The Suffolk County Clerk (the “Clerk”) requires that all documents presented for recording or filing must have the District, Section, Block and Lot verified by the Real Property Tax Service Agency (the “Agency”) prior to the submission of the instrument for recording or filing with the Clerk’s office.

Pursuant to Local Law 26-2016 (the “Law”), the Agency will impose an additional fee of $300.00 (the “Fee”) per mortgage instrument for all mortgage instruments presented for recording or filing on or after January 1, 2017. For a non-exclusive list of documents defined as “mortgage instruments”, a link to the Law is provided here: http://www.advantagetitle.com/bulletins/assets/2016-05-suffolk-fee.pdf. The Law has not been enacted as of this date; however, Advantage Title (the “Company”) has been informally advised that the Suffolk County Legislature is expected to vote on the Law on Tuesday, December 6. Upon completion of the vote and anticipated passage of the Law, it is expected that the Clerk will issue a formal policy (the “Policy”) on the Law. The Company will distribute the Policy upon availability.

Assuming passage of the Law, the Company will begin collecting the Fee for all closings occurring on or after December 14, 2016. However, the Company will begin collecting the Fee for satisfactions of mortgage and full and partial releases of mortgage that will be delivered to the Company post-closing on all closings occurring on or after December 5, 2016. In the event the Clerk does not collect the Fee at the time of recording, the Fee will be refunded to the client by Advantage Title.

Please contact Drew Steigler, Chief Underwriting Counsel, at
631.424.6100 or dsteigler@advantagetitle.com
with any questions concerning this Bulletin.

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