IN THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION, THE RPAPL 1304 NOTICE DID NOT INCLUDE THE REQUIRED INFORMATION AND THE PROOF OF MAILING OF THE NOTICE WAS DEFICIENT; PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined proof of mailing of the RPAPL 1304 notice and failure to comply with the content-requirements for the RPAPL 1304 notice in this foreclosure action warranted denial of the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment:
The respondent failed to establish the plaintiff’s strict compliance with RPAPL 1304. The respondent submitted an affidavit of Alfreda Johnson, a “Foreclosure Specialist” of Fay Servicing, LLC (hereinafter Fay), the plaintiff’s servicer. Johnson did not have personal knowledge of the purported mailing … . Furthermore, while Johnson averred that she was familiar with Fay’s mailing practices and procedures, the record indicates that the notices were not mailed by Fay. The record indicates that the notices were mailed by an entity known as “Seterus” … . Johnson does not address this fact at all, let alone demonstrate that she was familiar with Seterus’s mailing practices and procedures. Thus, the respondent failed to establish that the 90-day notices were properly mailed in strict compliance with RPAPL 1304 … .
Moreover, the content of the 90-day notices did not strictly comply with RPAPL 1304 … . Here, the 90-day notices omitted information that was required by RPAPL 1304 … . Prof-2014-S2 Legal Tit. Trust II v DeMarco, 2022 NY Slip Op 03263, Second Dept 5-18-22
Practice Point: Here, in this foreclosure action, not only was proof of mailing the RPAPL 1304 notice insufficient, but the notice did not include all the required information.