New York State Mortgage Loan Enforcement & Administration Corp. v. Coney Island Site Five Houses, Inc.

109 A.D.2d 311, 491 N.Y.S.2d 671, 1985 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 49753
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJuly 8, 1985
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 109 A.D.2d 311 (New York State Mortgage Loan Enforcement & Administration Corp. v. Coney Island Site Five Houses, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
New York State Mortgage Loan Enforcement & Administration Corp. v. Coney Island Site Five Houses, Inc., 109 A.D.2d 311, 491 N.Y.S.2d 671, 1985 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 49753 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Niehoff, J.

These lawsuits involve two State-subsidized low-income housing projects located next to each other in Coney Island which are owned and operated by the same principals, albeit under different names (hereinafter referred to collectively as defendant owners). Plaintiff New York State Project Finance Agency (PFA) is the holder of two mortgages, one on each of the projects. Plaintiff New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) was the original mortgagee on both mortgages. Plaintiff New York State Mortgage Loan Enforcement & Administration Corporation (MLC) is a subsidiary of UDC created to enforce the rights of UDC and PFA under the mortgages held by them. In these actions, plaintiffs seek to foreclose on the mortgages by reason of defendant owners’ default in the payment of principal, interest and other charges totaling more than $6.5 million for the two projects. These defendants do not deny that they have failed to make such payments, but have raised numerous affirmative defenses and counterclaims in an effort to defeat plaintiffs’ right to foreclose.

Presently at issue are four affirmative defenses and their corresponding counterclaims which Special Term declined to dismiss. Although the defenses are stated under the various legal headings of estoppel* unconscionable acts and unclean hands, bad faith and waiver, the court considered them all to be based upon the same allegations — those set forth in connection with the affirmative defense of estoppel.

The factual contentions of the defendant owners are essentially threefold. First, they contend that UDC knowingly planned and structured the projects in such a way that they could not generate sufficient rental income to service the mortgage debt. These allegations also comprised the core of the defendant owners’ fraud defense and counterclaim, which Special Term dismissed as presenting “no bona fide triable issue of [313]*313fact”. The defendant owners further complain that the New York State Commissioner of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) subsequently refused to approve sufficient rent increases to enable them to service the debt. Finally, according to the defendant owners “[p]laintiffs and the defendant Commissioner” of DHCR deferred servicing the debt from “around 1975” to the present, and “assured [them] that * * * the Mortgaged] would be restructured to permit [them] to meet all of [their] financial obligations, including debt service [and that] the Mortgage^] would not be foreclosed”. It is claimed that on the basis of those assurances, they continued to operate the projects at a deficit and “lost opportunities to pursue alternatives to foreclosure”.

After noting the defendant owners’ contentions, Special Term posed the following question: “[S]hould the State through its appropriate agencies be permitted to declare a default and foreclose on mortgages which have not been paid where the State’s (through other of its agencies) own conduct (e.g., failure to approve rent increases which would be sufficient to enable the defendants to make debt service payments, the sanctioning of the continued deferral of debt service, and assuring the defendants that the deferral would not constitute a default) may have been responsible?” Special Term answered “no” to the foregoing rhetorical question and found that the allegations of the defendant owners were not feigned and that they raised triable issues of fact requiring a trial of these actions.

We conclude that the affirmative defenses and counterclaims in question are without merit because (1) the alleged oral representations of the plaintiffs are negated by the explicit provisions of the parties’ written agreements, and (2) the alleged representations of the defendant DHCR are not attributable to nor binding upon the plaintiffs. Consequently, plaintiffs are entitled to summary judgment of foreclosure.

THE PARTIES

Plaintiff New York State Urban Development Corp. is a public benefit corporation established in 1968 as part of a State program designed to encourage the private sector to invest in, develop, construct and operate low-income housing in blighted areas (L 1968, ch 174, §§ 2, 4, as amended). As a means of accomplishing its statutory purpose, UDC would provide low-interest mortgage loans to companies called “housing companies” formed by individuals or entities in the private sector. The. benefits to the private investors come from the combination of low capital investment, low interest rates, and high tax deduc[314]*314tions. Private investors need only contribute 5% of the total cost of the project, with below-market loans making up- the balance of the cost. Because the resulting mortgage loans are of the nonrecourse variety, the investors are shielded from any personal liability beyond their initial contribution, regardless of the operating results, making the projects themselves the only collateral for the loans that finance 95% of their cost. The investment, therefore, yields substantial tax shelter advantages, since in return for their 5% contribution, the private investors are entitled to take depreciation based upon the full construction cost of the project, as well as all of the interest deductions, against other income.

In return for the foregoing advantages, the housing companies must assume responsibility for the management of the projects and subject themselves to certain restrictions (Private Housing Finance Law § 13 [2]; 9 NYCRR 1725-2.1 through 1725-2.9). Return on equity prior to the retirement of the mortgage loans is limited to not more than 6%, and rent levels are subject to administrative approval.

In the mid-1970’s, UDC found itself in dire financial straits and was unable to sell the bonds which enabled it to make its loans. To help resolve this crisis, the Legislature created the plaintiff New York State Project Finance Agency (L 1975, ch 7, § 2), which by specific provision of the statute creating it, functions as the exclusive mortgagee with respect to the mortgages it acquires (New York State Project Finance Agency Act [L 1975, ch 7, § 2], § 5 [16], as amended). Thereafter, many mortgages originally held by UDC were assigned, pledged or sold to PFA. Thus, the two mortgages at issue here were acquired by PFA in May of 1975.

Plaintiff New York State Mortgage Loan Enforcement & Administration Corporation was created as a subsidiary of UDC for the purpose of exercising the rights and powers of UDC and PFA in connection with their respective mortgage loan portfolios. MLC was subsequently given a power of attorney by PFA to prosecute these foreclosure actions.

Also in 1975, as part of the response to the aforementioned fiscal crisis, the supervisory functions formerly exercised by UDC in connection with these housing projects were transferred to the Executive Department of the State of New York, and specifically to defendant New York State Commissioner of Housing and Community Renewal. Under the existing statutory scheme, although the individual housing companies establish the initial rents and can request rent increases for their projects, [315]*315the rents are subject to DHCR approval (Private Housing Finance Law § 31 [1] [a]).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Dynamic Energy Solutions, LLC v. Pinney
387 F. Supp. 3d 176 (N.D. New York, 2019)
City of New York v. North River Housing Development Fund Corp.
12 A.D.3d 294 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2004)
DeCapua v. Dine-A-Mate, Inc.
282 A.D.2d 643 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2001)
In Re Dayton Seaside Associates 2, L.P.
257 B.R. 123 (S.D. New York, 2000)
Colony Nyro Partners, L.P. v. Merritt & Co.
231 A.D.2d 547 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1996)
Bank v. Lockwood Venture Housing, Inc.
222 A.D.2d 633 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1995)
Bango v. Naughton
184 A.D.2d 961 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1992)
New York State Mortgage Loan Enforcement & Administration Corp. v. Arbor Hill Houses, Inc.
180 A.D.2d 926 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1992)
City of New York v. Grosfeld Realty Co.
173 A.D.2d 436 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1991)
CrossLand Savings, FSB v. Loguidice-Chatwal Real Estate Investment Co.
171 A.D.2d 457 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
109 A.D.2d 311, 491 N.Y.S.2d 671, 1985 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 49753, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-york-state-mortgage-loan-enforcement-administration-corp-v-coney-nyappdiv-1985.