- Glossary
- /ACRIS
NYC rental glossary
ACRIS
NYC’s online property-records system — deeds, mortgages, and ownership history searchable by BBL.
ACRIS (the Automated City Register Information System) is the New York City Department of Finance’s public database of recorded real-property documents — deeds, mortgages, assignments, and related filings — for Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. (Staten Island records are kept by its County Clerk.)
Searching ACRIS by BBL surfaces who owns a building, what they paid, and what is encumbered against it. Paired with the building’s DOB and HPD records, it is the backbone of basic ownership diligence on any listing.
For a brokerage, ACRIS answers the "who actually owns this and what’s the recent sale history" question that often precedes signing a landlord or pricing a building.
Related terms
- BBL (Borough-Block-Lot)NYC’s unique parcel identifier — a borough digit plus block and lot numbers that pins a property to the tax map.
- BIN (Building Identification Number)A seven-digit NYC identifier for a single physical structure, distinct from the parcel-level BBL.
- Certificate of Occupancy (C of O)The DOB document stating a building’s legal use and how many units it may lawfully contain.