Partial Release of Property From Mortgage by Individual Holder
Assignment and Satisfaction of Mortgages
Assignments Generally:
Lenders, or holders of mortgages or deeds of trust, often assign mortgages or deeds of trust
to other lenders, or third parties. When this is done the assignee
(person who received the assignment) steps into the place of the original
lender or assignor. To effectuate an assignment, the general rule
is that the assignment must be in proper written format and recorded to
provide notice of the assignment.
Satisfactions Generally:
Once a mortgage or deed of trust is paid, the holder of the mortgage is required to satisfy the mortgage
or deed of trust of record to show that the mortgage or deed of trust is
no longer a lien on the property. The general rule is that the satisfaction
must be in proper written format and recorded to provide notice of the
satisfaction. If the lender fails to record a satisfaction within
set time limits, the lender may be responsible for damages set by statute
for failure to timely cancel the lien. Depending on your state, a satisfaction
may be called a Satisfaction, Cancellation, or Reconveyance. Some
states still recognize marginal satisfaction but this is slowly being phased
out. A marginal satisfaction is where the holder of the mortgage
physically goes to the recording office and enters a satisfaction on the
face of the the recorded mortgage, which is attested by the clerk.
Pennsylvania Statutes
21 P. S. § 623. Assignments and Letters of Attorney.
All assignments of mortgages and letters of attorney authorizing
the satisfaction of mortgages, duly executed and acknowledged, in the
manner provided by law for the acknowledgment of deeds, may be recorded
in the office for recording of deeds, in the county in which the mortgage
assigned or authorized to be satisfied may be or shall have been recorded;
and the record of such instrument, or a duly certified copy thereof, shall
be as good evidence as the original assignment or letter of attorney, when
duly proved in any court of justice.
21 P. S. § 623-1. Assignments to be in writing
Hereafter no assignment of any mortgage shall be entered of record
in any county of the second class, unless such assignment shall be in writing,
and acknowledged by the assignor or assignors before an officer or person
duly authorized to take such acknowledgments.
21 P. S. § 624. Assignments to be entered on margin of record
of mortgage
From and after the passage of this act, it shall be the duty of
the recorders of deeds, of the several counties of this commonwealth, to
enter upon the margin of the record of any mortgages, the book and page
wherein any assignment or assignments of the same are recorded, together
with the date of such assignment, for which service the recorders aforesaid
shall charge and be entitled to receive such fee as is provided by law
unless the recorder of deeds microfilms the mortgages in which case the
assignment shall be recorded without a marginal notation.
21 P. S. § 625. Certificate of residence of mortgagee or
assignee
For the purpose of obtaining with accuracy the precise residence
of all mortgagees, assignees, and persons to whom interest is payable on
articles of agreement, it shall be the duty of the recorder of deeds in
each county, whenever a mortgage, assignment, or agreement given to secure
the payment of money, shall be presented to him for record, to refuse the
same, unless the said mortgage, assignment, or agreement has attached
thereto, and made part of said mortgage, assignment, or agreement, a certificate
signed by said mortgagee, assignee, or person entitled to interest, or
his, her or their duly authorized attorney or agent, setting forth the
precise residence of such mortgagee, assignee, or person entitled to interest;
said certificate to be recorded with said mortgage, assignment, or agreement;
and therefrom the said recorder shall prepare and deliver, at stated intervals,
to the proper Board of Revision of Taxes, or other officials charged with
the assessment of State tax, a list of said mortgages, assignments, and
agreements, with the names and residences of said mortgagees, assignees,
or persons entitled to interest, with the amount and date of said mortgages,
assignments, and articles of agreement, with the date of recording and
the properties upon which the debts are secured.
21 P. S. § 681. Satisfaction of mortgage on margin of record
or by satisfaction piece
Any mortgagee of any real or personal estates in the Commonwealth,
having received full satisfaction and payment of all such sum and sums
of money as are really due to him by such mortgage, shall, at the request
of the mortgagor, enter satisfaction either upon the margin of the
record of such mortgage recorded in the said office or by means of a satisfaction
piece, which shall forever thereafter discharge, defeat and release
the same; and shall likewise bar all actions brought, or to be brought
thereupon.
21 P. S. § 682. Fine for neglect
And if such mortgagee, by himself or his attorney, shall
not, within forty-five days after request and tender made for
his reasonable charges, return to the said office, and there make such
acknowledgment as aforesaid, he, she or they, neglecting so to do, shall
for every such offence, forfeit and pay, unto the party or parties aggrieved,
any sum not exceeding the mortgage-money, to be recovered in any Court
of Record within this Commonwealth, by bill, complaint or information.
21 P. S. § 705. Notice requirement
A bank, savings bank, savings and loan association or other lending
institution holding a residential mortgage shall send written
notification by first class mail to the mortgagor when the mortgage has
been fully paid. Any moneys remaining in any escrow account established
for the payment of taxes or insurance premiums shall be returned within
30 days to the mortgagor.
