New York State does keep a list that legally bars real estate solicitors from contacting a homeowner who asks to be left alone. In Brooklyn, the area where you can join that list ends at Avenue H. Flatlands is south of that line. So if you own a house here and want the "we buy houses" letters and cold calls to stop, the state's opt-out list can't help you. Free protection still reaches your house. It just works differently. It watches your deed instead of your mailbox.
That changes what's worth doing. Even if you can't stop the pitch, you can make sure you hear about it quickly if anyone files paperwork against your property.
Where the line actually runs
The New York Department of State runs what it calls cease and desist zones. Brooklyn has one active zone right now. It covers part of Community Board 17. It took effect July 1, 2023, and it expires July 1, 2028.
The zone is defined by streets, not ZIP codes, and its southern edge follows the top of Flatlands closely. According to the Department of State's adoption notice, the border runs south on New York Avenue to Farragut Road, west to East 32nd Street, south to Avenue H, east along Avenue H to Brooklyn Avenue, north to Glenwood Road, east to Albany Avenue, and on toward Schenectady Avenue and Avenue D. Flatlands is in Community Board 18, which is outside that boundary.
Brooklyn used to have a second zone, created in 2020, but it never covered Flatlands. It covered part of East New York, bounded by Jamaica Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, Sutter Avenue, Van Sinderen Avenue and Linden Boulevard, and it expired November 1, 2025.
| Area | Zone status | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Part of Community Board 17, south edge along Avenue H, Glenwood Road and Farragut Road | Active | July 1, 2023 to July 1, 2028 |
| Part of East New York, Jamaica Avenue to Linden Boulevard | Expired | November 1, 2020 to November 1, 2025 |
| Queens, entire county | Countywide zone since 1989 | Per the Assembly memo cited below |
| Flatlands, Community Board 18 | No zone | None |
What the list does for the people who can use it
Inside a zone, it is unlawful for a licensed real estate broker or salesperson, or anyone regularly in the business of buying and selling property, to solicit a homeowner who has filed with the Department of State and appears on its published list. A solicitor who contacts a listed owner anyway can face fines, suspension or loss of their license.
The protection only applies if the owner signs up. Being inside the zone isn't enough on its own. The Department's cease and desist zones page shows the Kings County list as "Updated 10/1/2026" and says it is updated monthly. A registered owner who still gets solicited can file a homeowner complaint form.
The tool is also limited to the sales pitch. It controls who may ask you to sell, and nothing more. It doesn't watch the county records where a forged deed or a fraudulent transfer would show up. Flatlands owners lack the first layer, the right to opt out of the pitch, but they have the same access as everyone else to the second layer, the one that watches the records.
The bills that would move the line
Two bills in the 2025–2026 legislative session address the boundary. Neither has become law.
- S6135, sponsored by State Senator Kevin Parker, would make all of Kings County a cease and desist zone. It would also create an affirmative defense to violations of nonsolicitation orders and zones. Its Senate page lists it as in the Judiciary Committee.
- A5881B, sponsored by Assemblymember Stefani Zinerman, passed the Assembly on June 4, 2026, and was referred to the Senate Rules Committee. Its summary describes a zone for the 56th Assembly District, which covers Community Boards 3 and 8. That is a smaller area than the countywide version in earlier drafts.
The bill's sponsor memo makes the case with a comparison to Queens. The whole county was designated a cease and desist zone in 1989, so Queens homeowners have had a way to opt out of real estate solicitation at home for decades. Brooklyn has only had zones covering parts of the borough. For a Flatlands owner today, the result is the same either way: no list covers this neighborhood.
The protection that does cross Avenue H watches the deed, not the mailbox
The tools that do reach Flatlands are run by the city, and all of them focus on the property record.
The first is the NYC Department of Finance's Recorded Document Notification service, tied to ACRIS, the city's online database of recorded property documents. You register your property by address or by borough, block and lot. You'll then get an alert when a deed, a deed-related document, a mortgage or a related document is recorded against it. Registration is free, and it stays in effect until you opt out.
The second is a law that extends that alert system. Local Law 69 of 2025, enacted May 24, 2025, requires the Department of Finance to notify interested parties within 30 days when certain deed or mortgage documents are recorded. Notices go by mail, and by email or text for those who choose it. The law also calls for automatic registration of owners where practicable, and for annual reporting broken out by borough. Signing up for the online alert yourself means you don't have to wait to find out whether automatic registration has reached your house.
The third is a new office. On April 24, 2026, Mayor Zohran Mamdani created the Mayor's Office of Deed Theft Prevention inside the Department of Finance and named Peter White, an attorney from Access Justice Brooklyn, as its director. Its job includes flagging suspicious property filings, coordinating with law enforcement and doing public outreach. The Department of Finance's deed fraud page sends possible victims to an intake form. It also says they can report to the NYPD, the Sheriff or their borough's District Attorney.
State law gives these tools more weight than they used to have. New York's criminal deed theft law took effect July 19, 2024. It made deed theft prosecutable as grand larceny, lengthened the time limit for bringing charges, and gave the Attorney General concurrent criminal jurisdiction, as the Attorney General's office announced.
Why the deed matters more than the pitch
The mailers and cold calls are annoying, and the list was built to stop them. The bigger risk is different. Someone presents themselves as a helper, and a signature ends up transferring the property.
A Brooklyn case from last November shows how that works. The Brooklyn District Attorney's office announced on November 12, 2025, that a disbarred Brooklyn attorney had been sentenced to two and a half to seven years in prison. He had promised homeowners facing foreclosure that he would arrange short sales. Instead, he had them sign deeds over to corporations he controlled, then collected rent on some of the properties for years. The 11 properties included homes in Canarsie and East Flatbush. The judge nullified the deeds.
A do-not-solicit list would not have prevented that scheme. The victims went to him for help. The thing that would have flagged the trouble was a recorded deed showing a new owner.
The same release says that since 2017, the DA's office has obtained 30 indictments against 42 defendants in deed theft cases involving more than 70 properties. It credits those prosecutions with a steep drop in deed fraud complaints from Brooklyn residents to the Department of Finance. The Mayor's April 2026 announcement says thousands of complaints were filed across the city over the past decade, with the highest numbers in Brooklyn and Queens.
A short Flatlands owner's routine
- Register your property for Recorded Document Notification. Use the Department of Finance FAQ to sign up by address or by borough, block and lot. Each property you own needs its own registration.
- Save the contacts listed on the Brooklyn DA's deed fraud page. The Brooklyn DA's deed fraud page lists the DA Action Center at 718-250-2340 and the NYC Sheriff's Bureau of Criminal Investigation at 718-707-2100. It also recommends checking your property records from time to time, in addition to the alerts.
- If the solicitations are frequent, file the state questionnaire. The Department of State takes a Cease and Desist Questionnaire from owners outside designated zones. It uses the responses to decide whether to consider other areas. Filing it does not add you to any list.
- Keep an eye on S6135 and A5881B. A countywide zone would change your options. Each bill's page shows its current status.
A few quick answers
Can I still register with the Department of State if I live in Flatlands? Registration is for homeowners inside a designated zone. Flatlands is outside the Community Board 17 zone. Owners elsewhere can file the questionnaire, which asks the Department to consider their area.
My ZIP code is shared with neighborhoods to the north. Does that matter? No. The zone follows named streets, so whether your address is covered depends on which side of the boundary streets your house sits.
Who can I ask questions about the zone? The Department of State takes zone questions at [email protected] and 518-474-4429, weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
This post is general information, not legal advice. If something has been recorded against your property, or a sale offer doesn't feel right, check your situation with an attorney.
If a letter or a knock on the door has you wondering what your Flatlands house is actually worth, or whether you want to sell at all, Claudette Rolling can walk you through a real valuation and connect you with an attorney who handles deeds. Say Hey, and book a free consultation.
