THE FORECLOSURE ABUSE PREVENTION ACT (FAPA) APPLIES RETROACTIVELY; THE FORECLOSURE ACTION HERE IS THEREFORE TIME-BARRED (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing Supreme Court, reiterated that the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act (FAPA) applies retroactively. Here the foreclosure action was deemed time-barred because the bank’s attempt to stop the running of the statute of limitations by de-accelerating the debt was precluded by FAPA:

… [T]his action is time-barred, and must be dismissed. “[T]he six-year statute of limitations applicable to a foreclosure action begins to run when a mortgage debt has been accelerated by the commencement of an action seeking the entire sum due” … . The first action was commenced in 2007, and such commencement accelerated the loan and called due the entire outstanding balance; thus, the six-year statute of limitations began to run at that time. Pursuant to FAPA, enacted during the pendency of this action, the parties’ 2012 stipulation discontinuing the first action, by itself, did not reset the statute of limitations, which expired in 2013 (see CPLR 3217 [e] …). Plaintiff did not commence this action until 2019, well after expiration of the statute of limitations … . Thus, defendant demonstrated prima facie that this action, which is based upon the same mortgage debt as the first action, is time-barred (see CPLR 213 [4]). In opposition to defendant’s showing, plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact, and Supreme Court should have dismissed the foreclosure action … .

We have recently addressed plaintiff’s position that FAPA does not apply retroactively, and we again reject it. U.S. Bank N.A. v Craft, 2025 NY Slip Op 04510, Third Dept 7-31-25

Practice Point: This decision demonstrates how the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act (FAPA) can be applied retroactively to render a foreclosure action time-barred.