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Richmond County, NY

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Richmond County, New York (Staten Island) — Tax Sale & Surplus Procedure

Local operations layer. The legal framework (redemption rights, surplus rights, statutes, case law) lives on the parent page → new-york. This page covers how Richmond County actually runs it. Legal information, not legal advice. Last verified: 2026-06-02.

Critical structural note — Richmond County is NOT an RPTL Article 11 county. Richmond County is the Staten Island borough of New York City. NYC does not use the upstate Real Property Tax Law (RPTL) Article 11 in rem scheme described on the new-york page for routine delinquencies. Instead, the NYC Department of Finance (DOF) runs a tax-lien sale under NYC Administrative Code Title 11: the City sells the tax lien to an authorized buyer (the NYCTL trusts), and the trust then forecloses the lien in NY Supreme Court, Richmond County (13th Judicial District) as a mortgage-style action under RPAPL Article 13. Surplus is therefore handled through the RPAPL Article 13 surplus-money proceeding in the Richmond County Supreme Court file — not through the RPTL § 1196–1197 enforcing-officer determination used upstate.

A separate NYC Admin. Code Title 11, Chapter 4 direct in rem action also exists (the Third Party Transfer program) for distressed properties where the City forecloses directly rather than selling the lien. See C5.

2026 status: Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced in March 2026 that there will be no 2026 lien sale, pausing the program while the City reviews reform options. The NYC Council passed land-bank legislation in January 2026 (Intro. bills 570, 1407, 1419, 1420) that would permanently replace the lien-sale-to-trust model with a publicly accountable NYC Land Trust. The ban on private-trust lien sales does not take effect until end of 2028; the land bank must first be constituted through the NY State Urban Development Corp. → needs_verification on next sale date.

C0. Identity

  • County seat / recording unit: Richmond County is coterminous with the Borough of Staten Island, City of New York. There is no separate county seat; county functions are city offices located in Staten Island. Unlike the other four NYC boroughs, Staten Island’s land records are recorded with the Richmond County Clerk’s Office — not the NYC Office of the City Register / ACRIS. The Richmond County Clerk’s Office is the official Recording Officer for Richmond County deeds, mortgages, and liens. Richmond County Clerk
  • Population: ~475,845 (2020 Census). FIPS: 36085.
  • Parent legal framework: new-york

C1. Local Tax Sale

  • Conducts own sale? No public auction of the property in the ordinary case. NYC DOF conducts an annual tax-lien sale: it sells the delinquent lien (unpaid property tax, water/sewer, and other property charges) to an authorized buyer. The buyer — not the City — may later foreclose. This is not a sale of the property and not a competitive public-outcry auction of the parcel. NYC Property Tax Lien Sale
  • Platform / venue: City-administered lien sale by the NYC Department of Finance (no RealAuction/GovEase/Bid4Assets vendor). The lien is sold to the NYCTL trust program (NYCTL 2025-A Trust for the 2025 sale). Servicers: Tower Capital Management (toll-free 800-970-8454; email nyctlservicing@tcmfund.com) and MTAG Services, LLC (800-750-9210). Once the lien is sold, a release of the lien — after payoff — is filed with the Richmond County Clerk (not ACRIS). NYC Property Tax Lien Sale · Tower Capital Management — NYC
  • Calendar: Lien sale held annually (paused 2020–2024 COVID era; resumed 2025; no 2026 sale per March 2026 mayoral announcement). The 2025 lien sale was held June 3, 2025 (extended from originally scheduled May 20). Property owners received four mailed notices at 90, 60, 30, and 10 days before the sale; a Borough-specific PDF notice list for Staten Island was published for each notice period on the DOF website. 2025 Lien Sale 90-day notice — Staten Island (PDF) · DOF Lien Sale Archive
  • Eligibility thresholds (NYC Admin. Code § 11-319): a tax lien may be sold after:
    • 1 year of delinquency for commercial and most non-residential properties;
    • 3 years for Class 1 (1–3 family) and Class 2 residential condominiums/cooperatives (real property tax component);
    • 2 years for certain affordable-housing properties under NY private housing finance law. Residential properties with active senior-citizen, disabled-person, or military exemptions are excluded from the sale. NYC Admin. Code § 11-319 (via nycadmincode.readthedocs.io)
  • Foreclosure timing after lien sale: the lienholder (NYCTL trust/servicer) may begin foreclosure as early as one year after the lien sale date if the lien is unpaid and not under a payment agreement, or earlier on default of semi-annual interest or failure to keep current taxes paid. NYC Property Tax Lien Sale
  • Rate within statutory range: NYC sets its own property-tax interest rates and the NYCTL trust note-rate by local law/resolution (RPTL § 924-a 1%/month does not control NYC; interest on NYC tax liens compounds daily per servicer disclosures). Exact current rate → needs_verification. Tower Capital Management — NYC
  • Registration / deposit: the City sells liens to its authorized trust; no public bidder registration for the lien sale. Registration/deposit for any subsequent referee auction (RPAPL Art. 13 foreclosure sale in Richmond County Supreme Court) is set by the individual foreclosure judgment. → needs_verification.
  • Bidder requirements: N/A for the lien sale (sold to the NYCTL trust program).
  • Delinquent / eligible-property list location: DOF publishes PDF/Excel lists of properties eligible for the lien sale, organized by borough (including a Staten Island file), plus borough-specific 90-, 60-, 30-, and 10-day mailed notice lists. Also searchable on NYC Open Data. NYC Property Tax Lien Sale — lien sale page · Tax Lien Sale Lists — NYC Open Data · Lien Sale Archive

C2. Local Redemption → framework: right-of-redemption

  • Where/how to pay before lien sale: pay property taxes and related charges via NYC CityPay (online, by borough/BBL); water/sewer via NYC DEP. Paying the minimum on the warning notice (or entering a payment plan with DOF) removes the parcel from the lien-sale list. NYC CityPay — Property Tax
  • Payment plans / hardship exits:
    • Standard installment agreement (1–10 yrs);
    • PT AID and PT AID Circuit Breaker deferral plans (qualifying 1–3 family / condo primary residences);
    • Lien Sale Easy Exit Program — one-year removal for qualifying owner-occupants with household income ≤ ~$107,300 (income cap set by regulation);
    • Home Preservation & Debt Resolution Reform Act (Local Law 82, 2024) added expanded eligibility, stronger tenant protections in large buildings, and required notice to condo boards before liens are sold. NYC Property Tax Lien Sale
  • Redemption contact — post-sale (lien sold): contact the servicer:
    • Tower Capital Management: (800) 970-8454 (Mon–Fri 9am–5pm); payoff quote includes all interest compounded to date.
    • MTAG Services, LLC: (800) 750-9210.
    • After payoff, a release is sent by the trustee (BNY Mellon) and must be filed with the Richmond County Clerk (130 Stuyvesant Pl., 1st Floor, Staten Island, NY 10301; phone: (718) 675-8930). Tower Capital Management — NYC
  • Right of redemption after lien is sold: the former owner may redeem (pay off the lien) up to and through the RPAPL Art. 13 foreclosure action, but New York has no post-sale statutory redemption period after the referee’s auction. See new-york for the mortgage-foreclosure redemption cutoff under RPAPL § 1352.
  • Deviations from state default: NYC’s lien-sale/cure regime replaces the upstate RPTL § 1110 two-year enforcing-officer redemption mechanic. The NYCTL trust foreclosure is a judicial RPAPL Art. 13 action — not an in rem Art. 11 proceeding.

C3. Local Surplus / Excess Proceeds → framework: surplus-funds

  • Which surplus regime applies: because Staten Island tax-lien foreclosures proceed as RPAPL Article 13 actions (lien sold to NYCTL trust → trust forecloses in Richmond County Supreme Court), any surplus from the referee’s sale is distributed through the RPAPL Art. 13 surplus-money proceeding in the Richmond County Supreme Court file — not the RPTL § 1196–1197 enforcing-officer determination used upstate. Directly confirmed by NYCTL 1997-1 Trust v Stell, 184 A.D.3d 9 (App. Div. 2d Dept. 2020; 2020 NY Slip Op 02802), which arose from a Staten Island tax-lien foreclosure at 106 Victory Boulevard, Staten Island: the sale generated a $42,986 surplus that was paid into court and distributed to the priority lienholder (HPD) by judicial order — confirming both the RPAPL Art. 13 surplus-money mechanism and that the Richmond County Supreme Court is the correct forum. NYCTL 1997-1 Trust v Stell (Justia) · Official slip op — nycourts.gov (2020_02802) · RPAPL § 1361
  • Claim filing venue: the court-appointed referee pays surplus into the court file within 5 days of the sale; claimants file a written notice of claim with the Richmond County Supreme Court (civil term, 26 Central Avenue, Staten Island). The Richmond County Clerk maintains the foreclosure docket. Prior owner, lienholders of record, and any party with a right, title, interest, or equity of redemption in the parcel immediately before the judgment of foreclosure may file a claim. The court (often by reference to a referee) ascertains priority and orders distribution under RPAPL §§ 1354, 1361. RPAPL § 1361
  • Claim form: statewide NY Unified Court System surplus-money forms:
    • “Tax Foreclosure: Notice of Claim to Surplus Monies” — the claimant’s filing initiating the surplus proceeding.
    • “Foreclosure Action Surplus Monies Form” — filed by the referee after every sale to trigger the court distribution process.
    • “Instructions to Claim Surplus Monies (In Rem / Tax Foreclosures)” — the self-help packet from the NYS Courts website. All forms available at: nycourts.gov/forms/foreclosure/ (scroll to “Surplus Monies Forms — In Rem / Tax Foreclosures” section).
  • Local deadline notes: a notice of claim may be filed any time before confirmation of the referee’s report of sale; after confirmation the court ascertains and orders distribution within three (3) months (RPAPL § 1361). The referee typically files the surplus form with the County Clerk and Calendar Clerk within 30 days of the sale.
  • Residential-property three-year window: for residential properties (Class 1), if no former homeowner has filed a surplus claim at confirmation of the sale, and surplus remains, the proceeding stays open for at least three years from confirmation; a former homeowner who files within that window is treated as timely. (NYC Admin. Code § 11-428 as interpreted after Tyler v. Hennepin County) → needs_verification: exact text of § 11-428 post-Tyler amendment not directly read (direct fetch of amlegal.com returned HTTP 403); content reported via search summaries and the RPTL § 1197 parallel.
  • Unclaimed-funds list published? No dedicated Staten Island tax-foreclosure surplus list is published. Unclaimed surplus funds paid into court and subsequently abandoned may be searchable through the NYS Comptroller Unclaimed Funds portal, but whether a given NYCTL-foreclosure surplus escheats to the Comptroller or is retained by the court/City is fact-specific → needs_verification. NYS Comptroller Unclaimed Funds
  • Contact: Richmond County Supreme Court, Civil Term — (718) 675-8700; Richmond County Clerk’s Office (foreclosure/lis pendens docket) — (718) 675-7700. See C4.

▸ For Investors / Operators — Richmond County (Staten Island) follows the NYC tax-lien sale model — the City sells the delinquent lien to the NYCTL trust (not a public parcel auction), and the trust forecloses via RPAPL Article 13 in Richmond County Supreme Court (13th Judicial District, 26 Central Avenue, Staten Island). The 2025 lien sale (June 3, 2025) has passed; no 2026 lien sale was held per the March 2026 mayoral announcement. Land-bank legislation (enacted January 2026) will replace the trust model by end of 2028. Staten Island is the only NYC borough NOT on ACRIS — all deed and lien-release filings go through the Richmond County Clerk (130 Stuyvesant Place, 2nd Floor; (718) 675-7700), not the City Register. Interest compounds daily per the NYCTL trust indenture; exact rate needs_verification.

▸ For Former Owners — If a Richmond County RPAPL Article 13 trust foreclosure sale generates surplus, the referee deposits it in the court file and claimants file a written notice of claim in the Richmond County Supreme Court proceeding. Use the NYS UCS surplus-money forms (nycourts.gov/forms/foreclosure/) and file before the referee’s Report of Sale is confirmed; court orders distribution within 3 months of confirmation under RPAPL § 1361. This was confirmed by NYCTL 1997-1 Trust v Stell (184 A.D.3d 9, 2020), a Staten Island tax-lien surplus case. Unclaimed surplus that escheats may be searchable through the NYS Comptroller Unclaimed Funds portal (osc.ny.gov/unclaimed-funds).

C4. Offices & Contacts

OfficeNameAddressPhoneURL
Treasurer / Tax Collector (DOF)NYC Department of Finance — Staten Island Business Center350 St. Marks Place, Staten Island, NY 10301311 (NYC); (212) 639-9675 from outside NYCDOF Staten Island Business Center
Clerk of CourtRichmond County Clerk’s Office (NY Supreme Court, 13th JD)130 Stuyvesant Place, 2nd Floor, Staten Island, NY 10301(718) 675-7700Richmond County Clerk
Recorder / Register of DeedsRichmond County Clerk’s Office (also serves as the Recording Officer for Staten Island — not NYC Office of the City Register / ACRIS)130 Stuyvesant Place, 2nd Floor, Staten Island, NY 10301(718) 675-7700Richmond County Clerk
City Register (lien release filing)NYC City Register — Staten Island unit (located within the Richmond County Clerk building)130 Stuyvesant Place, 1st Floor, Staten Island, NY 10301(718) 675-8930Richmond County Clerk / City Register
Sheriff (if applicable)Sales in RPAPL Art. 13 tax-lien foreclosures are conducted by a court-appointed referee, not the SheriffN/A——
Richmond County Supreme Court (civil term)13th Judicial District26 Central Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301(718) 675-8700Richmond County Supreme Court

DOF Business Center hours: Mon–Fri 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (appointment recommended except for booted/towed vehicles); call 311 or (212) 639-9675. DOF Contact Page

Richmond County Clerk hours: Mon–Fri 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. (closed observed holidays). Richmond County Clerk

C5. Local Procedure Notes

  • Lien-sale model, not RPTL Art. 11 in rem: the single most important local fact. NYC Admin. Code Title 11 governs the lien sale; the NYCTL trust then forecloses via RPAPL Art. 13 in Richmond County Supreme Court (13th Judicial District); surplus runs through the RPAPL surplus-money proceeding before that court — not the upstate RPTL §§ 1196–1197 enforcing-officer determination. Do not apply the new-york page’s § 1110/§ 1123/§ 1196 Art. 11 timeline to Staten Island parcels. NYC Admin. Code Title 11 lien sale · NYC Admin. Code, Title 11, Ch. 4
  • Sale officer: court-appointed referee (RPAPL Art. 13), not a sheriff or enforcing officer.
  • Staten Island is the ONLY NYC borough excluded from ACRIS: the other four boroughs use the NYC City Register / ACRIS for deed recording. Richmond County properties are recorded with the Richmond County Clerk, and deed searches must be run through the Richmond County Clerk’s land-record search portal, not ACRIS. Richmond County Clerk online search
  • Two-track NYC collection system:
    • Track 1 (lien sale): City sells the lien to the NYCTL trust; trust/servicer collects and, if unpaid, commences RPAPL Art. 13 judicial foreclosure in Richmond County Supreme Court. The overwhelming majority of NYC delinquencies follow this track.
    • Track 2 (direct City in rem, Title 11 Ch. 4): for properties deemed “distressed” by HPD (typically multi-family rental buildings), the City may foreclose directly by action in rem and transfer to a third party under the Third Party Transfer (TPT) program. A post-judgment four-month redemption window applies to Class 1 and Class 2 properties under NYC Admin. Code § 11-412.1. Current scope of TPT use in Richmond County → needs_verification. NYC Admin. Code § 11-412.1 (via nycadmincode.readthedocs.io)
  • Hardship protections unique to NYC: PT AID / PT AID Circuit Breaker deferral plans; Lien Sale Easy Exit Program; Home Preservation & Debt Resolution Reform Act (Local Law 82, 2024). None of these have upstate RPTL Art. 11 analogs.
  • Reform in flux (2025–2026): NYC Council legislation (Intro. bills 570, 1407, 1419, 1420, enacted January 2026) will replace the lien-sale-to-trust model with a City-established NYC Land Trust (land bank). The prohibition on private-trust lien sales takes effect at the end of 2028. No 2026 lien sale was held (per March 2026 mayoral announcement). Exact implementation timeline and next-cycle rules remain unresolved → needs_verification. NYC Council land bank legislation (Nov 2025 press release) · The Real Deal — NYC lien sale reform (Feb 2026)
  • No RPTL § 924-a interest rate: NYC sets its own property-tax interest rates; the statewide 1%/month default under RPTL § 924-a does not control. Post-sale lien interest compounds daily per the NYCTL trust indenture. Exact rate → needs_verification.

C6. Records Access

C7. Meta

▸ For Investors / Operators — Richmond County (Staten Island) follows the NYC tax-lien sale model — the City sells the delinquent lien to the NYCTL trust (not a public parcel auction), and the trust forecloses via RPAPL Article 13 in Richmond County Supreme Court (13th Judicial District, 26 Central Avenue, Staten Island). The 2025 lien sale (June 3, 2025) has passed; no 2026 lien sale was held per the March 2026 mayoral announcement. Land-bank legislation (enacted January 2026) will replace the trust model by end of 2028. Staten Island is the only NYC borough NOT on ACRIS — all deed and lien-release filings go through the Richmond County Clerk (130 Stuyvesant Place, 2nd Floor; (718) 675-7700), not the City Register. Interest compounds daily per the NYCTL trust indenture; exact rate needs_verification.

▸ For Former Owners — If a Richmond County RPAPL Article 13 trust foreclosure sale generates surplus, the referee deposits it in the court file and claimants file a written notice of claim in the Richmond County Supreme Court proceeding. Use the NYS UCS surplus-money forms (nycourts.gov/forms/foreclosure/) and file before the referee’s Report of Sale is confirmed; court orders distribution within 3 months of confirmation under RPAPL § 1361. This was confirmed by NYCTL 1997-1 Trust v Stell (184 A.D.3d 9, 2020), a Staten Island tax-lien surplus case. Unclaimed surplus that escheats may be searchable through the NYS Comptroller Unclaimed Funds portal (osc.ny.gov/unclaimed-funds).

Legal information, not legal advice. This page summarizes Richmond County (Staten Island) / NYC operational procedure as of the last_verified date and may be incomplete or out of date; the NYC lien-sale program is actively being reformed (land-bank legislation enacted January 2026, implementation through 2028) and New York surplus law post-tyler-v-hennepin-county is new and actively litigated. Verify against the cited official sources and consult a licensed New York attorney before acting.

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