Imagine this: since the first day you were born, you have lived in the same home—a family home that has been passed down across generations, to your parents from your grandparents, and from your great-grandparents before that.
One day, one knock on the front door you have run through for years changes everything. You find out that your family no longer owns the home that has been yours for decades.
Suddenly, you are being kicked out of your own home by the new owner who is standing on your front porch. He has the deed to your home in his hand and a signature you never signed on the dotted line.
Unfortunately, some families do not need to imagine this, because this nightmare is their reality. Too many of our neighbors have been victims of deed theft, their homes stolen right from underneath them without their knowledge. But starting today, we finally have more tools to fight back. Today, a new law takes effect that will help us keep New Yorkers—you, your families, friends, and neighbors—in their homes.
Deed theft occurs when someone takes the title, or deed, to another person’s home without the homeowner’s knowledge or approval. It has become a popular tactic used by scammers to illegally obtain ownership of a property—literally stealing someone’s home often while they are still living in it.
This crime disproportionately impacts elderly homeowners and homeowners of color, especially Black and Brown homeowners in gentrifying neighborhoods. These criminals are robbing our neighbors of their most valuable asset, their homes. We have seen it happen to our neighbors in communities in Central Brooklyn, Southeast Queens, Harlem, and the Bronx.
Over the years, as property values have soared in these neighborhoods, our homes have become gold mines and prime targets for fraudsters and con artists. Many of our neighbors bought their homes years ago, when times were different, and our neighborhoods were not advertised in real estate magazines or on social media feeds.
For far too long, deed theft’s nefarious nature has made these tough cases to crack. Victims were often left without justice, unable to undo the fraudulent property transfer or afford the steep costs of litigation.
That is why we introduced and passed this legislation: to make deed theft a crime and give us the power to fight it. This new law changes the game and will help keep homeowners in the homes and communities they have invested in for years.
First, the law establishes deed theft as the crime that we know it to be: larceny. Before this, deed theft was incredibly difficult to prosecute criminally. With this change in the penal law, we can now ensure that the charges we bring against deed thieves really do fit the crime.
This critical change will allow us to demonstrate to prosecutors and judges alike that deed theft is a criminal offense rather than a matter to be handled in civil court. We have heard stories of judges treating deed theft like a simple contract dispute rather than the brazen act of theft that we know it is.
By classifying deed theft as larceny, we have significantly changed the way we can hold perpetrators accountable for this heinous crime.
Second, this new law changes the statute of limitations to prosecute deed theft crimes so that prosecution must begin within five years of the theft or within two years after the rightful homeowner realizes their deed has been stolen, whichever occurs later. Victims of deed theft often do not realize they have been robbed of their homes until years after the crime has been committed, which also means that it’s often too late to seek justice. With the revised statute of limitations, the Office of the Attorney General and our law enforcement partners will now have more time to investigate and prosecute these crimes, and families will have more time to seek justice.
Lastly, this new law grants the Office of the Attorney General the original criminal jurisdiction to prosecute deed theft crimes alongside District Attorneys throughout the state. Previously, the Office of the Attorney General was not able to prosecute these crimes without a referral, often delaying the process or prohibiting justice from being served. With this new change in law, we can take quick action against these crimes.
Our work does not end here. This new law is a major step in the right direction, but it is not a solution to the crime of deed theft, nor will it stop every scammer trying to prey on hardworking families.
We must continue to educate our communities about the risks of deed theft, empower them with the tools they need to protect their homes, and ensure that every homeowner knows their rights and the resources available to them.
For most of us, buying a home is the single biggest investment we will ever make, and for many New York families, homeownership is a stabilizing economic force and the promise of financial security for generations.
For these families, deed theft isn’t just theft of property, it is theft of family legacy, theft of generational wealth, and theft of their sense of belonging.
There is nothing more important than making sure New Yorkers can stay in their homes. Our new law will make sure we can do that. The fight against deed theft is a fight for our neighborhoods, our homes, and our futures.
Armed with these new powers, we will stop these scammers in their tracks and finally keep families in their homes.
