SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1649        FILED ON: 1/14/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1613

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act to require judicial foreclosure..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

1. Chapter 244 is hereby amended by inserting after Section 1 the following section:–“SECTION 2: Foreclosure by Complaint: All foreclosures of residential mortgages on 1-4 family owner-occupied property located in the commonwealth can only be initiated by the filing of a foreclosure complaint in the Superior or Housing Court for the county in which the property is located. A residential mortgagor may raise any and all available defenses to the foreclosure and to the contract for the underlying mortgage loan, in law and in equity. The court shall have the authority to modify the mortgage or grant any other appropriate relief. Mortgagors shall have a right of redemption for six months after the entry of judgment.