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.
Last modified: February 3, 2019