The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiff (Heidi) had recorded her deed and mortgage before defendant bank (M & T) recorded its mortgage (to secure a loan to a co-tenant). Therefore defendant bank had notice of plaintiff’s prior interests:
“The New York Recording Act … , inter alia, protects a good faith purchaser for value from an unrecorded interest in a property, provided such a purchaser’s interest is first to be duly recorded … . The status of good faith purchaser for value cannot be maintained by a purchaser with either notice or knowledge of a prior interest or equity in the property, or one with knowledge of facts that would lead a reasonably prudent purchaser to make inquiries concerning such”… . “The recording of a transaction involving real property provides potential subsequent purchasers [and encumbrancers] with notice of previous conveyances and encumbrances that might affect their interests. If the [encumbrancer] fails to use due diligence in examining the title, he or she is chargeable, as a matter of law, with notice of the facts which a proper inquiry would have disclosed” … . The encumbrancer “must be presumed to have investigated the title, and to have examined every deed or instrument properly recorded, and to have known every fact disclosed or to which an inquiry suggested by the record would have led” … .
Here, the Supreme Court erred in failing to award Heidi … proceeds from the sale of the property, the entire principal of her mortgage, plus interest, and reasonable collection costs, including an attorney’s fee and disbursements incurred in collecting the indebtedness secured by the mortgage. Heidi demonstrated that her mortgage and the … deed were duly recorded prior to M & T’s mortgage. Therefore, Heidi established that M & T is chargeable with notice of these prior interests. Gregg v M&T Bank Corp., 2018 NY Slip Op 02774, Second Dept 4-25-18
REAL PROPERTY LAW (GOOD FAITH PURCHASER, PLAINTIFF RECORDED HER DEED AND MORTGAGE PRIOR TO THE RECORDING OF A MORTGAGE BY DEFENDANT BANK, DEFENDANT BANK WAS NOT A GOOD FAITH PURCHASER IN THAT IT IS DEEMED TO HAVE PRIOR NOTICE OF PLAINTIFF’S INTERESTS, SUPREME COURT REVERSED (SECOND DEPT))/MORTGAGES (REAL PROPERTY LAW, GOOD FAITH PURCHASER, PLAINTIFF RECORDED HER DEED AND MORTGAGE PRIOR TO THE RECORDING OF A MORTGAGE BY DEFENDANT BANK, DEFENDANT BANK WAS NOT A GOOD FAITH PURCHASER IN THAT IT IS DEEMED TO HAVE PRIOR NOTICE OF PLAINTIFF’S INTERESTS, SUPREME COURT REVERSED (SECOND DEPT))/DEEDS (REAL PROPERTY LAW, GOOD FAITH PURCHASER, PLAINTIFF RECORDED HER DEED AND MORTGAGE PRIOR TO THE RECORDING OF A MORTGAGE BY DEFENDANT BANK, DEFENDANT BANK WAS NOT A GOOD FAITH PURCHASER IN THAT IT IS DEEMED TO HAVE PRIOR NOTICE OF PLAINTIFF’S INTERESTS, SUPREME COURT REVERSED (SECOND DEPT))/GOOD FAITH PURCHASER (REAL PROPERTY LAW, PLAINTIFF RECORDED HER DEED AND MORTGAGE PRIOR TO THE RECORDING OF A MORTGAGE BY DEFENDANT BANK, DEFENDANT BANK WAS NOT A GOOD FAITH PURCHASER IN THAT IT IS DEEMED TO HAVE PRIOR NOTICE OF PLAINTIFF’S INTERESTS, SUPREME COURT REVERSED (SECOND DEPT))/RECORDING (DEEDS AND MORTGAGES, GOOD FAITH PURCHASER, REAL PROPERTY LAW, PLAINTIFF RECORDED HER DEED AND MORTGAGE PRIOR TO THE RECORDING OF A MORTGAGE BY DEFENDANT BANK, DEFENDANT BANK WAS NOT A GOOD FAITH PURCHASER IN THAT IT IS DEEMED TO HAVE PRIOR NOTICE OF PLAINTIFF’S INTERESTS, SUPREME COURT REVERSED (SECOND DEPT))