Bulletin: NY000100

Dear Associates:

You will recall that pursuant to the provisions of Local Law No. 4 (1994), the Nassau County Clerk's office imposed several new requirements on the recording of instruments in that County. For example, it required that the "record and return" statement which is generally included in instruments submitted for recording, be located in a specific place on such instruments. It further mandated that documents be of a specific type size and submitted with a self-addressed, stamped envelope in order to have them returned after recording. The law also imposed a fee and contained monetary penalty provisions for non-compliance.

Several title companies, including Stewart Title Insurance Company, already faced with serious delays in the recording of documents, commenced an action against the Nassau County Clerk in connection with these new and unduly burdensome requirements. The action was recently resolved by way of a settlement which provides that the provision of Local Law No. 4 will not be implemented. Instead, a new Local Law No. 5 (1995) will be implemented which will require only the following:

• an additional $10.00 block fee for the recording and indexing of a document;
  
• a computer generated cover sheet, one which will be prepared by the County (not the person submitting the document); and
  
• the section. block and lot of the property affected by the document to be recorded must appear on the first page of said document.
  

As a further result of this settlement, the preparation, by hand, of a cover sheet by the person submitting a document for recording, (which had been mandated by Local Law No. 9 (1992)), will no longer be required.

This is a very favorable resolution of the controversy with the Nassau County Clerk's office. As an additional benefit derived from the litigation and subsequent settlement, a dialogue between industry representatives and a number of County Clerks was begun, and will hopefully continue in the future. The goal of the ongoing dialogue is to resolve differences and misunderstandings between the Industry and the County Clerks before they develop into more serious problems.

Should you have any questions, please contact Company Counsel.