RP-5217 Explained: NY’s Real Property Transfer Report

What is RP-5217, actually?

RP-5217 is New York State’s Real Property Transfer Report, required under Real Property Law Article 9, Section 333. Every time a deed is recorded anywhere in the state, an RP-5217 is generated. No exceptions for size, price, or how many times you’ve done this before.

The form itself is mostly data entry: the property’s location, who bought it, who sold it, the sale price, and a tax billing address. One catch that surprises many first-time filers: because the form includes a scannable 2D barcode, the county clerk will reject it if it’s filled out by hand or printed from anything other than the official PDF. You have to complete it in Adobe Acrobat using the state’s own fillable form, no workarounds. The official instructions from the NY State Department of Taxation and Finance walk through every field.

It is not collecting the transfer tax itself. It is collecting the data that New York uses to keep its statewide property assessment rolls accurate. Think of it as the state’s spreadsheet update, riding along on your deed.

Why does the state need this on top of everything else?

Because the county clerk records your deed and a state agency tracks property values, they are separate offices.In New York, these offices were not set up to share data automatically. RP-5217 is the manual bridge.

Per the Department of Taxation and Finance’s own FAQ page, the form matters enough that “complete data for items C1 through C4” is called out specifically, because mismatched entries break the state’s ability to match local records to its own. It’s bureaucratic plumbing, but it’s plumbing someone actually checks.

How is RP-5217 different from NYC-RPT and TP-584?

Here is the part that trips up almost everyone: buyers, sellers, and more than a few brand-new paralegals. All three forms are filed around the same closing. All three have “real property” and “transfer” in their names. However, they serve three different functions.

So, RP-5217 is a report, TP-584 is the state’s tax return, and NYC-RPT is the city’s separate tax return. Three forms, three different governments wanting three different things from the same signature page. Nobody designed this on purpose; it just accreted.

Per NY State Department of Taxation and Finance guidance on TP-584, the recording officer cannot even accept a deed until TP-584 (or proof that the tax was paid) is in hand. Same story for NYC-RPT within the city, as confirmed on the NYC Department of Finance’s RPTT page: the return must be filed within 30 days of the transfer, taxable or not.

How do you actually file RP-5217 in NYC?

For Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, you don’t mail a paper RP-5217 anywhere. You file it online through ACRIS, the city’s Automated City Register Information System. You submit it with your deed and your NYC-RPT.

Staten Island is the outlier. It runs on the county clerk system, not ACRIS, so it uses a separate paper form: RP-5217-NYC, with its own instructions published by the NYC Department of Finance. Same data, different pipeline.

If you start from the ACRIS main menu, use the e-Forms section. It generates all three documents (RP-5217, TP-584-NYC, and NYC-RPT). They are created as one linked packet before recording. Filing fees are $125 for residential and farm properties and $250 for all other properties, per the state’s fee schedule.

What if the form is missing or wrong?

The recording officer can and will reject the deed. That means the sale doesn’t legally close on paper, even if money has already moved. An incorrect sale price or a wrong buyer name on RP-5217 can affect the property’s assessed value later. This may show up two years later as a confusing tax bill.

Where does this fit into researching a property on ACRIS?

If you’re looking up a property’s history rather than filing a new deed, you’ll run into RP-5217 data indirectly. An ACRIS search by address retrieves the recorded deed and associated transfer documents, and the sale price on file usually matches the amount reported on RP-5217 and TP-584 at closing.

That search is one small piece of a much bigger record system. Once you have a property’s BBL, the same number pulls up its current tax bill and payment history. For the full walkthrough of what ACRIS holds and how to pull deeds, mortgages, and liens by address or party name, see our ACRIS guide.

FAQ

Do I need to file RP-5217 for a co-op sale?
No. Co-ops are shares in a corporation, not real property, so they don’t get a recorded deed and don’t trigger RP-5217. Condos and houses do.

Is RP-5217 the same as the ACRIS cover page?
No. The ACRIS cover page is a separate summary sheet generated for every recorded document in NYC. RP-5217 is filed alongside it as one of the required forms in the package, not a substitute for it.

Who fills out RP-5217, the buyer or the seller?
In practice, the closing attorney or title company prepares it using information from both sides. Buyer and tax billing details come from the grantee; sale details come from the transaction itself.

Does RP-5217 cost money to file?
Yes. The state charges a filing fee. It is usually $125 for residential and farm properties. It is $250 for other property types. This is according to the Department of Taxation and Finance.

Is RP-5217 required outside New York City too?
Yes, statewide. Every county recording a deed requires it, not just the five boroughs. The filing process varies (ACRIS in NYC, except Staten Island). Elsewhere in New York, filings are on paper or through county e-filing. The requirement is the same across New York.

Written by Nicole Fishman Benoliel

Co-founder of NestApple and a lawyer admitted to the New York bar, not currently practising.