N.Y. SCC Law § 161

§ 161. Description of premises. In the assessment of any lands in the\ncity for any purpose, it shall be sufficient to state the name of one of\nthe owners of such lands if the owner or owners or any of them be\nresidents of the city and known to the assessors; if the owner or owners\nbe unknown to the assessors or if they be nonresidents and the ownership\nis unknown to the assessors, then the assessment may be designated\nunknown, and there shall be stated the number of the lot and the block,\nif subdivided into lots and blocks and so designated upon the city map\nlast adopted by the common council, or the number of the lot or farm\nlot, if not so subdivided into blocks and lots and so designated, and\nalso the street and number of any building thereon; but if the land be\nvacant or the building thereon be not numbered, then the name of the\nstreet on which it fronts and a brief description of the premises shall\nbe given. In case no inhabited building be on the land and the residence\nof the owner be unknown, such owner may be designated as unknown. No\nassessment hereafter made in said city shall be held to be invalid\nbecause the same may be made out in terms against owner or owners\nunknown or the estate of a deceased person, naming such person, or the\nexecutor, administrator, heirs or devisees of a deceased person, naming\nsuch person, or any of them or against a company or a firm name, or\nagainst a person in whom is the record title, though not the actual\ntitle of the property, or for any cause arising through ignorance or\nmistake as to the names of the owner or owners of the property assessed,\nwhether individually or a corporation, provided such property is\nsufficiently described on the assessment-rolls to reasonably identify\nand indicate to a person familiar with the same the particular property\nwhich it was intended to assess. Every assessment-roll shall be\nconsidered as referring to the last adopted map, unless it be otherwise\nstated therein.\n