REAL PROPERTY ACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS LAW (RPAPL) 1304 NOTICE REQUIREMENTS NOT MET; PLAINTIFF BANK’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiff bank did not demonstrate compliance with the notice provisions of Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (RPAPL) 1304. Therefore plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment in this foreclosure action should not have been granted:

… [T]he plaintiff failed to establish its entitlement to judgment as a matter of law with respect to compliance with the notice requirement of RPAPL 1304. Proper service of RPAPL 1304 notice containing the statutorily mandated content is a condition precedent to the commencement of the foreclosure action, and failure of a plaintiff to make this showing requires denial of its motion for summary judgment … . The lender must submit proof of mailing (such as an affidavit of service or domestic return receipts with attendant signatures) or an affidavit either from the individual who performed the actual mailing or an individual with personal knowledge of the lender’s standard office mailing procedure … . Here, the unsubstantiated and conclusory statement of the plaintiff’s attorney in an affidavit submitted in support of the motion that RPAPL 1304 notice was properly mailed to the defendant is insufficient to establish compliance with the statute as a matter of law … . Ventures Trust 2013-I-H-R by MCM Capital Partners, LLC v Williams, 2020 NY Slip Op 03561. Second Dept 6-24-20