Complaints from homeowners about deed theft have been on the rise since 2023, according to CBS News. Several precautions, from establishing new laws to launching the investigative housing protection bureau in 2020, have promised stronger protection for property owners.
Deed theft occurs when an individual steals a home by acquiring the title through forging paperwork, which takes away the original homeowner’s title without their knowledge or permission. This can be achieved through various methods.
One method is the replication of a homeowner’s signature on an already printed deed and filing it with a clerk without their knowledge.
Another is creating fake documents to trick the current owner into signing, with the intent of taking their title away from them.
These tactics of property theft are very common. According to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, “With the technology advancing and new ways of creating documents like birth certificates, Social Security numbers, any type of ID that you can make on the internet, it’s becoming much more prevalent.”
Katz launched the Housing and Worker Protection Bureau in 2020 to further aid investigations by prosecuting the perpetrators and helping the victims of deed theft get their rightful properties back.
Victims go through numerous obstacles in getting their cases resolved. Long wait times to regain property can lead to potential homelessness as looming eviction processes move quickly.
Those who think they may be victims of deed theft are advised to immediately file a complaint to the appropriate district attorney’s office. These complaints are handled by the New York State Attorney General’s office.
There are also several ways to prevent properties from falling into another’s hands illegally.
These include transfer-on-death deeds, contacting the Homeowner Protection Program, denying the transferring of property rights or deed to any illegitimate organization, being in contact with a lawyer in all decisions regarding the property and checking property records through the Automated City Register Information System.
The ACRIS provides protection by allowing homeowners to access deeds, mortgages and other documents regarding their property.
With the ACRIS, homeowners can sign up for free alerts, allowing them to detect potential fraud early, which would prevent individuals in the process of claiming, searching or taking out a mortgage on their property to sign over a deed.
