In Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, Ardsley, Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, a house sale can stall on paper long after the price is agreed: an open building permit, work done without one, or a certificate of occupancy that does not match the house. Since March 20, 2024, most New York house sellers must deliver the Property Condition Disclosure Statement before the buyer signs; the old $500 credit alternative is gone.
This guide follows the paperwork in the order a Rivertowns sale meets it. The Hardesty Team works from the Compass office at 2 Ashford Avenue in Dobbs Ferry, and the team’s closed sales include sales in Dobbs Ferry and Hastings-on-Hudson.
In Ed’s words
After about 25 years in Dobbs Ferry, “we are intimately familiar with the river towns and everything that goes on there.”
Paper can stall a Rivertowns sale after the price is agreed
A sale stalls when the village’s file on a house says one thing and the house says another. After the contract is signed, the buyer’s attorney and the title company customarily order municipal searches, and a lender may ask for the certificate of occupancy before it funds. Whatever the search finds is then fixed on the buyer’s timetable.
- An open permit: the work was finished, but the final inspection that closes the permit never happened.
- Work with no permit: a finished basement, a bathroom, a deck or a wood stove. Executive Law 378(5-c) requires a building permit before a solid fuel heating appliance, chimney or flue is installed in a home, and a local certificate before it is used.
- A certificate that does not match: fewer units than the house has, no accessory apartment, or an older use.
An older house may have no certificate at all. Dobbs Ferry’s code covers that case: on the owner’s written request, the Building Inspector issues a certificate for a building that predates the code, after an inspection (section 127-10C), and must issue or refuse a certificate within 10 days of an application (section 127-10A).
How to pull your own permit and certificate of occupancy file
Ask the village building department in writing for the property’s permit history, every certificate of occupancy or completion, any open notice or violation and any accessory apartment permit, at least a month before you list. Most villages route the request through the Village Clerk’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) process.
Under Public Officers Law section 89(3), the village has five business days to provide the record, deny the request or acknowledge it with an approximate date, and must explain in writing, with a date certain, if delivery will take more than 20 business days after acknowledging.
| Village | Where the file is | What the village code adds at a sale | Records requests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hastings-on-Hudson | Building Department, 7 Maple Avenue | A new owner keeping an accessory dwelling unit notifies the Building Department within 90 days, or the approval is revoked (section 295-53.2C(8)) | FOIL request to the Village Clerk |
| Dobbs Ferry | Building Department, 112 Main Street | Every residential property is inspected before transfer of ownership, and the fee includes a new certificate of occupancy (section 204-21D); the new owner applies to transfer an accessory dwelling unit permit within 90 days (section 300-39D) | Public records request to the Village |
| Irvington | Building Department, 85 Main Street | An accessory apartment special permit expires on a change of ownership; the new owner may apply within 90 days (section 224-203) | The Village Clerk, as records access officer (Chapter 59) |
| Ardsley | Building Department, 507 Ashford Avenue | No pre-sale inspection rule found in the published code; confirm with the department | FOIL request to the Village Clerk |
| Tarrytown | Building Department, with a Request for Property Search form | No pre-sale inspection rule found in the published code; confirm with the department | The Village Clerk, as Freedom of Information Officer |
| Sleepy Hollow | Department of Architecture, Land Use Development, Buildings and Building Compliance | A property under a building notice or order cannot be sold until it is complied with and any fines are paid, unless the buyer gets a true copy and the department is told (section 145-31G); the owner requests a final water reading (section 411-18) | The Village Clerk, as Records Access Officer |
The trap: the permit you assumed was closed
A permit that never received its final inspection stays open in the village file even if the work was finished years ago. It surfaces when the buyer’s attorney runs the municipal search, after you have signed. Pull the file before you list and close what is open.
If the file and the house do not match, close the open permit with a final inspection, legalize the work by filing for it now, or disclose it and price it. The disclosure law expressly allows buyer and seller to agree to a sale “as is” (Real Property Law section 462(1)). Work that needs a variance runs on that board’s calendar.
The New York Property Condition Disclosure Statement since 2024
A seller of a house with one to four dwelling units must complete, sign and deliver the Property Condition Disclosure Statement to the buyer or the buyer’s agent before the buyer signs a binding contract (Real Property Law section 462(1)).
What changed on March 20, 2024
Chapter 484 of the Laws of 2023, signed September 22, 2023, took effect on its 180th day, March 20, 2024. It struck former section 465(1), which gave the buyer “a credit of five hundred dollars against the agreed upon purchase price,” repealed section 467, and added and expanded flood questions: the FEMA floodplain and the 100-year and 500-year flood areas, any federal flood insurance requirement, federal disaster assistance, flood insurance in force, an elevation certificate, past flood claims and water from natural flood events. An indoor mold testing question took effect June 14, 2023 (Chapter 690 of the Laws of 2022), and a note pointing to the Department of Health’s septic system pamphlet on July 1, 2025 (Chapter 353 of the Laws of 2024). The Department of State’s current form is DOS-1614-f (Rev. 02/25), listed as required beginning July 1, 2025. The flood map questions can be checked on FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center.
How to answer it
The 56 numbered questions cover general information, environmental, structural and mechanical systems. Question 9 asks whether certificates of occupancy exist and, if not, why, which is why the village file comes first. Question 21 asks about fuel storage tanks above or below ground, now or ever. Answer from actual knowledge (section 461(3)); the law does not require a seller to investigate or check public records (section 462(3)). If you learn something that makes the statement materially inaccurate, deliver a revised one as soon as practicable, until title passes or the buyer moves in (section 464). Under the article, a seller who provides the statement is liable only for a willful failure, then for the buyer’s actual damages plus any other remedy, and existing causes of action survive (section 465).
Who is exempt
Section 463 lists 14 exempt transfers, among them a transfer by a fiduciary administering a decedent’s estate, a guardianship, a conservatorship or a trust; transfers between co-owners, to a spouse or a lineal relative such as a child or parent, or under a divorce decree; and a new house never lived in. Condominium units and co-op apartments are outside the law (section 461(5)).
Smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms and lead paint
Every house with one or two dwelling units needs an operable smoke alarm audible in each sleeping room with the doors closed. At closing the seller delivers an affidavit of compliance; the buyer then has 10 days to report an alarm that does not work, and the seller pays to fix it (Executive Law 378(5-b)). Carbon monoxide detectors are required in those houses wherever an appliance may emit carbon monoxide or there is an attached garage (378(5-a)).
For most houses built before 1978, the federal lead rule applies before the buyer signs: give the buyer the EPA lead hazard pamphlet, disclose any known lead-based paint, attach a Lead Warning Statement, and allow a 10-day lead inspection period, which the parties may change in writing and the buyer may waive. Keep a signed copy for three years after the sale.
Selling in the Rivertowns in the next year?
Start with your house, your village’s file and your timing. The first conversation carries no obligation to list.
Talk with The Hardesty TeamThe contract of sale is an attorney’s document in New York
An accepted offer is not yet a sale. A contract to sell real property is void unless it, or a memorandum of it stating the price, is in writing and signed by the party to be charged (General Obligations Law section 5-703(2)). In Westchester practice the seller’s attorney customarily drafts the contract, the buyer’s attorney reviews it, often after the inspection, and the buyer signs first and delivers the deposit, customarily held in escrow by the seller’s attorney.
The contract sets the price, the deposit, the mortgage contingency, the closing date, what stays and whether the sale is as is. The deposit and the time to closing are negotiated. The signed disclosure statement is attached (section 462(1)). Unless the contract says otherwise, if a material part of the house is destroyed without the buyer’s fault before title or possession passes, the seller cannot enforce the contract and the buyer recovers what was paid (General Obligations Law section 5-1311), so keep your insurance in force until closing.
When each piece of paper is due
Statutes and village rules set the calendar for a Rivertowns sale; work backward from them.
| Document or step | Rule | When |
|---|---|---|
| Village permit and certificate file | Public Officers Law 89(3) | Reply within 5 business days; delivery within 20 business days of acknowledgment, or a written date |
| Property Condition Disclosure Statement | Real Property Law 462 | Before the buyer signs a binding contract |
| Lead disclosure, pre-1978 house | Federal rule (EPA) | Before the buyer signs; 10-day inspection period unless waived |
| Revised disclosure statement | Real Property Law 464 | As soon as practicable, until title passes or the buyer moves in |
| Dobbs Ferry inspection and certificate | Dobbs Ferry Code 204-21D | Before transfer of ownership |
| Smoke alarm affidavit | Executive Law 378(5-b)(e) | At closing; buyer has 10 days to report a dead alarm |
| Form TP-584 and transfer tax | NYS Department of Taxation and Finance | With the deed at the County Clerk, no later than the 15th day after delivery |
| Form IT-2663, nonresident sellers | NYS Department of Taxation and Finance | With Form TP-584, unless exempt |
| Accessory apartment permit | Hastings 295-53.2, Dobbs Ferry 300-39, Irvington 224-203 | New owner acts within 90 days |
| Final water bill, Sleepy Hollow | Sleepy Hollow Code 411-18 | Requested before transfer; due within 5 days of mailing |
Pricing a house with no close comparable
With no close comparable, price from the few sales that share the house’s most important features, adjust for condition, lot, view, layout and the state of the permit file, then test it against the houses a buyer can choose today.
- Use older evidence. The County Clerk keeps no list of sale prices, but for a purchase after May 1, 1983, the transfer tax on the recorded deed divided by .004 gives the approximate price.
- Price the paper. A file that matches the house leaves a buyer’s attorney nothing to negotiate; an open question about an apartment or an addition becomes a question about price.
- Check the assessment record. Assessments in Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington and Tarrytown are made by the Town of Greenburgh Assessor; Sleepy Hollow houses are on the Town of Mount Pleasant roll and also on the roll of the Village Assessor, which sets the village tax. Make sure the inventory on file describes your house.
For a written opinion of value, use our Westchester home valuation request.
Preparing the house, and what Compass Concierge covers
Close open permits first, then fix what a buyer’s inspector will write up and what the photographs will show. New work that needs a permit goes through the same building department.
Compass describes Compass Concierge as a way to “get fronted for the cost of home improvement services with zero due until closing.” The covered services it lists include staging, painting, floor repair, deep-cleaning, decluttering, landscaping, HVAC, roofing repair, electrical work, seller-side inspections, and sewer lateral inspections and remediation. Compass states that repayment is due when the home sells, the listing agreement is terminated, 12 months pass or the lender suspends the loan, whichever comes first; that the loans come from Notable Finance, LLC, and Compass is not a lender; that loans are subject to credit approval; that fees or interest may apply by state; that terms may vary by market; and that it makes no warranty of results. See our Compass Concierge page.
Selling to a developer: the boards set the timeline
A developer pays for what the village will let it build, so a developer sale is a sale of approvals. In all six villages the Planning Board reviews subdivisions and site plans, and the Zoning Board of Appeals, an architectural review board, historic or landmark review and a county referral can follow.
- Hastings-on-Hudson: Planning Board (Chapter 45), site plan and subdivision rules (Chapter 295), steep slopes (Chapter 249), Architectural Review Board.
- Dobbs Ferry: Planning Board and subdivision rules in Chapter 300, with certificates of appropriateness for historic properties.
- Irvington: Planning Board review of site plans, subdivisions, steep slopes and view preservation (section 224-66), Board of Architectural Review, Local Landmarks.
- Ardsley: Planning Board (Chapter 36), Site Plan Review (Chapter 167), Subdivision of Land (Chapter 175), Board of Architectural Review, Historic Preservation.
- Tarrytown: Planning Board approval of plats (section 263-1), Architectural Review Board, Historic Districts and Landmarks, Waterfront Consistency Review.
- Sleepy Hollow: Planning Board site plan review (Chapter 450), Subdivision of Land (Chapter 425), Architectural Review Board, Waterfront Consistency Review.
State law sets the clocks inside each step. Without an environmental impact statement, the planning board holds its hearing on a preliminary subdivision plat within 62 days of a complete plat and decides within 62 days after the hearing closes (Village Law section 7-728). Where local law requires a site plan hearing, it comes within 62 days of the application and the decision within 62 days after it, extendable by mutual consent (section 7-725-a). Site plans, special permits and variances on land within 500 feet of a municipal boundary or a state or county road or park, among other features, also go to the county planning agency (General Municipal Law section 239-m).
So a developer’s contract is commonly contingent on approvals, with its own deadlines, deposit terms and rules on who pays for plans and studies. Ed sold 50 Chestnut Street in Dobbs Ferry, now the Print House Lofts, to the developer and took it through about three years of approvals.
What selling costs, in one paragraph
The New York State transfer tax is $2 per $500 of the price, or 0.4 percent; tax.ny.gov states that the seller pays it, and the buyer pays it only as a contract between them provides or if the seller fails to. The buyer pays the 1 percent mansion tax on residences sold for $1 million or more, and the seller only if the buyer does not pay or is exempt. Both are paid when the deed is recorded with the Westchester County Clerk, with Forms TP-584 and RP-5217. There is no local layer in these villages: none of the six village codes, nor the Greenburgh or Mount Pleasant town codes, contains a real estate transfer tax, and the County Clerk lists only the state taxes for a deed. As Ed puts it, “Westchester is easier because you just have New York State transfer taxes.” That holds for these six villages, not countywide: the City of Peekskill, for one, levies its own transfer tax under Tax Law section 1206. Add your attorney’s fee, the brokerage commission (negotiable, set in the listing agreement), the mortgage payoff, closing adjustments and any agreed credits.
If you are buying in Manhattan or leaving New York
If your next home is a Manhattan co-op, the board process usually sets the pace; see how long the Manhattan co-op process takes, New York City transfer and mansion taxes and timing two closings at once. In Ed’s view, one broker on both transactions is a real advantage, because the team controls the process and the timing. If you will be a New York nonresident at closing, the state requires estimated income tax on any gain at the transfer, on Form IT-2663, unless a Form TP-584 Schedule D exemption applies; ask your accountant before you set the date.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on the village. In Dobbs Ferry, the village code requires a Building Department inspection of every residential property before transfer, and the fee includes a new certificate of occupancy. Elsewhere in the Rivertowns, the buyer’s attorney and lender customarily compare the village’s certificate file with the house, and New York’s disclosure form asks the seller whether certificates of occupancy exist.
Ask the village building department in writing for the address’s permit history, certificates of occupancy and completion, and open violations, through the Village Clerk’s records request process. Under Public Officers Law section 89(3) the village must reply within five business days. Ask at least a month before listing, so any open permit can be closed before buyers see the house.
Chapter 484 of the Laws of 2023, effective March 20, 2024, ended the seller’s option to give a $500 credit instead of the Property Condition Disclosure Statement and added flood questions on FEMA flood zones, flood insurance, disaster aid, elevation certificates and flood claims. The statement must reach the buyer before the buyer signs. The current form is DOS-1614-f (Rev. 02/25), required from July 1, 2025.
Real Property Law section 463 exempts a transfer by a fiduciary administering a decedent’s estate, a guardianship, a conservatorship or a trust, among 14 exempt transfers. An executor selling a parent’s house may therefore not have to deliver the Property Condition Disclosure Statement, but the estate’s attorney should confirm it. The federal lead disclosure for a pre-1978 house is a separate rule.
Yes, for a house with one or two dwelling units. Executive Law 378(5-b) requires an operable smoke alarm audible in each sleeping room, and at closing the seller delivers an affidavit of compliance. The buyer has 10 days to report an alarm that does not work, and the seller pays to fix it. Carbon monoxide detectors are required where an appliance, device or system may emit carbon monoxide or there is an attached garage.
There is no village or town transfer tax in Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson or the other Rivertowns villages; their codes and those of the Towns of Greenburgh and Mount Pleasant contain none, and the Westchester County Clerk collects only state taxes on a deed. The New York State transfer tax of $2 per $500, or 0.4 percent, is paid by the seller unless the contract says otherwise, and the buyer pays the 1 percent mansion tax at $1 million and up.
New York’s Village Law sets the clocks for each step: without an environmental impact statement, the planning board holds its hearing on a preliminary subdivision plat within 62 days of a complete plat and decides within 62 days after the hearing closes. The whole process runs longer, because final plats, variances, design and historic review and county referral can follow. When Ed sold 50 Chestnut Street in Dobbs Ferry to a developer, approvals took about three years.
In Westchester practice, the seller’s attorney customarily drafts the contract of sale after the price is agreed, the buyer’s attorney reviews it, and the buyer signs first and delivers the deposit, customarily held in escrow by the seller’s attorney. Under General Obligations Law section 5-703, a contract to sell real property must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged, so the deal is fixed by the signed contract, not the accepted offer.
Compass says Compass Concierge fronts the cost of home improvement services with nothing due until closing, including staging, painting, floor repair, deep-cleaning, landscaping, HVAC, roofing repair, electrical work and seller-side inspections. Repayment is due when the home sells, the listing ends or 12 months pass, whichever comes first. The loans come from Notable Finance, LLC, are subject to credit approval, may carry fees or interest by state, and terms may vary by market.
Related guides
- Ed Hardesty, Associate Real Estate Broker at Compass
- Theresa Ferraro, Co-Founder of The Hardesty Team
- Selling a Manhattan apartment and buying in Westchester at the same time
- How long it takes to sell a co-op in Manhattan
- Who pays transfer tax and the mansion tax in NYC
- Compass Concierge
- What is my Westchester home worth?
- Past transactions
Selling a house in the Rivertowns?
A Hardesty Team partner has been named to Westchester Magazine’s Top Real Estate Agents list every year since 2023, and the team is ranked second among Dobbs Ferry teams by sales volume on the 2026 RealTrends Verified list. We can start with your village’s file on your house, before anything goes on the market.
Contact The Hardesty TeamSources
- New York State Senate, Real Property Law Article 14, sections 461 to 466 (section 462 as in force from July 1, 2025; section 465 from March 20, 2024), https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/RPP/A14
- New York State Senate, S.5400 and A.1967, Chapter 484 of the Laws of 2023, signed September 22, 2023, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2023/S5400; Chapter 690 of 2022 (A.3714), https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/A3714; Chapter 353 of 2024 (A.9330-A), https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2023/A9330
- New York Department of State, Property Condition Disclosure Statement, DOS-1614-f (Rev. 02/25), required from July 1, 2025, https://dos.ny.gov/property-condition-disclosure-statement-eff-7125
- New York State Senate, Executive Law 378, General Obligations Law 5-703 and 5-1311, Public Officers Law 89, Village Law 7-725-a and 7-728, General Municipal Law 239-m, current revisions: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/EXC/378, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/5-703, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/5-1311, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PBO/89, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/VIL/7-725-A, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/VIL/7-728, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GMU/239-M
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Real Estate Disclosures about Potential Lead Hazards, https://www.epa.gov/lead/real-estate-disclosures-about-potential-lead-hazards
- NYS Department of Taxation and Finance, Real estate transfer tax, page updated June 1, 2026, read October 2026, https://www.tax.ny.gov/bus/transfer/rptidx.htm
- Tax Law section 1206, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/TAX/1206; City of Peekskill Code, Chapter 521, Article XI, https://ecode360.com/14745383
- Westchester County Clerk, Record a Deed, Land Records Fees and Taxes, and Property Sales Prices, October 2026, https://www.westchesterclerkny.gov/land-records/record-a-deed, https://www.westchesterclerkny.gov/land-records/fees and https://www.westchesterclerkny.gov/land-records/sales-prices
- Village codes on eCode360, current through the date shown: Dobbs Ferry, June 9, 2026, https://ecode360.com/DO0599; Hastings-on-Hudson, July 7, 2026, https://ecode360.com/HA0290; Irvington, March 2, 2026, https://ecode360.com/IR0187; Ardsley, September 8, 2026, https://ecode360.com/AR0005; Tarrytown, August 17, 2026, https://ecode360.com/TA1273; Sleepy Hollow, April 7, 2026, https://ecode360.com/SL0084; Towns of Greenburgh and Mount Pleasant, https://ecode360.com/GR0237 and https://ecode360.com/MO0299
- Village building and records pages linked in the table above, and the Town of Greenburgh and Village of Sleepy Hollow assessor pages, 2026; Westchester County, https://www.westchestercountyny.gov/online-data; Town of Mount Pleasant 2026 final roll, https://www.mtpleasantny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3202/2026-Final-Assessment-Roll-PDF
- FEMA Flood Map Service Center, https://msc.fema.gov/portal/home
- Compass, Compass Concierge, October 2026, https://www.compass.com/concierge/
- Westchester Magazine, Top Real Estate Agents, 2023 to 2026: https://web.archive.org/web/20231208201124/https://westchestermagazine.com/archive/top-real-estate-agents/ (2023, archived), https://westchestermagazine.com/life-style/real-estate-agents/, https://westchestermagazine.com/home/westchester-top-real-estate-agents/, https://westchestermagazine.com/home/westchesters-top-real-estate-agents/
- RealTrends Verified, The Hardesty Team at Compass, 2026 list (2025 sales data), https://www.realtrends.com/team-profile/the-hardesty-team-at-compass-new-york-compass/
Rules and terms as read on October 21, 2026. This guide is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm the details for your own situation with a New York real estate attorney, a tax professional or your lender.
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