Albany County Clerk Programs and Services

How to Get a Copy of any Document at the Albany County Clerk's office

NOTE: This is very different from a Public Information/FOIL request - see note below.

Deeds and mortgages recorded here from 1980 to the present are available online - please click here. If for some reason, you can find the document in our online index but cannot view the image of the document, or if you need a copy of a deed or mortgage recorded here BEFORE 1980, you will need to send a search fee of $5.00 payable to "Albany County Clerk."

Court Records filed here for County Court and for State Supreme Court for any year also have the same $5.00 search fee. Court records are not available online.

The same search fee applies to all other documents (for example, tax warrants, DBA's, and Power of Attorney.)

FOR ALL DOCUMENTS please provide details of the document you request that we search for, including the name(s) of the parties involved and the approximate date of the recording or filing.

IF YOU PREFER you may also visit our office during regular business hours to search for any of the above documents that are not otherwise sealed or restricted. There is no search fee for such in-person visits, but the copy fees below still apply.

Regular copies of any document are 65 cents per page, with a minimum of $1.25. Certified copies of documents are $1.25 per page, with a minimum of $5.00, again payable to "Albany County Clerk." "Certified" copies include a signed statement of the County Clerk's office that the document has been compared with the original and is a true copy, and include a raised seal on the certification and the document. Certified copies are legally acceptable in place of the original document in legal matters.

PLEASE NOTE that all of these fees are specified by State law, and supersede the 25-cents-per-page fees of the Freedom of Information law ("FOIL.") You do not need a FOIL request to view records held by the County Clerk's office, but you do have to pay the $5.00 search fee (unless you come here to search the record yourself.) We cannot accept requests to search these records by either e-mail or fax, since the payment of the search fee and the fee for copies must accompany your request.

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