Affidavit of Consideration (Legal Overview: All You Need To Know)

What is an Affidavit of Consideration?

What is its legal purpose?

What are the essential elements you should know!

Keep reading as we have gathered exactly the information that you need!

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Affidavit of Consideration 

The State of New Jersey has a document titled Affidavit of Consideration for Use by Seller that must be filed for the registration of any deed where a full or partial exemption of the Realty Transfer Fee is claimed.

According to the local laws in NJ, a county can only record a deed when:

• The consideration is recited in the deed
• One or more party to the deed (or their legal representative) declares that the consideration is annexed for recording with the deed
• The proper fee is remitted 

This form is also referred to as the RTF-1 or the RTF Form.

It looks like this:

When It Is Required

This Affidavit is required by law and must be annexed to all deeds when the entire consideration of a real estate transaction is not fully recited in the deed, acknowledgment, or proof of the execution in cases where the grantor claims total or partial exemption of the fees.

Legal Representative

A legal representative is a concept that is to be interpreted broadly.

It can be any person actively participating in the transaction or responsible for the transaction in some way like an attorney, closing officer of a title company or lending institution, or a holder of power of attorney.

Consideration 

In the case of a deed, a “consideration” refers to an actual sum of money or the monetary value of anything offered as compensation for the transfer of title to land, tenement, or other realty.

It’s important to remember that the following represents a consideration:

• Payment of the mortgage balance 
• Mortgage assumption 
• Payment or clearance of any lien or encumbrances 

RTF-1 Realty Transfer Fee 

What are the Realty Transfer Fees?

You can consult the Realty Transfer Fee Schedule to find out the Realty Transfer Fee for consideration not in excess of $350,000.

There is a second fee schedule for the Realty Transfer Fee relative to consideration in excess of $350,000.

For example, if the consideration was $250,000, here is what the table would show:

• No Exemption: $1,328.90
• Partial Exemption: $401.25
• New Construction: $1,328.90

Frequently Asked Questions

In case you have further questions or need additional clarification, you can consult the Frequently Asked Questions published by the State of New Jersey’s website.

In there you will get details with regards to the State of New Jersey contact information, what is a Realty Transfer Fee, how they are calculated and imposed on the seller, what are partial exemptions and total exemptions and more.

Takeaways 

So what is the legal definition of the Seller’s Affidavit of Consideration?

What about the RTF forms?

Let’s look at a summary of our findings.

Affidavit of Consideration (RTF1)

Related to Affidavit of Consideration Seller