New York Consolidated Laws

N.Y. Real Property Law § 290 (2026)

Definitions; effect of article

✓ current as of May 2026

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§ 290. Definitions; effect of article. 1. The term "real property," as
used in this article, includes lands, tenements and hereditaments and
chattels real, except a lease for a term not exceeding three years.
  2. The term "purchaser" includes every person to whom any estate or
interest in real property is conveyed for a valuable consideration, and
every assignee of a mortgage, lease or other conditional estate.
  3. The term "conveyance" includes every written instrument, by which
any estate or interest in real property is created, transferred,
mortgaged or assigned, or by which the title to any real property may be
affected, including an instrument in execution of a power, although the
power be one of revocation only, and an instrument postponing or
subordinating a mortgage lien; except a will, a lease for a term not
exceeding three years, an executory contract for the sale or purchase of
lands, and an instrument containing a power to convey real property as
the agent or attorney for the owner of such property.
  4. The term "recording officer" means the county clerk of the county,
except in a county having a register, where it means the register of the
county.
  5. "Recording" or "recorded" means the entry, at length, upon the
pages of the proper record books in a plain and legible hand writing, or
in print or in symbols of drawing or by photographic process or partly
in writing, partly in printing, partly in symbols of drawing or partly
by photographic process or by any combination of writing, printing,
drawing or photography or either or any two of them, or by an electronic
process by which a record or instrument affecting real property, after
delivery is incorporated into the public record. "Recording" or
"recorded" also means the reproduction of instruments by
microphotography or other photographic process on film which is kept in
appropriate files.
  6. "Electronic" means of or relating to technology having electrical,
digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic or similar
capabilities.
  7. "Electronic record" means information evidencing any act,
transaction, occurrence, event or other activity, produced or stored by
electronic means and capable of being accurately reproduced in forms
perceptible by human sensory capabilities.
  8. "Electronic signature" means an electronic sound, symbol, or
process, attached to or logically associated with an electronic record
and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.
  9. "Paper document" means a document in a form that is not electronic.
  10. "Digitized paper document" means a digitized image of a paper
document that accurately depicts the information on the paper document
in a format that cannot be altered without detection.
  11. "Wet signature" means a signature affixed in ink or pencil or
other material to a paper document.
  12. This article does not apply to leases for life or lives, or for
years, heretofore made, of lands in either of the counties of Albany,
Ulster, Sullivan, Herkimer, Dutchess, Columbia, Delaware or Schenectady.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 60 cases (14 in the last 5 years), 1956–2026 · leading case: Merscorp., Inc. v. Romaine, 861 N.E.2d 81 (NY 2006).

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Merscorp., Inc. v. Romaine, 861 N.E.2d 81 (NY 2006). · cites it 4× “…the Suffolk County Clerk the ministerial duty of recording and indexing instruments affecting real property ( see Real Property Law § 290 [3]; §§ 291, 316-a [1], [2]; § 321 [1]; County Law § 525 [1]). The Clerk lacks the statutory authority to look beyond an instrument that…”

Fin. Assistance, Inc. v. Graham, 2021 NY Slip Op 08168 (N.Y. App. Div. 2021). · cites it 2× “"Article 9 of the Real Property Law provides that a properly recorded mortgage is superior to subsequently recorded mortgages" ( Gletzer v Harris , 12 NY3d 468, 473 ; see Real Property Law §§ 290, 291). However, the recording of the subject mortgages did not, by itself, render…”

Sprint Equities (NY), Inc. v. Sylvester, 71 A.D.3d 664 (N.Y. App. Div. 2010). · cites it 2× “Sylvester, for summary judgment, and declared, inter alia, that a certain deed dated September 8, 2000, is null and void and, in effect, that it is not the sole owner of the property.”

436 Franklin Realty, LLC v. U.S. Bank N.A., 2020 NY Slip Op 06735 (N.Y. App. Div. 2020). “"The New York Recording Act (Real Property Law § 290 et seq. ), inter alia, protects a good faith purchaser for value from an unrecorded interest in a property, provided such a purchaser's interest is first to be duly recorded" ( Yen-Te Hsueh Chen v Geranium Dev.”

Vanderbilt Brookland, LLC v. Vanderbilt Myrtle, Inc., 147 A.D.3d 1106 (N.Y. App. Div. 2017). ““The New York Recording Act (Real Property Law § 290 et seq.), inter alia, protects a good faith purchaser for value' from an unrecorded interest in a property, provided such a purchaser’s interest is first to be duly recorded” (Yen-Te Hsueh Chen v Geranium Dev.”

Ashland Equities Co. v. Clerk, 110 A.D.2d 60 (N.Y. App. Div. 1985). · cites it 2× “(See, Real Property Law § 290 [4]; Administrative Code § 1052-8.”

Yen-Te Hsueh Chen v. Geranium Dev. Corp., 243 A.D.2d 708 (N.Y. App. Div. 1997). “The New York Recording Act (Real Property Law § 290 et seq.), inter alia, protects a good faith purchaser for value from an unrecorded interest in a property, provided such a purchaser’s interest is first to be duly recorded (see, e.”

71-21 Loubet, LLC v. Bank of Am., N.A., 2022 NY Slip Op 05012 (N.Y. App. Div. 2022). “"The New York Recording Act (Real Property Law § 290 et seq. ), inter alia, protects a good faith purchaser for value from an unrecorded interest in a property, provided such a purchaser's interest is first to be duly recorded" ( Yen-Te Hsueh Chen v Geranium Dev.”

1426 46 St. v. Klein, 60 A.D.3d 740 (N.Y. App. Div. 2009). “Furthermore, the court should not have determined, as a matter of law, that the lease was void as against Horowitz, who purchased the premises at the foreclosure sale, because it was unrecorded.”

Deutsche Bank Nat'l Trust Co. v. Pietranico, 33 Misc. 3d 528 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2011). “’ As the instrument appears to reflect a valid conveyance (Real Property Law § 290 [3]), the Clerk is required to record the instrument in MERS’ name ‘as a nominee for Lender’ (Real Property Law § 291).”

Bello v. Ouellette, 2022 NY Slip Op 07043 (N.Y. App. Div. 2022). “Thereafter, Vertex moved for summary judgment dismissing the amended complaint insofar as asserted against it and declaring that it is the sole owner of the subject property, and to cancel the notice of pendency filed by the plaintiff.”

T & V Constructiion, Inc. v. Calapai, 90 A.D.3d 908 (N.Y. App. Div. 2011). ““The New York Recording Act (Real Property Law § 290 et seq.) protects a good faith purchaser for value from a prior unrecorded interest in real property provided, inter alia, that the subsequent purchaser’s interest is the first to be duly recorded” (Transland Assets, Inc.”

Show all 60 citing cases →

— N.Y. Real Property Law § 290(1) — 1 case

Heubusch v. Novastar Mortg., Inc. (In re Heubusch), 345 B.R. 49 (Bankr. W.D.N.Y. 2006).

— N.Y. Real Property Law § 290(3) — 2 cases

Wallach v. Brosnahan (In Re Broshanan), 312 B.R. 220 (Bankr. W.D.N.Y. 2004).

Kearny Bank v. Beaux Equities, LLC, 2025 NY Slip Op 02580 (N.Y. App. Div. 2025).

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