Abetted by the ongoing economic distress and the glacially slow pace of home loan foreclosures in the Empire State, the continuing substantial volume of such cases has begotten a contentious clash between foreclosing mortgagees and condominiums holding common charge liens. While the underlying issues were explored at some length in these pages in “Effect of Foreclosure Delay on Condominium Liens,”1 the basic problem is that as foreclosing plaintiffs (it is not always so but let’s label them “banks” for brevity of reference) suffer enormous delays, condominiums likewise endure deleterious consequences. Common charges continue to mount during the years consumed by banks’ foreclosures, all damaging to the other condominium unit owners. Such contretemps lead to these inquires: What is the condominium to do? And if there are paths the condominium can pursue, how might they threaten the foreclosing banks?
A new case, Bank of America v. Brooks,2 focuses on and clarifies two aspects of the equation: penalty for delay to the foreclosing party and possible jeopardy for common charges.
