N.Y. Real Property Actions & Proceedings Law § 1974: Decision and judgment of court

§ 1974. Decision and judgment of court. 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.