Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 15, no. 368: April 3, 1875

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EAL Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XY. NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1875. No. 368 Published Weekly by m REAL ESTATE RECORD ASSOCIATION. C. W. SWEET............President AND TKEAstiEER PRESTON I. SWEET........Seoretakt. L. ISRAELS......................Busikess Manager TERMS. One year, iu advance...........SIO 00 Communications shonld he addressed to Nos. ?A5 AND .347 B-IOADWAT PERSONAL. Our readers are probably aware that a bill has been introclucccl into tbe Assembly com¬ prising, in substance, the following sections: Fir^t.—Forbidding the insertion.of a greater amount thaii the actual consideration in any deed for the conveying of real estate in Ibis city and Brooklyn, and constituting tbe viola tion of tbis section ^mma facie evidence of fraud. Second.—Authorizing the Eegisters of New Yoi'k and Brooklyn to allow the Real Estate Record to make brief memoranda of deeds and mortgages sent in for record. Third:—Authorizing the Real Estate Rec- oiiD to charge twenty cents for each recorded instrument thus published,,and to collect tbe same from tbe parties offering tbe documents for record. _ \^ A few of tbe reasons for ttie' introduction of this bill are: Tbe insecnre condition of tbe Register's oflice in case of lire, whereby documents affecting property valued at more than $3,000,000,000 may be destroyed any day. The consequent necessity of having in such a contingency some suitable evidence of tbe record and contents of all instruments required by law to be filed in tbe Register's office. [It will be remembered that tbe great Chica¬ go fire destroyed all tbe records, tbe loss of wbicb cause until this day innumerable litiga¬ tions. Had not memoranda,, similar to those now required to be made by this proposed Act, been preserved bjj- certain parties, every¬ thing would have been in still more inextrica¬ ble confusion.] The time bas come tbat the consideration stated in all deeds should represent tbe actual value of propertj'' so transferred, and tbat reckless speculators shall no longer be per¬ mitted to insert fictitious values in their deeds so as to mislead tbe unwary. The same sec¬ tion Avill also obviate the frequent disputes be¬ tween assessors and tax-payers in regard to tbe true valuation of property. The passage of this Act will at once ensure tbe immediate detection of forgeries of deeds and other instruments—such as were revealed last year, and as explained by Mr. Glover's letter republished below—aud it will, in fact, bring to light all errors made in any recorded instrument, whether tbe result of gross care¬ lessness or otherwise. On and after tbe passage of this Act, prop¬ erty owners can refer to the Real Estate Record as an official journal, and thereby ascertain whether tlieir agents or attorneys have properly discharged the duties required of them in relation to the final recording of all documents, in the exact manner and form as agreed upon by the ]3arties in interest. The introduction and tbe passage of this Act can not possibly justify tbe cry of "job¬ bery " raised by some journals, as the total amount involved can not at tbe utmost reach a sum more than to defray tbe expense re¬ quired for the proper discharge of the duties imposed by this Act. The Real Estate Record stakes its repu¬ tation on the honesty of purpose and fair in¬ tent of this bill, which is more the creature of leading 'property owners iu New York than of the proprietors of this journal. of this act, must within thirty days after tbe completion of the building, or after the comple¬ tion of the work or the furnishiu^ of the materi¬ als lor whicli the lien is claimed, file with the County Clerk a claim coutaining the residences of all the claimants, and a statement of the de¬ mand after deducting allijusi credits and offsets, the name of the owner or rejiuted owuer, and also the name of the person by whom he Avas employ¬ ed or to whom he furuished the materials, with a statement of the terms of his contract, &c., and the contract, if in writing, must be liled with the claim. If the claim is filed asrainst two or more buildings, the person filing such claim must des¬ ignate the amount due to him ou each of such buildings, otherwise the lien of such claim is postponed to other liens. No lien binds the prop¬ erty for a longer period thau ninety days after the claim has been filed, unless au action be com¬ menced within that time. The manner and form of instituting such actions, are the same substan¬ tially as in actions for the foreclosure of mort- .gages upon real property. In lieu of a deposit Avith the clerk, the lien may be discharged by the filing of a bond in siicli sum as the Court may di¬ rect for the payment of any judgment Avhich may be rendered against the property. Claims are also authorized to be filed against the owuer of auy lot in the city, Avho directs any person to grade, fill in, or improve the sarae, or the side- Avalk or street in front of the same. 99 Nassau Street, New York, ! Sept. 10th, 1874. i Editor Beal Estate Record. j Sir: I thiidc it my duty to say to you tbat it Avas by means of your publications alone that my clients and myself were put upon in- ' quiry in respect to tbe fraud recently attempt- ; ed upon the estate of Isaac Young by the re- | cording of a forged deed. I have been a subscriber to and a reader of I the Record from tbe time of its first issue, i and have found it A^ery useful. And it was in | consequence of a prompt perusal of j^our num- ! ber of last Saturday that I Avas able to detect \ the crime Avhich had been committed and to j put tbe officers of justice upon tbe track of i the criminals. i Had it not been for your publication tbe | deed AA'Ould have been obtained from the Reg- ; ister's office, my clients' title Avould have been ' clouded by it, and we should have had no i clue whatever to tbe perpetrators (jf the | wrong. I am, your obedient servant, Charles H. Gloyer. DECISIONS REPORTED IN LAST VOLUME COURT OP APPEALS. MECHANICS' LIEN LAW. Senator Gross has introduced in the Senate a most important bill defining and limiting the liens of coutractors, laborers, and others, upon real estate in the City of Ncav York, some of the leading provisions in substance being as folIoAVS : Every person performing labor tipon, or fur¬ nishing materials to be used in the construction, alteration, or repair of buildings or other struc¬ tures, has a lien upon the same for the Avork done or materials furnished at the instance of the owner or his agent, which shall be preferred to any grant, lien, mortgage, or other incum¬ brance attaching subsequent to the time Avhen the building was commenced, Avork done, or materials Avere commenced to be furnished; also to any lien, mortgage, or other incumbrance, of which tho lien- holder had no notice, and Avhich was unrecorded at the time the building was commenced, AVork done, or the materials commenced to be furnished. The original contractor, Avithin sixty days after the completion of his contract, and eveiy person save the original contractor, claiming the benefit One Brown Avas and had beeu the agent of Bain, iu the management of the property in question, ami authorized to negotiate its sale. In pursuance of his authority to sell, Brown, on the Kith of April, 1SG7, contracted to sell it to oue SudloAV, for ^17,000, and signed the contract, in the uame of Bain, his princix)al. On the follow¬ ing day he advised Bain of this s.ale. On the next day Brown Avas applied to by one. Frankenheim, to purchase the property, and opened a negotia¬ tion with liim for a sale of it, at §2.5,000. The day after he closed a bargain Avith Frankenheim for the sale of the property at $2(5,000. On the Monday folloAving, BroAvn entered into a Avritten contract in his own name, as seller, with Frank¬ enheim as purchaser, for the sale of the property to him at that price. On the sarae day he re¬ ceived from SudloAV an assignment, purporting to be iu consideration of S500, Avhereby SudloAV as¬ signed to him the contract Avhieh he held for the purchase of the property at §17,000. The real facts aud the price to be paid Avere not communi¬ cated by BroAvn to his principal. In the deeds Avhich Brown sent to his principal for execution, aud which he executed and intrusted to Brown for delivery, the consideration Avas left blank, but these blauks Avere afterAvard filled up by Brown Avith sums amounting to §17,000. On the delivery of these deeds, Frankenheim paid to Browu, in cash and mortgages, §26,000, for only §17,000 of Avhich BroAvn accounted to liis princi¬ pal. BroAvn appropriating the difference to his own use. The Co^irt held that BroAvn, as a faith¬ ful agent, Avas bound to glA'e his principal the benefit of the advance, and could noj; rightfully appropriate it to himself. " If such a transaction as is exhibited in this case could stand for a mo¬ ment, the AA'cll established rules that an agent to sell cannot himself become a purchaser, and that one Avho undertakes to act for another, in any matter, shall uot in the same matter act for him¬ self, would be so easy of evasion that they Avould cease to be of any practical value. When agents, and others acting in a fiduciaiy capacity, under¬ stand that these rules Avill be rigidly enforced, even without proof of actual fraud, the honest will keep clear of all dealings falling Avithiu their prohibitiou, and those dishonestly inclined will conclude that it is useless to exercise their Avits in contrivances to evade it." A clause in a chattel mortgage upon a stock of goods, Avhich purports to extend the lien ol