Unsatisfied with borrower and community protections afforded by the multiple statutory amendments of recent years, the Legislature passed a new omnibus foreclosure law (L. 2010, ch 73), effective Dec. 20, 2016. Our review of the changed 90-day notice mandates titled “New 90-Day Notice Rules: A Potential Morass for Lenders” appeared in these pages previously (NYLJ, Sept. 14, 2016, at 5 col. 6). Now addressed are the multitudinous issues created by changes addressed to judgment and sale, conveyance impositions, settlement conferences, maintenance obligations and the expedited procedure for vacant and abandoned properties.
Judgment and Sale
The amendment regarding the foreclosure sale [RPAPL §1351(1)] seeks to accelerate the foreclosure process by requiring the sale be held within 90 days of the date of the judgment. Aside from this presupposing that it is lenders who are volitionally delay scheduling sales (a point strongly disputed, and simply not so) this fails to take into account the realities of foreclosure process. First, a judgment is not available to a foreclosing plaintiff until it is entered. Depending upon the venue, this can be weeks or months after the date of the judgment. This immediately can render the 90-day sale date requirement unachievable. With or without a delay, there are any number of quotidian circumstances which can intercept the ability to promptly set a foreclosure sale (which requires at the outset 28 days’ worth of advertising).
