What ACRIS Alerts Actually Cover (And What They Don't)

What Is ACRIS?

ACRIS — the Automated City Register Information System — is the New York City database that records documents affecting real property in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens. (Staten Island uses the Richmond County Clerk’s office separately.)

Every time a deed, mortgage, lien, or other instrument is recorded against a property, that transaction becomes a public record in ACRIS. Anyone can search it online. King Moves Connect monitors it on your behalf, verifies what it finds, and notifies you when something new is filed.

Document Types We Watch For

ACRIS records hundreds of document types. King Moves Connect specifically flags:

Urgent — Review Immediately

• Deeds — Any conveyance of ownership, including executor deeds, referee’s deeds, and deeds in lieu of foreclosure.
• Lis Pendens — A legal notice that a lawsuit affecting the property has been filed. Commonly precedes foreclosure.
• Foreclosure-related documents — Notices of pendency, judgment of foreclosure, etc.

Review — Understand What Filed

• Mortgages — A new lien against your property securing a loan.
• Liens — Mechanic’s liens, tax liens, environmental liens, judgment liens.
• UCC Filings — Uniform Commercial Code filings, sometimes attached to commercial properties.
• Assignments and assumptions — Transfer of an existing mortgage or agreement to another party.

Informational

• Satisfactions and cancellations — A lender confirming a mortgage or lien has been paid off.
• Easements and covenants — Restrictions or rights affecting use of the property.
• Tax-related documents — Transfer tax returns and related filings.

What King Moves Connect Does NOT Cover

Being clear about limitations is important:

• We don’t monitor deeds that were never recorded. Deed theft schemes sometimes involve forged documents. If a document is never officially recorded, we can’t alert you to it. However, most deed theft schemes do involve recording, which is what we catch.
• We don’t monitor Staten Island properties. Staten Island property records are maintained by the Richmond County Clerk, not ACRIS.
• We don’t monitor commercial or industrial zoning changes. ACRIS tracks legal documents, not zoning or permit activity.
• We’re not a substitute for title insurance. Title insurance protects you from past defects in title; King Moves Connect protects you from new filings going forward, and acts on them when they appear.
• We’re not a law firm. We verify filings and start the response process, but we don’t provide legal advice or representation. If you see an unexpected filing, we’ll tell you plainly if it’s time to consult a licensed real estate attorney — and help you get there fast.

How Quickly Do Alerts Arrive?

King Moves Connect checks ACRIS regularly throughout each day. When a new document is indexed, we typically alert you within a few hours of it appearing in the public record — and for urgent filings, we’ve already started verifying it and opening a case by the time you see the alert. This is significantly faster than relying on annual title searches or waiting to notice problems on your own.

What Should I Do With an Alert?

1. Read the summary. The alert will tell you the document type, recording date, and any parties listed.
2. Look at the actual document. We include a direct link to the ACRIS record, plus our own verification notes, so you can review the full filing.
3. If something looks wrong, we’re already moving. For urgent filings we open a case and start outreach immediately — including contacting the relevant City agency when that’s the right step. In parallel, contact a real estate attorney; many deed theft remedies are more available the faster everyone acts.
4. If you recognize it, mark it reviewed. Routine filings like satisfaction of mortgage confirmations can be marked reviewed and closed.

If you have questions about a specific alert, contact us through the app and we’ll help you understand what you’re looking at — and what we’ve already done about it.