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County clerk briefs advisory committee on new state rule requiring removal of discriminatory covenants
Summary
Deputy County Clerk Rachel Graham told the WDIC on June 22 that a June 3, 2026 change to New York real property law requires sellers to use a county form to modify and record historical restrictive covenants without a recording fee; the clerk said she has not yet recorded any such modifications.
Rachel Graham, deputy county clerk, reported to the Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee that New York State amended Real Property Law effective June 3, 2026, to address historically discriminatory restrictive covenants in recorded documents. Graham said the statute imposes obligations on sellers to remove discriminatory language and requires county clerks to provide a form and a fee‑waived recording process for covenant‑modification documents.
Graham told the committee that the clerk’s office created a new document type in the recording system to ensure the county will not collect a fee when sellers record modifications under the new law. She said no modification documents had been recorded yet in Tompkins County but the office stands ready to accept filings and will not charge a recording fee for those entries.
Committee members noted they do not frequently encounter restrictive covenants in recent deeds and that most appear in older historical records. The clerk’s office will make the form available to sellers and provide guidance as documents are submitted.
