Ainslie v. Hicks

13 A.D. 388, 43 N.Y.S. 47
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided January 15, 1897·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

Ingraham, I.:

The action was brought for the partition of certain real property and its proceeds, wherein an interlocutory judgment was entered appointing a referee to sell the property, under which judgment the referee sold the property on the Yth day of April, 1896. The property was sold on terms of sale read upon the sale, and annexed to such terms of sale was a memorandum of sale which the purchaser signed, whereby it was recited that he had purchased the premises described in the printed advertisement of sale for the sum of $90^000, and promised and agreed to comply with the terms and conditions of the sale of said premises as therein before mentioned and set forth. The terms of sale were signed by the referee, and the fourth clause is as follows : “All taxes and assessments, duly confirmed and payable, which at the time of this sale are liens or incumbrances upon said premises, will be allowed by the referee out of the purchase money, provided the purchaser shall, previous to the delivery of the deed, produce to the referee proof of such liens and duplicate receipts for the payment thereof.” Ten per cent of the purchase money of the premises was paid to the said referee at the time and place of sale, and it was provided that “ the residue of said purchase money will be required to be paid to- the said referee, at his office, Ho. 29 Broadway, in the city of Hew York, on the Yth day of May, 1896, at 12 o’clock noon, when the referee’s deed will be ready for delivery.” The terms also recited that the premises had been leased up to May 1, 189Y, at the yearly reiyt of. $10,000, payable quarterly, and were sold subject to the lease, “ this sale to be approved by the Supreme Court.” It will thus appear that one quarter’s rent became due on the 1st day of May, 1896, between [390] the date of the sale and the date when the deed was to be delivered. The sale having been made subject to the approval of the court, before it could be completed, it was necessary that the final judgment be entered. Upon the day fixed by "the terms of sale for-the delivery of the deed,, namely, May first, the final judgment had not been entered; it was subsequently entered on May 12,1896 ; and the closing of the title was adjourned from time to time by consent until May 25, 1896, at which time the deed was delivered and the balance of the purchase money paid.

It appears that on the 8th of May, 1896, certain assessments for paving South street were confirmed; and the first and serious question presented is whether or not under these terms of sale the plain-. tiffs were entitled to have these assessments paid out of the purchase money, or whether the assessment, having been confirmed after the auction sale which resulted in the execution of the contract by the purchaser to buy and pay the balance of the purchase money upon the delivery of the deed at a subsequent time, became a lien upon the property after the sale ” and not, therefore, to be allowed out of the purchase money.

It seems to bé now settled that the purchaser at such sale gets no title to the property until the delivery of the deed. It is true that, he has the right to have the property conveyed to him upon the payment of the balance of the purchase money which the court will, by the execution of a proper conveyance by its officer, effectuate ^ but, until .such conveyance is made, it would seem that no title or right of possession to the property passed to the purchaser.

In the case of McLaren v. The Hartford Fire Ins. Co. (5 N. Y. 151) it seems to have been held that the master’s sale passed the interest of the parties presently, and that the deed when given related back to the time .of sale, so that rent becoming due between the time of sale and the delivery of the deed belonged to the purchaser,- and that during that period he had an insurable interest in the premises.

In the case of Cheney v. Woodruff (45 N. Y. 98) it would appear that that principle was repudiated, and' it was expressly held that á purchaser at such sale had no right to the rent becoming due before the delivery of the deed, the court saying: But what right had .the plaintiff to this rent ? He had not possession of the premises [391] until after this term had expired, nor had he any right to such possession. * * * He had not paid all the purchase money. He liad no deed; until he received that, he had no title under a mortgage foreclosure, so as to claim any rent, and his claim, when he did receive the deed, was prospective.”'

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Ainslie v. Hicks, 13 A.D. 388, 43 N.Y.S. 47 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1897).

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