New York · TitleNew York quiet title: determining adverse claims and cancelling expired mortgages

New York's quiet title action is an action to compel the determination of a claim to real property. A person who claims an estate or interest in real property – including as executor or administrator of a deceased person – may sue any other person, known or unknown, to compel the determination of any claim adverse to the plaintiff's that the defendant makes, or might make based on the public records or the complaint; a holder of a term of years needs at least five years remaining (RPAPL §1501(1)). The action can be brought even if the defendant's claim appears invalid on its face, or if the court must decide a death, a statute of limitation or another question of fact or law (§1501(2)). For an old mortgage or vendor's lien, the key is §1501(4): where the period allowed by the statute of limitation to foreclose the mortgage or enforce the lien has expired, anyone with an estate or interest in the property may sue to cancel and discharge the encumbrance of record and have the interest declared free of it, unless the mortgagee or lien holder is in possession; it doesn't matter whether the debt was paid. An action upon a mortgage of real property must be commenced within six years (CPLR 213(4)). Where a person has been convicted of a criminal offense in connection with a deed theft or fraudulent real property transaction, the conviction creates a rebuttable presumption that the deed transfer was fraudulent (RPAPL §1501(6)).