To fill out and record a New York quitclaim deed, you complete the statutory short-form deed under Real Property Law § 258 with the parties’ full legal names, the property’s legal description, and a stated consideration amount; have the grantor sign it before a notary; and submit it to the county clerk where the property sits, together with Form TP-584, Form RP-5217, and the recording fees. The deed itself is short. The paperwork around it is where people stumble.
Quitclaim deeds suit situations where the parties already trust each other and the state of the title: moving a house into a living trust, taking an ex-spouse off the title after a divorce, or adding a child or sibling. The grantor passes along whatever interest they have, with no promise that the title is good or that they own anything at all.
Information to Gather Before You Draft
Pull these details together before you open the form. A missing or mismatched item either stalls the recording or seeds a title problem you will have to fix later with a corrective deed.
- Full legal names and residence addresses of both the grantor and the grantee, exactly as the grantor’s name appears on the most recently recorded deed for the property.
- The legal description of the property, copied word-for-word from that prior deed. Do not paraphrase a metes-and-bounds or lot description. If you do not have the prior deed, request a copy from the county clerk.
- The Tax Map Identification number, meaning the Section, Block, and Lot (SBL) the county uses. It appears on the property tax bill, and the assessor’s office can verify it.
- A consideration amount. The deed has to state one even when no money changes hands; family transfers and conveyances into a trust commonly use a nominal figure such as ten dollars.
- A return address for the clerk to mail the recorded deed back to after processing.
One extra disclosure applies if an LLC is on either side of a transfer of a one-to-four-family home or a residential condominium. New York Tax Law § 1409 requires the names, business addresses, and taxpayer identification numbers of all members, managers, and authorized persons of the LLC. Where a member is itself an entity, the disclosure continues through each layer of ownership until individual people are named. This applies even when the transfer is a gift.
Formatting the Document
County clerks reject deeds that fail basic formatting. Print on white paper between 8½ by 11 inches and 8½ by 14 inches, in black ink, at a font no smaller than 9 points. Leave a blank space of at least 3 by 3 inches in the upper-right corner of the first page for the clerk’s recording stamp, and keep a top margin of at least 1 inch on every following page. Some counties, such as Westchester, also require a cover page generated through their online recording system.
Filling Out the Deed
New York Real Property Law § 258, Schedule G, gives you a statutory short form for an individual quitclaim deed. You are not required to use that exact form, but the statute blesses it and county clerks accept it without issue. The operative language has the grantor “remise, release, and quitclaim” the property to the grantee, together with all appurtenances and the grantor’s estate and rights in the premises. That phrasing is what makes a quitclaim a quitclaim rather than a bargain-and-sale or warranty deed, and it belongs in the body of the document.1New York State Senate. New York Code RPP – Short Forms of Deeds and Mortgages
Fill in the date of execution, the full legal names and residences of both parties, the consideration amount, and the complete legal description. Under Real Property Law § 243, any grant of a fee or freehold estate must be signed by the grantor; if the deed is not acknowledged before a notary, the execution must be attested by at least one witness or the deed will not take effect against a later buyer or lender who records first.2New York State Legislature. New York Real Property Law Section 243 – Grant of Fee or Freehold In practice, deeds are almost always notarized, which eliminates the witness requirement.
Notarization
The grantor signs in the physical presence of a notary public commissioned in New York. The notary then completes an acknowledgment certificate in the exact form set out in Real Property Law § 309-a, which identifies the signer, confirms the notary knew them personally or verified identity through satisfactory evidence, and states that the signer acknowledged executing the instrument.3New York State Senate. New York Real Property Code 309-A – Uniform Forms of Certificates of Acknowledgment or Proof Within This State Real Property Law § 306 requires the officer taking the acknowledgment to endorse or attach a certificate covering all matters required to be done, known, or proved.4New York State Senate. New York Consolidated Laws, Real Property Law – RPP Section 306 Check that the notary’s commission is current and the stamp legible. Any change to the deed after notarization voids the acknowledgment; you re-sign and re-notarize.
If the Grantor Signs Outside New York
An out-of-state signing can follow either New York law or the law of the state where it happens. When it follows the other state’s law, Real Property Law § 299-a requires a certificate of conformity, a separate document confirming the acknowledgment conforms with that state’s rules. It can be prepared by an attorney admitted in New York who resides in the signing state, or by an attorney admitted in the signing state.5New York State Senate. New York Consolidated Laws, Real Property Law – RPP Section 299-A The easier route is to have the out-of-state notary use the § 309-a New York acknowledgment form, which skips the certificate of conformity entirely.
The Tax Forms That Must Accompany the Deed
The clerk will not record your deed without the tax paperwork. Showing up with just the deed means a wasted trip.
Form TP-584
Every deed submitted for recording needs Form TP-584, the Combined Real Estate Transfer Tax Return. It collects the Social Security numbers or employer identification numbers of all parties and asks you to pick a “condition of conveyance” code describing the nature of the transfer. Codes common to quitclaim transactions include conveyance of a fee interest, conveyance pursuant to divorce or separation, mere change of identity or form of ownership, and conveyance for which a transfer tax exemption is claimed.6New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Form TP-584 Combined Real Estate Transfer Tax Return If you claim an exemption, complete Schedule B, Part 3. Check every identification number before submitting; errors here delay processing and can flag the transaction for audit.7New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Instructions for Form TP-584 Combined Real Estate Transfer Tax Return
Form RP-5217
Real Property Law § 333 forbids a recording officer from accepting any deed without a completed Form RP-5217, the Real Property Transfer Report, and the associated filing fee.8New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law Section 333 It captures property use, size in acres or square feet, school district, municipal codes, and the sale price. When no money changes hands, the sale price is zero.9New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Instructions for Completing Form RP-5217-PDF, Real Property Transfer Report
The filing fee is $125 for residential properties and farmland and $250 for all other property types. State and county agencies are exempt.10New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Filing Fees for Form RP-5217-PDF, Real Property Transfer Report
Form IT-2663 if the Grantor Lives Out of State
A grantor who is not a New York State resident must file Form IT-2663, the Nonresident Real Property Estimated Income Tax Payment Form, and pay estimated state income tax on any gain at the time the deed is presented for recording. The estimated tax rate for 2026 is 10.90% of the taxable gain.11New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Nonresident Real Property Estimated Income Tax Payment Form No payment is required if the transfer produces a loss for federal income tax purposes. IT-2663 goes to the county recording officer with the deed, not to the Tax Department.
Transfer Tax and Common Exemptions
New York imposes a real estate transfer tax of $2 per $500 of consideration (or any fraction of $500) when the consideration exceeds $500. On a $200,000 transfer, that is $800. Transfers inside New York City face an additional $1.25 per $500 on residential conveyances of $3 million or more and on other property conveyances of $2 million or more.12New York State Senate. New York Tax Law Section 1402 – Imposition of Tax
Many quitclaim transfers owe no transfer tax at all. Tax Law § 1405 exempts conveyances made without consideration and otherwise than in connection with a sale, which covers bona fide gifts.13New York State Senate. New York Tax Law Section 1405 – Exemptions A deed between spouses as part of a divorce, a conveyance into a trust where no real consideration passes, and a deed to a family member for a nominal sum like ten dollars all fit. To claim the exemption, pick the right code in Schedule B of Form TP-584. You still file the TP-584 even when the transfer is exempt.
A separate mansion tax applies to residential purchases of $1 million or more. Quitclaim deeds structured as gifts without real consideration generally avoid it, but a transfer that carries a mortgage balance as part of the consideration could trigger it.14New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Real Estate Transfer Tax
Recording the Deed
File the completed deed, TP-584, RP-5217, and any other required forms with the county clerk in the county where the property is located. You can submit in person or by mail. The base recording fee is $45 plus $5 per written page.15Westchester County Clerk. Land Records Fees and Taxes A typical two-page quitclaim deed runs $55 to record before tax form fees.
For property in New York City, you can file through the Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS), though electronic submission is not mandatory and paper remains an option in all five boroughs.16NYC Department of Finance. City Register’s E-Recording – Frequently Asked Questions Real Property Transfer Tax returns inside the city must go through ACRIS even when the deed itself is filed on paper.17New York City Department of Finance. ACRIS
After processing, the clerk returns a stamped copy with a unique instrument identification number or a book-and-page designation. That is the confirmation that the transfer is part of the public land records.
Record It Right Away
Under Real Property Law § 291, an unrecorded deed is void against any later buyer who purchases the same property in good faith, pays real consideration, and records first.18New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law Section 291 Put plainly: if the grantor turns around and sells to someone else before you record, and that buyer records first without knowing about your deed, you lose. The risk is low in a family transfer, but there is no upside to waiting. Record once the deed is signed and notarized.
Gift Tax and Cost Basis to Know About
A quitclaim used as a gift can trigger federal tax reporting even when no New York transfer tax is owed. The 2026 federal annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient.19Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances If the property’s fair market value exceeds that number, the donor files IRS Form 709 even if no tax is owed, because the excess counts against the lifetime exemption. Married couples can split gifts and combine their exclusions, allowing up to $38,000 per recipient before dipping into the lifetime amount.
The bigger issue is cost basis. When you receive property by gift through a quitclaim deed, you generally take the donor’s original cost basis rather than the current market value. If the donor paid $80,000 for a house now worth $400,000, your basis is $80,000, and selling later means capital gains tax on the difference. Inherited property, by contrast, receives a stepped-up basis equal to fair market value at the date of death. Transferring highly appreciated property by quitclaim deed during your lifetime can hand the grantee a much larger future tax bill than leaving it to them through a will or trust that takes effect at death. Weigh that before you treat the quitclaim as a free lunch.