New York Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Under Real Property Law § 291, an unrecorded New York conveyance is void against a later purchaser who:

• a.buys in good faith for valuable consideration and records first✓
• b.records first, whether or not any value was actually paid
• c.buys at any price and records within thirty days of the closing
• d.buys with notice of the earlier deed but records the later one first

Section 291 provides that an unrecorded conveyance “is void as against any person who subsequently purchases … in good faith and for a valuable consideration, from the same vendor … and whose conveyance, contract or assignment is first duly recorded.” Three conditions travel together — good faith, value, and first recording — which is what makes New York a race-notice state rather than a pure race or pure notice state. A buyer who knew of the earlier deed is not in good faith, so winning the race to the clerk's office does not help. A buyer who paid nothing fails the valuable consideration test for the same reason. And a fixed thirty-day window appears nowhere in the section; what matters is who records first.

Lien Law § 10 sets the deadline to file a mechanic's lien, measured from the last item of work, at:

• a.eight months generally, but four months for a single family dwelling✓
• b.one year generally, but ninety days for a single family dwelling
• c.four months generally, but eight months for a single family dwelling
• d.six months generally, but three months for a single family dwelling

Section 10(1) allows a notice of lien to be filed during the progress of the work or “within eight months after the completion of the contract, or the final performance of the work, or the final furnishing of the materials,” and then shortens that to four months “where the improvement is related to real property improved or to be improved with a single family dwelling.” The pairing is easy to invert, and inverting it is the most common error. Two refinements sit in the same subdivision: a lien for retainage may be filed within ninety days after the retainage was due to be released, and a lien by a real estate broker is available only on a lease, only after the brokerage services are performed and the lease is executed by both lessor and lessee, and only with a copy of the written compensation agreement annexed.

For a non-rent-stabilized New York apartment, General Obligations Law § 7-108 caps the security deposit at:

• a.three months' rent, with narrow exceptions for month-to-month tenancies
• b.one month's rent, with narrow exceptions for seasonal use dwellings✓
• c.one and a half months' rent, with an exception for new construction
• d.two months' rent, with narrow exceptions for furnished apartments

Subdivision 1-a(a) states that “no deposit or advance shall exceed the amount of one month's rent,” and it names only two exceptions in the same sentence: a seasonal use dwelling unit under subdivisions four and five, and an owner-occupied cooperative apartment under subdivision six. The whole of subdivision 1-a is itself switched off for units subject to the city rent and rehabilitation law or the emergency housing rent control law, for licensed continuing care, assisted living and adult care facilities, and for certain senior and not-for-profit retirement communities. Furnishing, tenancy length and the age of the building change nothing. A broker who quotes “first month, last month and a month's security” on a covered unit is quoting an unlawful demand.

General Obligations Law § 7-108 requires a New York landlord to return the deposit and an itemized statement within:

• a.ninety days of vacating, or file an explanation with the county clerk
• b.thirty days of vacating, or forfeit the interest earned on the deposit
• c.fourteen days of vacating, or forfeit the right to retain any of it✓
• d.sixty days of vacating, or pay the tenant twice the amount withheld

Subdivision 1-a(e) says that “within fourteen days after the tenant has vacated the premises, the landlord shall provide the tenant with an itemized statement indicating the basis for the amount of the deposit retained, if any, and shall return any remaining portion of the deposit,” and that a landlord who misses the deadline “shall forfeit any right to retain any portion of the deposit.” The forfeiture is total, not a penalty measured by the interest or a multiple of the sum withheld. Subdivision 1-a(f) then puts the burden of proving the reasonableness of any retained amount on the landlord, and 1-a(g) allows punitive damages of up to twice the deposit for a willful violation. Paragraphs (c) and (d) add the move-in and move-out inspection rights that make the itemized statement checkable.

Under General Obligations Law § 5-703, which agreement is enforceable in New York without a writing?

• a.a lease for a term not exceeding one year✓
• b.a lease for a term of three years
• c.an assignment of a recorded easement
• d.a contract for the sale of a vacant lot

Subdivision 1 requires a writing to create, grant, assign, surrender or declare an estate or interest in real property, and it carves out exactly one thing in its own text: “other than a lease for a term not exceeding one year.” Subdivision 2 makes a contract for the leasing of real property for longer than one year, or for the sale of real property or an interest in it, void “unless the contract or some note or memorandum thereof, expressing the consideration, is in writing, subscribed by the party to be charged.” A three-year lease is over the line. A contract to sell land is squarely inside subdivision 2, and an easement is an interest in real property, so assigning one falls under subdivision 1.

The Property Condition Disclosure Statement must be delivered to a New York buyer:

• a.at the first showing of the property, and attached to the listing agreement
• b.at the closing, and attached to the deed presented for recording that day
• c.within three days after the contract is signed, and filed with the county clerk
• d.before the buyer signs a binding contract, and attached to it after✓

Real Property Law § 462(1) requires the seller to complete and sign the statement and cause it to be delivered to the buyer or the buyer's agent “prior to the signing by the buyer of a binding contract of sale,” and adds that “a copy of the property condition disclosure statement containing the signatures of both seller and buyer shall be attached to the real estate purchase contract.” Nothing is filed with a clerk. Section 466 puts a matching duty on licensees: the listing broker must timely inform the seller of the seller's obligations, and the buyer's agent — or the seller's agent dealing with an unrepresented buyer — must inform the buyer of the buyer's rights before the buyer signs. Section 461(5) is the exclusion worth memorizing: the act covers one-to-four family dwellings, not condominium units, cooperative apartments or unimproved land.

A New York seller willfully fails to perform the Property Condition Disclosure Act's requirements. Under Real Property Law § 465, that seller is liable for:

• a.a statutory penalty of twice the deposit, payable to the Department of State
• b.a $500 credit against the purchase price, plus the buyer's inspection costs
• c.a $500 credit against the purchase price at closing, and nothing further
• d.the buyer's actual damages, plus any other remedy in law or equity✓

Section 465(2) reads that a seller who provides the statement, or provides or fails to provide a revised statement, “shall be liable only for a willful failure to perform the requirements of this article. For such a willful failure, the seller shall be liable for the actual damages suffered by the buyer in addition to any other existing equitable or statutory remedy.” The $500 figure is the one to check rather than recall: article 14 as it now reads contains no $500 credit anywhere, although a great deal of New York course material and many contract riders still describe one, and the Department's current form is the Property Condition Disclosure Statement effective July 1, 2025. Section 464 adds the duty to deliver a revised statement as soon as practicable when the seller learns something that makes the first one materially inaccurate, but never after transfer of title or the buyer's occupancy, whichever is earlier.

Real Property Law § 443-a provides that which fact is not a material defect a New York seller or agent must disclose?

• a.that a fuel oil tank remains buried in the side yard
• b.that the basement floods after heavy coastal storms
• c.that the roof leaked during the last two heating seasons
• d.that the property was the site of a homicide or a felony✓

Subdivision 1 provides that it is not a material defect or fact that an owner or occupant is or was suspected to be infected with HIV or diagnosed with AIDS, or that the property “is, or is suspected to have been, the site of a homicide, suicide or other death by accidental or natural causes, or any crime punishable as a felony.” Subdivision 2 bars a cause of action for failing to disclose those facts and says the omission is not grounds for discipline. The other three options are physical conditions of the property itself, which the Property Condition Disclosure Statement asks about directly. Subdivision 3 gives a buyer for whom the stigma matters the only route available: a written inquiry submitted when negotiating or making a bona fide offer, which the seller may choose whether to answer.

Under Energy Law § 17-103, a New York seller of a residential structure must supply heating bills:

• a.within sixty days of a written request made by the buyer's lender only
• b.within thirty days of an oral request made at any point before closing
• c.within five days of a written request made after the contract is signed
• d.within fifteen days of a written request made before the contract✓

The truth in heating provision requires the seller, “within fifteen days of receipt of a written request from a prospective purchaser,” to furnish a complete set of heating or cooling bills, or a summary of them, “for the life of the structure or for the preceding two years, whichever is shorter.” The timing limit is in the same paragraph: “a seller need not honor a request for heating or cooling bills if such request is initially made after the signing of a purchase contract.” So the request has to be in writing, from the prospective purchaser, and made before the contract is signed. Paragraph (b) adds a parallel fifteen-day duty to disclose the type and areas of insulation the seller installed, and any installed by a previous owner and known to the seller.

Real Property Law § 333-c requires a disclosure notice when New York property lies in an agricultural district. The notice tells the buyer that:

• a.farm parcels in the district carry a permanent conservation easement
• b.farming activities occur in the district and may cause noise, dust and odors✓
• c.farm owners in the district hold a right of first refusal on any later sale
• d.farming activities in the district may restrict the buyer's right to build there

The statute prints the notice word for word, and its closing sentences are the ones tested: the buyer is informed “that the property they are about to acquire lies partially or wholly within an agricultural district, and that farming activities occur within the district. Such farming activities may include, but not be limited to, activities that cause noise, dust and odors.” Subdivision 2 requires both the prospective grantor and the prospective grantee to sign the notice before the sale. Subdivision 3 limits the consequence of skipping it: “Failure of the seller to provide such information to the buyer shall not prevent the recording officer from filing such deed,” so the sanction is not a defective record but exposure on the transaction and, for a licensee, the Department's view of the omission.