§ 1501 — Who may maintain an action

§ 1501. Who may maintain an action. 1. Where a person claims an estate\nor interest in real property; or where he claims such estate or interest\nas executor or administrator of a deceased person; or where a municipal\ncorporation has purchased an estate or interest in real property at a\nsale conducted by it for unpaid taxes against the property and the time\nwithin which redemption from such sale may be made has expired and such\nmunicipal corporation claims it; such person or municipal corporation,\nas the case may be, may maintain an action against any other person,\nknown or unknown, including one under disability as hereinafter\nspecified, to compel the determination of any claim adverse to that of\nthe plaintiff which the defendant makes, or which it appears from the\npublic records, or from the allegations of the complaint, the defendant\nmight make; provided, however, that where the estate or interest claimed\nby the plaintiff is for a term of years, the action may not be\nmaintained unless the balance remaining of such term of years is not\nless than five.\n 2. Such action may be maintained, even though the defendant's claim\nappears to be invalid on its face, or the court may have to determine\nthe death of a person, or any statutory limitation of time, or any other\nquestion of fact or law upon which an adjudication of the adverse claims\nof the parties may depend.\n 3. An action against a woman who claims a right of dower in the whole\nor a part of the property cannot be commenced until the expiration of\nfour months after the death of defendant's husband.\n 4. Where the period allowed by the applicable statute of limitation\nfor the commencement of an action to foreclose a mortgage, or to enforce\na vendor's lien, has expired, any person having an estate or interest in\nthe real property subject to such encumbrance may maintain an action\nagainst any other person or persons, known or unknown, including one\nunder disability as hereinafter specified, to secure the cancellation\nand discharge of record of such encumbrance, and to adjudge the estate\nor interest of the plaintiff in such real property to be free therefrom;\nprovided, however, that no such action shall be maintainable in any case\nwhere the mortgagee, holder of the vendor's lien, or the successor of\neither of them shall be in possession of the affected real property at\nthe time of the commencement of the action. In any action brought under\nthis section it shall be immaterial whether the debt upon which the\nmortgage or lien was based has, or has not, been paid; and also whether\nthe mortgage in question was, or was not, given to secure a part of the\npurchase price.\n 5. The interest had by any mortgagee or contract vendee of real\nproperty or by any successor in interest of either of them, is an\n"interest in real property" as that phrase is used in this article of\nthe real property actions and proceedings law.\n 6. Where a person, as defined in subdivision seven of section 10.00 of\nthe penal law, has been convicted of a criminal offense in connection\nwith a deed theft or fraudulent transaction involving real property, the\nconviction creates a rebuttable presumption that such deed transfer was\nfraudulent. This section also applies where a grantee of a fraudulent\ndeed is an entity that is beneficially owned by such convicted person. A\ndefendant may in such action produce proof to establish by a\npreponderance of the evidence that such deed was not procured through\nfraud.\n