filed (Stewart standard exceptions, Names). That is underwriter guidance, not a statute, and each underwriter decides what proof it accepts. If the hit could plausibly be the seller, expect more questions or a requirement to pay it.

The same applies to the buyer: judgments against the buyer attach when the buyer takes title, and a lender will want them cleared or ruled out.

Tax liens and tax warrants

Federal tax liens. A notice of federal tax lien is not valid against a purchaser or judgment creditor until filed in the office state law designates (26 U.S.C. § 6323(a) and (f)). The IRS generally has ten years from assessment to collect (26 U.S.C. § 6502), and the notice must be refiled in a window around that ten-year mark to keep its priority (§ 6323(g)).

At a sale, a federal lien against the seller is paid from proceeds. The IRS must release a lien within 30 days after the liability is paid (26 U.S.C. § 6325(a)). Where the proceeds will not cover the full debt, the seller can apply for a certificate of discharge for the specific property under § 6325(b). IRS Publication 783 asks for the application at least 45 days before the closing date.

NYS tax warrants. A filed warrant is a lien on real and personal property (DTF, Tax warrants). Tax Law § 174-A applies the CPLR judgment-lien duration rules to warrant liens on real property, including warrants filed with the Department of State, and Tax Law § 174-B extinguishes the underlying liability after 20 years. Underwriters differ on how they read these together; Stewart’s guidelines treat NYS tax warrants as effective for 20 years from the first date they could be filed (XIV.C.4 of the guidelines cited below). Once the warranted balance is paid in full, DTF sends a satisfaction to the Department of State and the county clerk. DTF also issues a Notice of Pending Warrant Satisfaction, which it says title companies generally accept as proof the lien will be removed, and offers lien releases or subordinations for sales and loans where full payment is not possible (same source).

Tax liens are usually not escrowed. Stewart’s New York agent guidelines, for example, state that escrow cannot be held to clear NYS or federal tax liens and require a payoff (Stewart NY Guidelines, 2022, XIV.C.5).

Mechanic’s liens

A contractor or supplier files a notice of mechanic’s lien with the County Clerk within eight months after the last work or materials, or four months for a single-family dwelling (Lien Law § 10). Unlike a judgment, it is a lien on the property itself, so it binds a buyer regardless of who owns the property.

It lasts one year from filing unless the lienor starts a foreclosure action and files a notice of pendency, or extends it (Lien Law § 17). The lienor can file an extension within that first year, which continues the lien for up to one more year; after that, or on a single-family dwelling at any point, only a court order can continue it. An expired lien with no foreclosure or extension on the docket is cleared on that basis.

A live lien can be discharged by a recorded satisfaction from the lienor, a bond or undertaking for 110% of the lien, a court order, a judgment in the owner’s favor, or summary discharge of a facially invalid lien (Lien Law § 19). Before a foreclosure action starts, the owner can also deposit the amount claimed plus interest with the County Clerk (Lien Law § 20). If the seller disputes the bill, a bond or deposit lets the sale close while the dispute continues.

Who does what to clear it

The work divides the way it does across a New York closing (see who does what at a New York closing):

  • Buyer’s attorney lists each judgment and lien as an objection and requires the seller to clear it.
  • Seller’s attorney does the curing: orders payoff letters, gets satisfactions, prepares not-same-person affidavits, and arranges bonds or deposits for disputed mechanic’s liens.
  • Title agency disposes of each item in one of four ways: payoff at closing (the closer takes the check and the satisfaction follows), omission (proof shows it is expired, satisfied or not the owner’s), escrow (funds held from the seller’s proceeds until a satisfaction is filed), or exception (it stays in the policy).
  • Underwriter sets the rules and approves anything outside them. Escrows in particular are underwriter-controlled. Stewart, for example, allows escrow of double the face amount for a judgment about to expire and requires underwriter approval above $10,000 (XIV.C.1.c of the guidelines above). Other underwriters set different terms.

Payoffs, escrows and affidavits show on the closing statement and title bill; see the title bill explained.

What to do next

Sellers: review the judgment and lien returns the day the title report arrives and tell your attorney which items are yours, which you paid, and which are not you. Tax payoffs, IRS discharges and creditor satisfactions take weeks.

Buyers: ask your attorney which items will be paid at closing, which omitted, which escrowed, and whether anything will remain as an exception in your owner’s policy. An item left as an exception is not covered.

Both: for an estate sale, judgments against the decedent and the heirs need their own review; see buying or selling from an estate. For an old open mortgage, see clearing an old or unsatisfied mortgage.

Official sources

Related guides

Korvane Title is preparing to launch in New York. It is not licensed as a title insurance agent and does not accept title orders. Content on this site is general information, not legal advice.