The Past Is the Present? New York’s Retroactive Foreclosure Legislation

It’s not the easiest time to be in the mortgage business. Mortgage investors and servicers continue to deal with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on borrowers. Rising interest rates could drain the plentiful supply of refinance business from prior years and deter hopeful homebuyers from seeking new financing. And now the New York legislature has added another layer of complexity by passing a bill that would significantly impact the residential mortgage foreclosure process in New York. The New York legislation has been approved by both houses of the New York legislature and, if enacted, would significantly constrain lenders’, servicers’ and investors’ ability to efficiently prosecute foreclosure actions and potentially jeopardize their ability to recover their mortgage debt. Join Mayer Brown lawyers Krista Cooley, Tom Panoff and Frank Doorley for an overview of the legislation and a discussion of what it may mean for residential mortgage loan servicers in New York and which of its provisions are potentially retroactive.