Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 95, no. 2462: Articles]: May 22, 1915

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REAL ESTATE AND ^) BUILDERS NEW YORK, MAY 22, 1915 iilillillHilM^^^^ luiiiiimiiiiiii Iiiiii I HOW REAL ESTATE RECORDS ARE KEPT I The Early Libers Were Written in Dutch—Purpose of the ■ Register's Office—Changes and Improvements in 1914. | iililllM TO those not interested in real estate the work done yearly at the office of the Register of the County of New York means little or nothing, but to others it is of prime importance. Ac¬ curacy and speed are two essentials, and that mistakes are almost unknown is due to the system which has been evolved from the one hundred and three years' experience, since the recording office was established. Prior to 1812 the records affecting real estate were kept by the County Clerk. At that tinie the county was about one hundred and fifty years old, and about one hundred volumes were necessary to keep the records. These were trans¬ ferred in 1812 to the care of the Register, and the records, with the exception of a few of the early libers, are now con¬ tinuous from 1654, during the Dutch re¬ gime, to the present day. It is interest¬ ing to note that some of the first libers are written in the Dutch language. Hon. John J. Hopper, the Register of New York County, in his statement and report showing the changes and im¬ provements made in the department dur¬ ing 1914, gives much valuable as well as interesting information, covering as it does the early history of the Register's office down to the present time. Records Written by Hand. Until about 1898, the records were written by hand in large volumes, each book containing from 500 to 700 pages. These libers would contain from two to three hundred instruments, each of which was copied out at length. In the early days there were not many instru¬ ments, so those recorded were easily located, but to-day there are upwards of two million instruments, of various kinds, on file. There are about one hun¬ dred thousand lots in New York County, so that, on an average, there are about twenty instruments which make up the title to each lot. To find the particular twenty instruments, out of the two mil¬ lion on record, is the object of title ^'searching" and so simply that search is the purpose of indexing. Each liber is separately indexed, by placing the names in alphabetical order in the back of the book. Later special index books were supplied. The alpha¬ betical system continued until 1891, at which time there were about one million two hundred thousand instruments on record. It has been estimated that not less than four million separate name en¬ tries were indexed. The result of this system was an enormous aggregation of names under each letter. 600,000 Names in 1856, In 1856 tbe indexes contained about six hundred thousand names and an ef¬ fort was made to correct the evils result¬ ing from the cumbersome system in vogue. A new alphabetical index was arranged, in which the names for the en¬ tire period prior to 1856 were arranged in exact directory order. This system was a decided improvement over the one in force up to that time, and shortened the time required for searching titles. The agitation for improved indexes HON. JOHN J. HOPPER, Register of New York County. was actively renewed in 1885. At that time about one million instruments were on record and searching conditions were almost intolerable. As a result a Com¬ mission was appointed and a measure providing for the block system was passed in 1889 and went into effect Janu¬ ary 1, 1891. The law was defective, in¬ asmuch as it did not provide for the re- indexing of the great mass of instru¬ ments recorded prior to 1891. A re-in-, dexing law was passed in 1892 and again in 1893 but nothing was done until the organization of the Reindexing Depart¬ ment in 1910. When first organized the only duty of the Register was to receive real property instruments, record them "at length" and index them. This is still the primary duty of the Register, but in recent years the responsibilities and duties of the of¬ fice have been greatly increased and broadened. In addition to the current recording and indexing, the Register attends to the satisfaction of mortgages; he receives chattel mortgages, of which more than one hundred thousand are filed and indexed annually; he collects the mortgage tax, which amounts to about $2,000,000 a year; he is also respon¬ sible for recopying and certifying old and mutilated records, and also for the locality reindexing of all old records. The Register is also the Registrar o titles under the Land Title Registration Act, commonly called the Torrens Law. Three Classes of Instruments. Real property instruments are divided into three main classes: (1) conveyances, (2) mortgages, and (3) miscellaneous papers. These three classes are each given a separate series of filing numbers, record and index books. Within each classification are a variety of instru¬ ments. For example: In the convey¬ ance libers are placed deeds, leases, as¬ signments of leases, releases, party wall agreements, trust agreements and sim¬ ilar instruments. The mortgage libers contain mortgages. assignments of mortgages, extension agreements, par¬ ticipation agreements and the like. Among the miscellaneous papers are found general trust mortgages, general conveyances and releases of decedents' estates, and other papers general in char¬ acter. During last year there were re¬ corded 12,138 conveyances, 12,163 mort¬ gages and 852 miscellaneous papers. About one hundred papers are received daily for record and to obtain the highest economy of administration a routine has been established so that each division receives an entire day's work to handle. The daily steps for the original instru¬ ments are as follows: Division of the Work. First Day. The instruments are taken in and pass the notary clerk, the mort¬ gage tax, the receiving clerk, the cashier, the tickler index and the bookkeeper. Each instrument receives its serial num¬ ber and minute of record, and is ab¬ stracted, examined and located by block and lot. Second Day. Each instrument is copied at length by typewriter in the record libers and the liber and page are noted. Third Day. The Examining Division compares the typewritten record with the original paper and corrects all errors. Fourth Day. The Block Index Divi¬ sion completes and verifies the entries in the block index, first written from the abstract slips, which are then sent to the Alphabetical Index Division for use in preparing that index. Fifth Day. The original papers are sent to the Executive Office for the sig¬ nature and certificate of the Register. They are entered in the delivery book and delivered by mail, or otherwise, as requested. The routine of procedure has been so worked out that there is hardly any vari¬ ation in actual operation. A person re¬ cording a paper knows that it will be re¬ turned to him at the end of the fifth day without the necessity of making any special request. Mr. Hopper states that the systematic handling of an entire day's work each day and thus keeping the work up to date does not add to the cost, but on the contrary results in distinct saving. Use of Typewriters. The use of typewriters and of the abstract method in indexing current in¬ struments and for checking accuracy was begun early in 1914. Formerly both the block index and the alphabetical index were prepared in preliminary form in "blotters." These were afterwards copied in the permanent books. The use of temporary blotters was discontinued in 1914 and indexing is now made di¬ rectly into the final books. This system resulted in reducing, by nearly one-half, the staff engaged in preparing these two indexes. The clerks so relieved were assigned to other work. The budget for 1914. which was pre¬ pared before Mr. Hopper went into of¬ fice, was $304,468.40. a considerable re¬ duction from 1913, due to the with¬ drawal of Bronx County, which was