N.Y. Lien Law § 15: Assignments of contracts and orders to be filed

§ 15. Assignments of contracts and orders to be filed. 1. No

assignment of one or more contracts for the performance of labor or the

furnishing of materials for the improvement of real property or of the

money or any part thereof due or to become due therefor, nor an order

drawn by a contractor upon the owner of such real property for the

payment of such money, nor an order drawn by a subcontractor upon a

contractor or subcontractor for such payment, nor an order drawn by an

owner upon the maker of a building loan, nor an assignment of moneys due

or to grow due under a building loan contract, shall operate to reduce

the lien of a subcontractor, laborer or materialman, except as provided

in sections thirteen and twenty-six of this chapter; nor shall any such

assignment or order be valid for any purpose, unless a "Notice of

Assignment" meeting the requirements of subdivision two of this section

or the contract (other than a building loan contract) or a statement

containing the substance thereof and such assignment or a copy of each

or a copy of such order, be filed within ten days after the date of such

assignment or such order, in the office of the county clerk of each

county wherein real property improved or to be improved to which the

assignment or order relates is situated and such assignment or order

shall have effect and be enforceable from the time of such filing, and

no such assignment or order shall have any validity until the same shall

have been so filed, and every such assignment or order, not filed shall

be absolutely void as against a subsequent assignee in good faith and

for valuable consideration, whose assignment or order is first duly

filed. Such clerk shall enter the facts relating to such assignment or

order in the "lien docket" or in another book provided by him for such

purpose. Each such assignment shall be indexed by the name of the

assignor and each such order shall be indexed by the name of the drawer.

2. A "Notice of Assignment" filed pursuant to subdivision one of this

section shall be used only in the case of money advanced or to be

advanced to a contractor or subcontractor upon the assignment of one or

more contracts for the performance of labor or the furnishing of

materials for the improvement of real property, or of the money or any

part thereof due or to become due therefor. The said notice shall

contain (a) the names and addresses of the assignor and assignee, (b)

the date of the assignment, and the date the assignment will terminate,

which termination date shall not be more than two years after the date

of the assignment, (c) the maximum balance of advances outstanding to be

secured by the assignment, (d) a statement of each county wherein the

real property involved in the contracts is or may be situated, and (e)

either a specific description of the substance of the contract or

contracts assigned, including an identification of the real property

involved in each such contract, or a statement that the assignment

covers all or a specified class of the assignor's accounts or contract

rights. If the contract or contracts assigned are described specifically

the real property identification shall be sufficient if it includes the

name of the record owner and the location of the real estate by street

and number and town or city or, if the real estate is in the city of New

York, by county, except that if the real estate is in the city of New

York or counties of Nassau or Onondaga, where the block system of

recording or registering and indexing conveyances is in use, the notice

must also specify the block in which the real estate is situated.

3. A "Notice of Assignment" may be continued in effect beyond the

stated termination date by filing within sixty days prior to the

termination date a subsequent "Notice of Assignment" entitled "Second

Notice of Assignment" or "Third Notice of Assignment", which identifies

the prior "Notice of Assignment" to which it relates and otherwise

conforms to the requirements of subdivision two of this section.

4. The term "Notice of Assignment" as used in this section includes

any amendments but if any amendment extends the assignment to cover

additional contracts it is effective as to the added contracts only from

the date of the filing.