Court Upholds County’s Reverter With Respect to Home Sold at Public Auction—Purpose of Reverter Was to Keep Welfare Recipients Out of Middle Class Neighborhoods—Defendant Unsuccessfully Argued That Reverter Purpose Was Not Violated Since House Was Being Rented to Manhattan Professionals
In 2009, the plaintiff county commenced an action pursuant to RPAPL Article 15 for “a declaration of its clear title to a parcel of real property [home]….” The claim arose from the county’s 2004 public auction of residential properties. The home had been conveyed pursuant to such auction to “A,” for $700,00 on March 21, 2005. The terms of the sale included “a deed restriction imposing a reverter in favor of the County which was mandated by…Local Law #13-1990 [Local Law][reverter]….”
