JDSUPRA BUSINESS ADVISOR: Rhode Island Supreme Court Rules That Condominium Assessment Liens Could Extinguish First-Priority Mortgages

By Cale Keable, Santiago Posas Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP

January 28, 2016

First mortgage holders in Rhode Island beware: in a 4-1 decision handed down on December 4, 2015, the Rhode Island Supreme Court has ruled that pursuant to the Rhode Island Condominium Act, RIGL § 34-36.1-1.01 et seq., liens for six months of unpaid common fees prior to the foreclosure have super-priority status, and can extinguish first-priority mortgages under certain circumstances. In Twenty-Eleven, LLC v. Michael J. Botelho, et al., the Court, interpreting § 34-36.1-3.16 of the Rhode Island General Laws, held that a first mortgage had been extinguished where the holder failed to either (i) pay the assessments, or (ii) exercise its right of redemption pursuant to § 34-36.1-3.21(c). Read more:

http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/rhode-island-supreme-court-rules-that-53378/