§ 507.Real property actions

CPLR 507 fixes venue by subject matter rather than by who the parties are. Whenever the judgment demanded would affect title to real property, or its possession, use, or enjoyment, the place of trial is the county where any part of the property sits. That reach covers claims like quiet title, partition, and ejectment, along with other claims seeking a judgment that would change who holds title or what interests exist in the land. When a property crosses county lines, venue is proper in either county, since the rule only asks that any part of the property lie within the chosen county.

The reasoning behind tying venue to the property's location is practical: the records, the witnesses, and the property itself are all there, making that county the natural place to try a dispute about it. That makes CPLR 507 one of the few venue rules in Article 5 that doesn't bend to where the parties happen to live, unlike the residence-based defaults in CPLR 503.

Because the rule is tied to the property rather than the parties, a defendant can move to change venue under CPLR 510(1) if the plaintiff filed in a county with no part of the property in it, regardless of where either party resides.