A Monroe County tax map is the county’s official parcel record for a piece of real property, showing its shape, dimensions, area, and its unique Section-Block-Lot (SBL) number. You can pull up any parcel in the county through the free Real Property Portal at monroecounty.gov/etc/rp/, searching by address, owner name, or SBL.1Town of Perinton. Monroe County Portal-Real Property Assessment Data The map is built for assessment, not for construction or closings, so use it to identify a property and understand its recorded footprint, not to stake a boundary.
Looking Up a Parcel
The fastest way in is the SBL number. It appears on your annual tax bill and in the legal description of your recorded deed, and it points to exactly one parcel in county records. Searching by street address works, but Monroe County has 21 assessing jurisdictions and street names repeat across them, so include the town, village, or city to narrow the results.
Once you land on a parcel, the portal shows assessment data, ownership, historical sales, a map view of the lot in context with its neighbors, and links for paying taxes online.2Monroe County, NY. Real Property For a quick check of assessed value or recent sale history before an offer, that is usually enough. A title search and a professional appraisal are separate matters.
What the Map Actually Shows
State law requires each separately assessed parcel to be described with enough detail to identify it: the names of abutting owners, adjacent street names, approximate area in square feet, square rods, or acres, and linear dimensions.3New York State Senate. New York Real Property Tax Law 502 – Form of Assessment Roll On the map you see the parcel’s boundary lines, dimension labels along each edge, calculated area, and the neighboring parcels, roads, and rights-of-way around it. Monroe County’s Real Property Tax Service maintains these maps and updates them as subdivisions, mergers, and corrections come in, working with local assessors.4New York State Senate. New York Real Property Tax Law 503 – Tax Maps
Every parcel also carries a three-digit property type classification code set by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. The first digit is the broad category (100 agricultural, 200 residential, 300 vacant, 400 commercial, and so on through 900 wild, forested, and conservation lands), and the remaining digits refine it. Local municipalities can add supplemental codes, so if a classification looks off, the local assessor’s office is the right place to ask.5New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Property Type Classification Codes
The SBL itself is more than a lookup key. Under state law, once the tax map has been approved by the state commissioner, a reference to the section, block, and lot on that map is a legally sufficient description of the parcel.3New York State Senate. New York Real Property Tax Law 502 – Form of Assessment Roll
Tax Map or Licensed Survey
Tax maps are not survey-grade. They show approximate parcel boundaries for assessment purposes. If you need exact measurements for a fence, a foundation, a building permit, a mortgage refinance, or a closing, you need a plat of survey prepared by a licensed land surveyor. Title companies and lenders almost always require the survey, not the tax map. The Monroe County Real Property Services office publishes a guide on finding a surveyor.2Monroe County, NY. Real Property
Getting a Certified or Physical Copy
The online portal handles quick lookups, but a lender, title company, or planning board will usually want an official document. For a certified reproduction verified against county records, contact the Real Property Tax Service office:
Monroe County Real Property Tax Service
304 County Office Building
39 W. Main Street
Rochester, NY 14614
Phone: (585) 753-11252Monroe County, NY. Real Property
Have the SBL ready when you call. Fees vary by map size and whether certification is required. Recorded subdivision maps and survey documents sit with the County Clerk’s office rather than RPTS.
Fixing an Error
Boundaries occasionally land in the wrong place on a tax map, or lot dimensions and acreage figures come out wrong. The Real Property Tax Service investigates applications to correct assessment errors and processes refunds where appropriate.2Monroe County, NY. Real Property If the tax map disagrees with your recorded deed or a licensed survey, send the RPTS office a copy of that deed or survey along with your correction request. Documentation drives the outcome.
A factual map error is a different issue from a dispute over assessed value or classification. Value and classification disputes go through the annual assessment grievance process, which has its own deadlines. If you are not sure which one applies to your situation, call RPTS at (585) 753-1125.
Splits, Mergers, and Subdivisions
When a property is subdivided, combined with an adjacent lot, or has its lot lines redrawn, the tax map has to catch up. State law authorizes the county director of real property tax services to make those changes,4New York State Senate. New York Real Property Tax Law 503 – Tax Maps and Monroe County’s RPTS office reviews new subdivision and re-subdivision maps before they can be filed.2Monroe County, NY. Real Property Before you request a change, a few things to know:
- Outstanding property taxes or liens generally must be paid in full before parcel changes are processed.
- Each resulting lot from a split must be clearly defined in a deed or survey map recorded with the County Clerk. The RPTS office does not draft property descriptions.
- To merge parcels, all of them must be in the same name, in the same taxing jurisdiction, and typically physically adjacent.
- Town, village, or city planning and zoning authorities may need to sign off first. A subdivision map filed with the County Clerk usually needs a stamped local approval.
State law lets counties charge a filing fee for subdivision maps that trigger tax map changes: up to $25 for a one-to-three-lot subdivision, up to $50 for four to nine lots, and up to $100 for ten or more lots.4New York State Senate. New York Real Property Tax Law 503 – Tax Maps New SBLs assigned during the process do not take effect until the following assessment roll year, so the timing of your request relative to the annual roll affects when the change appears in county records.
Public Access and Privacy
Property tax records in New York are public. Owner names, assessed values, lot dimensions, and SBLs are all accessible through the portal or by records request. New York’s Personal Privacy Protection Law applies only to state agencies and explicitly excludes local government units like counties,6Open Government. What You Should Know – NYS Personal Privacy Protection Law (PPPL) so there is no county-level mechanism to redact a homeowner’s name from tax map records. Some owners hold property through an LLC or trust for privacy reasons; that approach has legal and tax implications worth discussing with an attorney first.