Excludes real property conveyances from the written notice requirement when such property is being conveyed by the state of New York or any of its political subdivisions as part of a foreclosure proceeding.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4623
SPONSOR: Sempolinski TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the real property law, in relation to excluding certain
real property conveyances from the written notice requirement
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this bill is to exempt counties from a written notice
requirement when they convey property obtained by an Article 11 tax
foreclosure.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1. This section exempts the State and all counties from the Real
Property Law Section 291 written notice requirement when conveying prop-
erty related to an Article 11 tax foreclosure.
Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
JUSTIFICATION:
In 2020, the Real Property Law was amended requiring a County Clerk or
City Registrar notify property owners when a conveyance of their proper-
ty is recorded. Under current law, this written notice requirement
applies to counties when they convey property that they received as a
result of a tax foreclosure. Counties that take title to property
because of foreclosure do so with the intention of selling it to a new
owner or transferring it back to a redeeming owner. The county works
closely with the clerk's office and, in some cases, the county pays the
mailing fee for the notice. Counties hold title to these properties for
a short amount of time and work with the homeowner to prevent the type
of fraud that the notice requirement was designed to protect against.
This amendment would exempt the county from the written notice require-
ment, and therefore the fee, because the county does not require notice
of the process that it initiated and is carrying out.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: S1224/A2403 Referred to Judiciary
2023: S1224/A2403 Referred to Judiciary
2022: S.7751 Referred to Judiciary
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4623
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 4, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SEMPOLINSKI -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the real property law, in relation to excluding certain
real property conveyances from the written notice requirement
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 291 of the real property law, as amended by chapter
2 641 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 291. Recording of conveyances. A conveyance of real property, within
4 the state, on being duly acknowledged by the person executing the same,
5 or proved as required by this chapter, and such acknowledgment or proof
6 duly certified when required by this chapter, may be recorded in the
7 office of the clerk of the county where such real property is situated,
8 and such county clerk or city registrar where applicable shall, upon the
9 request of any party, on tender of the lawful fees therefor, record the
10 same in said office. Every such conveyance not so recorded is void as
11 against any person who subsequently purchases or acquires by exchange or
12 contracts to purchase or acquire by exchange, the same real property or
13 any portion thereof, or acquires by assignment the rent to accrue there-
14 from as provided in section two hundred ninety-four-a of this article,
15 in good faith and for a valuable consideration, from the same vendor or
16 assignor, [his] such vendor or assignor's distributees or devisees, and
17 whose conveyance, contract or assignment is first duly recorded, and is
18 void as against the lien upon the same real property or any portion
19 thereof arising from payments made upon the execution of or pursuant to
20 the terms of a contract with the same vendor, [his] such vendor's
21 distributees or devisees, if such contract is made in good faith and is
22 first duly recorded. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase in the
23 principal balance of a mortgage lien by virtue of the addition thereto
24 of unpaid interest in accordance with the terms of the mortgage shall
25 retain the priority of the original mortgage lien as so increased
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04538-01-5
A. 4623 2
1 provided that any such mortgage instrument sets forth its terms of
2 repayment. The clerk of the county or city registrar where such convey-
3 ance of residential real property is recorded and maintained shall mail
4 a written notice of such conveyance to the owner of record. The notice
5 shall have the heading printed in 20 point bold type and read as
6 follows:
7 "NOTICE OF SALE OR TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP OF YOUR RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY.
8 To:______________________________
9 Name of owner of record
10 Our records show that you are listed as the current owner of record for
11 residential property:
12 Block #__________ Lot #________
13 Located At: ___________________________
14 street address
15 in the county of __________________ New York
16 On ____________, documents were filed at this
17 date
18 office to change ownership and transfer title of your property.
19 To: ______________________________
20 name of new owner
21 If you have any questions regarding the validity of the documents, and
22 wish to dispute the recording of the transfer, you should obtain legal
23 counsel. If you believe you are a victim of a crime related to this
24 recording, contact your local law enforcement agency or, if in the City
25 of New York, the office of the sheriff."
26 The party seeking to record such conveyance shall bear the cost of such
27 written notice. The clerk of the county or city registrar is entitled to
28 charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of mailing the envelope to the
29 owner of record. Failure to mail such notice or the failure of any party
30 to receive the same, shall not affect the validity of the conveyance of
31 the property. Conveyances by the state of New York or any of its poli-
32 tical subdivisions in conjunction with a foreclosure of a tax lien
33 pursuant to a proceeding in rem under title three of article eleven of
34 the real property tax law shall not require written notice.
35 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
