LI-based title company Titleserv closes doors

One of the largest title agencies in the country, Titleserv, based in Woodbury, L.I., closed its doors this past Friday, an employee of the company said.

Calls and emails to Titleserv for further explanation were not returned. Company CEO James Conway could not be reached for comment, and Brian Pasley, a company senior vice president, said he could not comment.

The firm, founded in 1986, provided title services through large underwriters covering much of the country. The company has divisions such as Settlement Corp., that provide additional services at closings, such as holding funds in escrow to pay off sellers’ prior mortgages.

The firm was particularly strong in providing services for the closing of residential sales, industry insiders said.

The company ran into trouble with federal housing officials in 2002, but was later cleared.

The U.S. Housing and Urban Development raided the offices of Titleserv that year, on allegations of an illegal kickback scheme. But in October 2003 the federal agency closed the case against them without bringing charges.

Competing companies began hearing rumors of the closing last week, and were seeing some immediate impacts.

“We have been seeing a surge of business that has been redirected to us that had previously been with Titleserv, in the past few days,” said Brian Tormey, an executive vice president at Manhattan-based TitleVest Agency, an unrelated title firm.