Filing Fees for Property Transfers Increase

Increased filing fees were proposed in last year's State Budget but didn't make the final cut. Not so this time around. New York State's Budget, enacted on April 7, 2009 as Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2009 increases the filing fee for the State Board of Real Property Services Real Property Transfer Report, generally known as the RP-5217 and the RP-5217NYC or as the Equalization and Assessment Form. The increased fees are required for all deeds submitted for recording on and after June 1, 2009. When the property being transferred is a “Qualifying residential property” or a “Qualifying farm property” the filing fee will increase from the current $75.00 to $125.00. The filing fee for the transfer of any other type of property will increase from the $165.00 now being charged to $250.00.

The fee to file the New York City Real Property Transfer Tax Return when the Equalization and Assessment form is not required to be filed, such as on the transfer of a cooperative interest or of a controlling economic interest, will increase from $50.00 to $100.00.

The changes go into effect on June 1, 2009.