N.Y. Real Property Law § 291-e: Exceptions, reservations and recitals referring to unrecorded conveyances and contracts for sale of real property

§ 291-e. Exceptions, reservations and recitals referring to unrecorded

conveyances and contracts for sale of real property. 1. This section

applies to any language, contained in a conveyance of real property in

this state, which (a) excepts or reserves a part or any or all parts of

the described premises which have been or may have been previously

conveyed, or previously contracted to be sold or exchanged, by the

grantor or by a previous owner, or (b) otherwise indicates that the

premises or some part or parts thereof have been or may have been

previously conveyed or that a contract has been or may have been

previously made for the sale or exchange of all or some part or parts

thereof, or (c) indicates that only such part of the premises described

is intended to be conveyed as the grantor, or a previous owner, has not

previously conveyed or has not previously contracted to sell or

exchange, and, in any of the cases described in this subdivision, fails

to identify the premises previously conveyed or contracted to be sold or

exchanged in any other manner than by indicating that a conveyance or

contract has previously been made or indicating the fact or possibility

that one or more conveyances or contracts have been or may have been

previously made.

2. An exception, reservation or recital described in subdivision one

of this section is (a) void as against a subsequent purchaser in good

faith and for a valuable consideration, who has no other notice of the

identity of the premises to which it refers, and (b) ineffective to give

notice to such subsequent purchaser of the previous conveyance or

contract so referred to or create any duty of inquiry with respect

thereto, unless, in either case, such previous conveyance or contract is

sufficient to identify the premises to which the exception, reservation

or recital refers and is recorded as provided in this article before the

recording of the instrument by which the subsequent purchaser acquires

his estate or interest.

3. For the purposes of this section,

(a) "Purchaser" includes a person who purchases or acquires by

exchange or contracts to purchase or acquire by exchange the same

premises or any portion thereof or estate or interest therein, or

acquires by assignment the rent to accrue from tenancies or subtenancies

thereof in existence at the time of the assignment.

(b) Contract for sale includes an option to purchase or lease.

(c) A lease, or a contract or option, is recorded when a memorandum

thereof is recorded as provided in section two hundred ninety-one-c or

section two hundred ninety-four of this chapter.

(d) The recording of a contract or option, or memorandum thereof,

pursuant to section two hundred ninety-four of this chapter, is

effective up to and including the thirtieth day after the day fixed

therein for the conveyance of title, or the thirtieth day after the last

day fixed therein for the exercise of the option, provided, that if a

written declaration of the exercise of the option has been recorded as

provided in subdivision seven of section two hundred ninety-four, the

recording of the option is effective to and including the thirtieth day

after the last day fixed pursuant to the option agreement for the

conveyance of title or the execution and delivery of the lease, as the

case may be. An agreement extending the time for the conveyance of

title, acknowledged or proved, and certified, in the manner to entitle a

conveyance to be recorded, may be recorded, and the recording shall be

effective up to and including the thirtieth day after the day fixed by

such agreement for the conveyance of title.

4. This section shall not impair the effect of an exception,

reservation or recital to limit any warranty of the grantor in the

conveyance in which it is contained.

5. This section shall apply where the instrument by which the

subsequent purchaser acquires his estate or interest is executed on or

after September first, nineteen hundred sixty, except that where the

conveyance containing an exception, reservation or recital described in

subdivision one of this section was executed before September first,

nineteen hundred sixty, this section shall apply only where the

instrument by which the subsequent purchaser acquires his estate or

interest is executed on or after September first, nineteen hundred

sixty-one.