Call it What it Is…Quiet Title is Not as Advertised. Hardly a day goes by that someone mentions a “Quiet Title” action. From everything that is stated, it appears to be a dream come true for distressed home owners. First of all, what is being marketed as “Quiet Title” is not really an action to quiet title.
The term quiet tile refers to legal court matters in which the actual title to a property is disputed among several different claimants. This can happen in a variety of settings, but it is most common in inheritance battles or battles between business partners that each claim title to a property. This type of action does not apply to the vast majority of distressed home owners.
What my colleagues in law and I have been successfully been doing is to argue in Court that the lender is not the real party in interest since they assigned their rights to the mortgage and/or note. This occurred because the lender (or servicing agent) does not properly “perfect” their interest in the property or they do not otherwise properly assign their interest. This creates a legal challenge to the foreclosure action. It also may be the basis for a separate cause of action to strip away the mortgage and thus make the remaining debt an unsecured obligation.
This can be a very valuable asset to distressed home owners, but let’s call it what it really is…it is a defense to a foreclosure action or an independent cause of action to strip away the mortgage from the note. It is not a “Quiet Title” action. To me, this dilutes the value of the various people that are marketing “Quiet Title” actions. If they do not even call it by its proper names, do they really know what they are doing??
Paddy Deighan J.D. Ph.D
Comments(12)