Transaction Coordinator in Middlesex County, NJ.

What we handle on a Middlesex County file

Middlesex records land documents from the fourth floor of the County Administration Building in New Brunswick, on a schedule the Clerk marks effective June 1, 2019. The office is open until 4:10 pm but publishes that documents must arrive by 4:00 pm, which is the practical cutoff to plan around. Woodbridge additionally maintains a residential resale and rental certificate of compliance process, so confirm the municipal step early on township files. Once your deal is ratified, PLS builds and manages the file in KW Command, tracks every deadline and contingency, routes documents for signature, and coordinates with lender, title, attorneys, and the co-op agent. See the full transaction coordination service for the complete scope, and the New Jersey overview for statewide notes.

Realty transfer tax in Middlesex County: Realty Transfer Fee, graduated and paid by the seller

The Realty Transfer Fee falls on the seller and is graduated, from $2.00 per $500 on the first $150,000 to $6.05 per $500 on consideration over $1,000,000, with reduced schedules for senior, blind, disabled and low and moderate income sellers. Consideration over $1,000,000 also draws the Graduated Percent Fee that replaced the 1 percent mansion tax on July 10, 2025 under P.L. 2025 c.69, which shifted liability from the buyer to the seller. It runs 1 percent to 3.5 percent as a straight percentage of the full consideration, not a bracketed calculation. RTF-1 is filed with any deed claiming a full or partial exemption, and RTF-1EE must be annexed to every deed over $1,000,000 and to every commercial property transfer.

Recording a deed in Middlesex County

The Middlesex County Clerk, Registry sits at County Administration Building, 75 Bayard Street, 4th Floor, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, 732-745-3002. The current recording fee is $45 for the first page of a deed, or $35 without the abstract, on a schedule effective 6/1/2019. Additional recorded pages are $10 each and names from the sixth onward are $6 each under N.J.S.A. 22A:4-4.1. The $5 homelessness trust fund charge is already incorporated into the published figures, and a municipal recording is a flat $13. Office hours run 8:30 am to 4:10 pm, with the Clerk publishing that documents must arrive by 4:00 pm.

The deed needs Realty Transfer Fee payment with RTF-1 or RTF-1EE where applicable, the GIT/REP seller residency declaration, the grantee's mailing address, block and lot, acknowledgment with printed names and the preparer's printed name. A cover sheet has been required on all land documents since May 1, 2017 under P.L. 2011 c.217; e-recorded cover sheets are free and uncounted while paper cover sheets count as a page. GIT/REP forms signed on or after October 1, 2025 must be the current version.

What actually holds up a closing here

The three business day attorney review clock

N.J.A.C. 11:5-6.2(g) gives three days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, running from delivery of the signed contract to the buyer and the seller, so delivery to both parties is what starts it. The contract becomes binding when the period ends unless an attorney for either side disapproves and notifies the brokers and the other party within it. Extension requires a written agreement between buyer and seller. The rule reaches licensee prepared contracts for residential property of one to four dwelling units and vacant one family lots, and omitting the clause from such a contract is unauthorized practice of law sanctionable under N.J.S.A. 45:15-17(e). Conley v. Guerrero, 228 N.J. 339 (2017), allows disapproval by fax, e mail, personal delivery or overnight mail with proof of delivery, effective on mailing for overnight, even though the regulation still lists only certified mail, telegram or personal delivery.

The smoke, carbon monoxide and extinguisher certificate

Before a one or two family or attached single family structure is sold, leased or otherwise made subject to a change of occupancy, the owner must obtain a Certificate of Smoke Alarm, Carbon Monoxide Alarm and Portable Fire Extinguisher Compliance under N.J.A.C. 5:70-2.3 and N.J.S.A. 52:27D-198.1. The state fee schedule at N.J.A.C. 5:70-2.9(d) is $45 more than 10 business days before the change of occupancy, $90 at four to 10 business days and $161 at fewer than four, and a municipality may adopt a different schedule by ordinance based on actual cost. Extinguisher requirements are the frequent failure: within 10 feet of the kitchen, in the path of egress, minimum 2A-10B:C, no more than 10 pounds, mounted on the manufacturer's bracket with instructions visible, top no more than five feet above the floor, and serviced and tagged by a certified Division of Fire Safety contractor within the past 12 months. Carbon monoxide alarms must be in the immediate vicinity of sleeping areas and are excused only where the building has no fuel burning device and no attached garage. Applications are filed through FIRE SOLUTIONS Online since the state no longer issues a paper form.

The 4:00 pm arrival rule and the abstract election

The Registry is open to 4:10 pm but publishes that documents must arrive by 4:00 pm, so build the earlier time into the closing plan rather than the posted closing time. The first page of a deed is $45 with abstracting and $35 without it, which is why quotes from two different sources in the same county can disagree by $10. Names beyond the fifth add $6 each under N.J.S.A. 22A:4-4.1, which adds up on multi party deeds and estate transfers. The $5 homelessness trust fund charge is already built into the published figures and should not be added again.

Pricing

Transaction coordination in New Jersey is billed per file, not as a monthly retainer. Contract to close is $450 per transaction, and the full rate card including dual agency, transaction licensee, FSBO, and listing management is published on our pricing page. No fixed overhead, no minimum volume.

Where these figures come from

The county-level figures on this page come from the official sources listed below. Municipal fees and deadlines come from each municipality's own published schedules and ordinances, which are revised more often than they are archived. We publish what we could verify and leave out what we could not. Fees and ordinances change; if you are relying on a figure here for a live file, confirm it with the issuing office, and tell us if you find a discrepancy so we can correct the page.

• NJ Division of Taxation, Realty Transfer Fee
• NJ Division of Taxation, Graduated Percent Fee notice to county recording officers
• Middlesex County Office of the County Clerk
• Woodbridge Township, housing forms
• NJ DCA Division of Fire Safety, FIRE SOLUTIONS Online