**Disclaimer: Employees of the St. Lawrence County Clerk's Office are NOT attorneys; therefore, we cannot give legal advice. **
Find an attorney: St. Lawrence County Bar Association
Real property transactions are the recording of deeds, mortgages and many other legal documents pertaining to real estate. All of these documents are currently assigned an instrument number. Previously all documents were assigned a book and page number. See below for more information on some of the most commonly recorded documents.
Preview our fee schedule to confirm recording fees.
**Filing fee memorandum - effective 11/05/2020**
Return of Original Documents
Documents submitted for recording must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope ("SASE") for the return of the original document(s). Any document submitted without a SASE will be kept for the legal retention period and then disposed of as provided in law.
Deeds
A Deed is a written instrument by which a person transfers ownership of real property to another. Deeds must be accompanied by two additional forms to be recorded. One is a Real Property Transfer Form known as an RP-5217, the other is a Transfer Tax Affidavit known as a TP-584. If the seller is a non-New York State Resident, an IT-2663 must also accompany the deed. View our informational sheet on deed recordings for more instruction.
St. Lawrence County currently requires everyone recording a new deed to use the downloadable one-page RP-5217-PDF form. Please click here for the downloadable form, instructions, and additional information. Please feel free to call our office if you have any questions.
***Effective September 13, 2019, an amendment to New York Tax Law §1409(a) requires all LLCs, that are either grantors or grantees, in a deed transfer of real property to disclose all their members before the real estate may be transferred. An additional form may be submitted with the TP-584 with the required information.
***Effective March 11, 2020, an amendment to Real Property Law §291requires County Clerks to notify the owner(s) of record of residential real property when a document is recorded affecting said residential property. There will be a $10 fee added to all residential deed recordings. For more information view our memorandum.
Mortgages
A Mortgage is a legal agreement that creates an interest in real estate between a borrower and a lender. Commonly used to purchase homes, mortgages specify the terms by which the purchaser borrows from the lender. Mortgage tax in St. Lawrence County is currently 3/4 of 1%.
All assignments and discharges must reference all of the original recording information.
Power of Attorney
Power of Attorney's can be recorded in the St. Lawrence County Clerk's Office. There are two major reasons why this is done. The first is that many businesses require a recorded power of attorney in order for real estate transactions to be conducted. The other is to safeguard the important document. If it is ever lost or destroyed, an individual may obtain a certified copy of the recorded power of attorney from our office, which works just as well as an original. As of September 1, 2009, New York State changed the power of attorney requirements. The current Power of Attorney form approved by NYS can be found here.
Uniform Commercial Code
Uniform Commercial Code Filings are essentially a credit agreement between a business and an individual. These are filed as a lien and are typically filed by the lender. When an individual purchases costly goods or equipment on a payment plan, the retailer or lender can file a U.C.C. All U.C.C.'s currently filed in the St. Lawrence County Clerk's Office are attached to real estate. All other U.C.C. filings are filed with New York State. Filings are good for five years but can be renewed until the debt is paid off. Individuals looking to see if a U.C.C has been filed against them in our office, can come in and do a search of our records.
Subdivision Maps
Subdivision maps that are required to be filed before a portion of the property can be sold, put up for sale, leased or rented may need prior approval. Not all Towns or Villages in St. Lawrence County have a subdivision law, but either way the map will still need to be signed by the appropriate Planning Board Chairperson. For more information, please view the full list of Land Use Regulations List from the St. Lawrence County Planning Department. The Survey Map Affidavit is required to file any map within the St. Lawrence County Clerk's Office.
Judgments and Executions
An original judgment must first be processed through court then filed in our office. There are two types of Judgments that our office files. A Judgment can be ordered in a Civil Matter and will be filed in the case. The other type is issued by the City, Town or Village Courts and is called a transcript of judgment. The fee to file this in our office is $10.00. For our office to issue an income execution or property execution, there is an additional $12.60 fee, and a Judgment Creditor Affidavit for Execution must be completed. If you are requesting our office to issue an income execution or property execution, please contact us.
