§ 1974 SECTION 1974 Decision and judgment of court
RPAPL § 1974
1.If any party to the proceeding contests the issue of abandonment, the burden of proving that the dwelling is abandoned shall be upon the department, and the court shall make a finding based on the facts before it.
2.
(a)Upon application by any party to the proceeding, the court may order a stay of the proceeding for such time as the court deems proper to permit the mortgagee or lienor to foreclose his mortgage or lien and to permit the owner, mortgagor or lienor to enter the property to make repairs or if the property be vacant to seal or continuously guard the building as required by law. The court may impose such terms upon the owner, mortgagee or lienor as it deems proper for the issuance of said order, including the posting of such security, if any, as it may require. At the expiration of the period prescribed by the court, the court may extend the time of the owner, mortgagee or lienor to comply with the order, dismiss the proceeding if the owner, mortgagee or lienor has substantially complied with the order, or issue a judgment as provided in subdivision three of this section, if the court finds that the owner, mortgagee or lienor has failed to comply with the order.
(b)Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subdivision, if the department has brought a proceeding pursuant to section nineteen hundred seventy-three of this chapter based on a finding of abandonment pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section nineteen hundred seventy-one of this chapter, the court may not grant a stay for more than six months, nor extend it for more than an additional three months.
3.Upon a finding by the court that the dwelling is abandoned, the court shall enter a final judgment in favor of the petitioner. The fact that an administrator has been appointed pursuant to article seven-A of this chapter shall not prevent the court from entering a final judgment in favor of the petitioner upon a finding by the court that the dwelling is abandoned. The final judgment shall direct such officer of the city, town or village in which the dwelling is located as may be designated in the judgment to execute and record a deed conveying title of the premises to the city, town or village thirty days after entry of judgment. Upon the entry of such judgment the city, town or village shall be seized of an estate in fee simple absolute in such land and all persons, including the state of New York, infants, incompetents, absentees and non-residents who may have had any right, title, interest, claim, lien or equity of redemption in or upon such lands shall be barred and forever foreclosed of all such right, title, interest, claim, lien or equity of redemption.
4.The provisions of section three hundred seventeen of the civil practice law and rules shall not apply to a proceeding instituted pursuant to this article. A motion or action to set aside a judgment in a proceeding instituted prusuant to this article on the grounds either that there was a failure to comply with the provisions of this article as to notice or that a defect in the proceeding prejudiced a substantial right of a party may be instituted within ninety days after the deed vesting title in a city has been recorded, but not thereafter.
5.The right, title and interest of a purchaser or incumbrancer of a property as to which a deed vesting title in a city, town or village has been recorded pursuant to a judgment obtained through this article shall not be affected or impaired by a motion or action instituted more than ninety days after such deed vesting title in a city, town or village has been recorded.
