§ 56-0508 — Foreclosure of a tax lien

§ 56-0508. Foreclosure of a tax lien.\n Notwithstanding any general, special or local law or ordinance to the\ncontrary:\n 1. upon the commencement of a proceeding to foreclose a tax lien, the\ntaxing district bringing the proceeding or any taxing district other\nthan the one foreclosing the tax lien, having any right, title, or\ninterest in, or lien upon, any parcel described in the petition of\nforeclosure may upon twenty days notice to all parties having any right,\ntitle, or interest in, or lien upon such parcel, move, at a special term\nin the court in which the foreclosure proceeding was brought, for an\norder granting such taxing district the temporary incidents of ownership\nof such parcel for the sole purpose of entering the parcel and\nconducting an environmental restoration investigation project upon such\nparcel.\n 2. unless prior to the return date of the motion brought pursuant to\nthis section the parcel has been redeemed by a party having the right of\nredemption, the court shall enter an order granting such relief to such\ntaxing district, or, if more than one taxing district applies for such\nright, to the taxing district which the court determines has the\ngreatest public interest, but, where possible and proper, preferences\nfor such relief should be accorded first to cities and villages, second\nto towns, and third to counties. Such order shall be granted upon such\nterms and conditions as the court shall deem just and proper to permit\nthe environmental investigation to go on unhindered as well as to\nprotect the interests of all other parties having a right, title, or\ninterest in such parcel. Such order shall act as a stay to the\nforeclosure action on such parcel until the environmental restoration\ninvestigation project has been completed and the final investigation\nreport filed with the court pursuant to subdivision four of this section\nor such other time as the court may deem proper, and particularly upon a\nfinding by the court that the investigation has not been carried out in\nan expeditious manner.\n 3. such temporary incidents of ownership by such taxing district shall\nalso qualify it as being the owner of such property to be eligible for\nfunding from the state of New York for such environmental restoration\ninvestigation project under this article or for such funding from any\nsource pursuant to any other state, federal, or local law, but such\nincidents of ownership shall not be sufficient to qualify it as the\nowner of such property for the purposes of holding it wholly or\npartially liable for any damages, past, present, or future from any\nrelease of any hazardous material, substance, or contaminant into the\nair, ground, or water, unless such release was caused by such taxing\ndistrict.\n 4. within thirty days of the completion of the environmental\nrestoration investigation project and the receipt by the taxing\njurisdiction of the final report of such investigation, such taxing\njurisdiction shall file such report with the court on notice to the\ncourt and all other parties of record, and the stay of the foreclosure\nshall be lifted (unless lifted earlier by a prior court order), and all\nincidents of temporary ownership of the taxing jurisdiction that was\nawarded such taxing district, except any right for the environmental\nrestoration investigation project to be funded, shall cease to exist,\nand nothing in this subdivision shall preclude the taxing jurisdiction\nthat conducted the environmental restoration investigation project or\nthe taxing jurisdiction that commenced the foreclosure action, if it is\na different taxing jurisdiction than the taxing jurisdiction which\nconducted the investigation, from withdrawing the parcel from\nforeclosure pursuant to section eleven hundred thirty-eight of the real\nproperty tax law.\n 5. all costs associated with any environmental restoration\ninvestigation project conducted pursuant to the authority of this\nsection shall be added to the taxes owed to, and the tax lien of, the\ntaxing district that undertook the environmental restoration\ninvestigation project pursuant to this section.\n