County Clerk’s Office – Frequently Asked Questions

The Rensselaer County Clerk’s office is made up of the Records Room Department located at 105 Third Street in the city of Troy and the Department of Motor Vehicles, which is located at the Pattison Office Building 1600 7th Avenue also in the city of Troy. The Record Room is open M, T, W, F from 8:30am to 5:00pm and every Thursday from 8:30am to 7:00pm. DMV is open M, T, W, F from 8:30am to 4:15pm and every Thursday from 10:00am to 6:00pm

There are three ways in which you can get a copy of your deed from the Rensselaer County Clerk’s office.  You can come to our office, which is located at 105 Third Street (corner of Congress and Third) in Troy and obtain a copy for $.50 per page.

You can also submit a written request to the
Rensselaer County Clerk Record Department                                                105 Third Street
Troy, NY 12180

In the request please give us your name, location of the property (town) and the approximate year that you purchased the property.  Mail requests are $1.00 per page with a check submitted with your request.  Your check can be made out to the Rensselaer County Clerk with a “not to exceed five dollars” notation made.  We will fill in the amount and return a receipt with your request. Mail in requests are processed and returned the same day that my office receives them.

PASSPORTAPPLICATIONS BY APPOINTMENT ONLY   Please call (518)270-4080 to arrange an appointment for junior passport and new passport applications.  YOU CANNOT RENEW AN ADULT PASSPORT AT THE COUNTY CLERK’S OFFICE.   Passport Appointments: M-F 11-3 -Please allow half an hour per appointment   You will need 1) Check to send to US Department of State     2) Cash/Check for County Clerk Passport Application fee             3) Photo ID                     4) Birth certificate with both parent’s name listed and/or past expired passport   Please call (518)270-4080 with any questions.

The Rensselaer County Clerk’s office has three satellite DMV offices for residents’ convenience.  The Satellite locations and hours of operation are listed below:

East Greenbush Satellite DMV Office
East Greenbush Town Hall
225 Columbia Turnpike
Rensselaer, NY 12144

Open every Monday (excluding holidays): 9:00am –3:00pm

Schodack Satellite DMV Office
265 Schuurman Road
Castleton, NY 12033

Open every Tuesday (excluding holidays): 9:00am –3:00pm

Hoosick Falls Satellite DMV Office
John A. Murphy Senior Center
69 Church Street
Hoosick Falls, NY 12090

Open every Wednesday (excluding holidays): 10:00am –2:00pm

Not at all!  Anyone interested in starting a business in Rensselaer County can register a business name in our office located at 105 Third Street in Troy.  Be sure to bring a photo ID and either cash or a check when registering your business.  We will search your business name on our computer database to make sure that it is not being used by anyone else in Rensselaer County.  We will notarize your signature with proper ID, which will enable you to file your DBA.  The cost for filing a DBA is $25.00 with a $4.00 fee for a certified copy if you are planning to open a bank account for your business.  We also have informational booklets from the state that will assist you in applying for your Tax ID number, which is issued through the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

If a business is a partnership (more than one person) then all of the partners need to be present in order for our office to notarize the signatures and file the document.  If you are planning to incorporate, then you need to go to the New York Department of State.  Discontinuance of DBAs can be done anytime in our office with the proper ID for no charge.

The Rensselaer County Clerk has ceased issuing photo IDS effective January 2, 2020. Anyone interested in obtaining photo ID will need to contact Rensselaer County or NYS DMV.

You can reach our offices by phone by calling 270-4080 (Record Room) or 270-2600 (DMV).

The Rensselaer County Clerk does not designate the daily and weekly papers for publication of LLCs in the county. Section 206 of the NYLLC law designates publication of a corporation or a LLC for a period of six weeks in a daily and weekly newspaper.

The daily newspapers for Rensselaer County as designated by the Rensselaer County Legislature are:

ALBANY TIMES UNION-(518)454-5694
TROY RECORD (518)270-1200
BERKSHIRE EAGLE-(413)496-6260

The weekly papers for Rensselaer County are either based in the county or service the county either as an official town/city newspaper as determined by the local municipality.

ADVERTISER–(518)455-5503
EASTWICK PRESS–(518)491-1613
EXPRESS-(518)664-3335
JEWISH WORLD -344-7018 (published bi-monthly)

Our office provides criminal searches, pistol permit applications, notary public renewal processing, court records and judgment filing, SCAR petition filings among other important services. If you have any questions regarding the information listed above or any other general county clerk related issue, please contact the Record Room at 270-4080 or DMV at 270-2600.

Unfortunately, birth or death certificates as well as Marriage licenses are not filed in the Rensselaer County Clerk’s office.  Copies of birth or death certificates may be obtained either through the NYS Department of Health or the town or city clerk’s office where the person was born and/or died.  Marriage licenses are also issued by city or town clerks and may be obtained from the office of the clerk who originally issued the marriage license.

New York State Department of Health
Corning Tower
Albany, NY 12211
(518) 474-2121

Below is a listing of the town and city clerk’s numbers in Rensselaer County.

City of Troy	270-4634
City of Rensselaer	462-4266
Berlin	658-2633
Brunswick	279-3461
East Greenbush	477-7145
Grafton	279-3565
Hoosick	686-4571
Nassau	766-2343
North Greenbush	283-4306
Petersburgh	658-3777
Pittstown	753-4222
Poestenkill	283-5100
Sand Lake	674-2344
Schaghticoke	753-6915
Schodack	477-7590
Stephentown	733-9195

All telephone numbers listed above are within the 518 area code.