Title CIV — California Civ. Code

The lien of a mortgage is special, unless otherwise expressly agreed, and is independent of possession. (Enacted 1872.)

(a) A mortgage broker providing mortgage brokerage services to a borrower is the fiduciary of the borrower, and any violation of the broker’s fiduciary duties shall be a violation of the mortgage broker’s license law. This fiduciary duty includes a requirement that the mortgage b…

(a) With respect to residential real property containing no more than four dwelling units, a mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent shall provide to the mortgagor or trustor a copy of the recorded notice of default with an attached separate summary document of the n…

The purpose of the act that added this section is to ensure that, as part of the nonjudicial foreclosure process, borrowers are considered for, and have a meaningful opportunity to obtain, available loss mitigation options, if any, offered by or through the borrower’s mortgage se…

(a) (1) A mortgage servicer, mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent shall not record a notice of default pursuant to Section 2924 until both of the following: (A) Either 30 days after initial contact is made as required by paragraph (2) or 30 days after satisfying t…

(a) A mortgage servicer, mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent shall not record a notice of default pursuant to Section 2924 until all of the following: (1) The mortgage servicer has satisfied the requirements of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b). (2) Either 30 days…

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that any duty mortgage servicers may have to maximize net present value under their pooling and servicing agreements is owed to all parties in a loan pool, or to all investors under a pooling and servicing agreement, not to any particular pa…

(a) When a borrower requests a foreclosure prevention alternative, the mortgage servicer shall promptly establish a single point of contact and provide to the borrower one or more direct means of communication with the single point of contact. (b) The single point of contact shal…

(a) Every transfer of an interest in property, other than in trust, made only as a security for the performance of another act, is to be deemed a mortgage, except when in the case of personal property it is accompanied by actual change of possession, in which case it is to be dee…

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, the transfer, following the sale, of property in a common interest development, as defined by Section 1351, executed under the power of sale contained in any deed of trust or mortgage, shall be recorded within 30 days after the date of sale in t…

(a) When a borrower submits a complete first lien modification application or any document in connection with a first lien modification application, the mortgage servicer shall provide written acknowledgment of the receipt of the documentation within five business days of receipt…

(a) If a foreclosure prevention alternative is approved in writing prior to the recordation of a notice of default, a mortgage servicer, mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent shall not record a notice of default under either of the following circumstances: (1) The …

(a) (1) If a trustee’s deed upon sale has not been recorded, a borrower may bring an action for injunctive relief to enjoin a material violation of Section 2923.55, 2923.6, 2923.7, 2924.9, 2924.10, 2924.11, or 2924.17. (2) Any injunction shall remain in place and any trustee’s sa…

(a) As used in this section: (1) “Borrower” has the same meaning as defined in Section 2929.5. (2) “Mortgage servicer” includes the current mortgage servicer and any prior mortgage servicers. (3) “Subordinate mortgage” means a security instrument in residential real property, inc…

(a) Unless otherwise provided, paragraph (5) of subdivision (a) of Section 2924 and Sections 2923.5, 2923.55, 2923.6, 2923.7, 2924.9, 2924.10, 2924.11, and 2924.18 shall apply only to a first lien mortgage or deed of trust that is secured by owner-occupied residential real proper…

(a) A declaration recorded pursuant to Section 2923.5 or pursuant to Section 2923.55, a notice of default, notice of sale, assignment of a deed of trust, or substitution of trustee recorded by or on behalf of a mortgage servicer in connection with a foreclosure subject to the req…

(a) (1) If a borrower submits a complete application for a first lien loan modification offered by, or through, the borrower’s mortgage servicer at least five business days before a scheduled foreclosure sale, a mortgage servicer, trustee, mortgagee, beneficiary, or authorized ag…

(a) (1) If a trustee’s deed upon sale has not been recorded, a borrower may bring an action for injunctive relief to enjoin a material violation of Section 2923.5, 2924.17, or 2924.18. (2) An injunction shall remain in place and any trustee’s sale shall be enjoined until the cour…

Consistent with their general regulatory authority, and notwithstanding subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 2924.18, the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation and the Bureau of Real Estate may adopt regulations applicable to any entity or person under their respective…

A person shall not contact, solicit, or initiate communication with an owner to claim the surplus funds from a foreclosure sale of the owner’s residence before 90 days after the trustee’s deed has been recorded.

(a) Unless acting in the capacity of a trustee, a licensed title company or underwritten title company shall not be liable for a violation of Section 2923.5 or 2924.11 if it records or causes to record a notice of default or notice of sale at the request of a trustee, substitute …

(a) Except as provided in subdivisions (b) and (c), a person who has undertaken as an agent of a mortgagee, beneficiary, or owner of a promissory note secured directly or collaterally by a mortgage or deed of trust on real property or an estate for years therein, to make collecti…

No clause in any deed of trust or mortgage on property containing four or fewer residential units or on which four or fewer residential units are to be constructed or in any obligation secured by any deed of trust or mortgage on property containing four or fewer residential units…

(a) An obligee may not accelerate the maturity date of the principal and accrued interest on any loan secured by a mortgage or deed of trust on residential real property solely by reason of any one or more of the following transfers in the title to the real property: (1) A transf…

(a) The provisions of any deed of trust or mortgage on real property which authorize any beneficiary, trustee, mortgagee, or his or her agent or successor in interest, to accelerate the maturity date of the principal and interest on any loan secured thereby or to exercise any pow…

(a) Upon posting a notice of sale pursuant to Section 2924f, a trustee or authorized agent shall also post the following notice, in the manner required for posting the notice of sale on the property to be sold, and a mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent, concurren…

(a) Unless a borrower has previously exhausted the first lien loan modification process offered by, or through, his or her mortgage servicer described in Section 2923.6, within five business days after recording a notice of default pursuant to Section 2924, a mortgage servicer th…

If, by the terms of any trust or deed of trust a power of sale is conferred upon the trustee, the attorney for the trustee, or any duly authorized agent, may conduct the sale and act in the sale as the auctioneer for the trustee.

(a) Any person desiring a copy of any notice of default and of any notice of sale under any deed of trust or mortgage with power of sale upon real property or an estate for years therein, as to which deed of trust or mortgage the power of sale cannot be exercised until these noti…

(a) (1) Whenever all or a portion of the principal sum of any obligation secured by deed of trust or mortgage on real property or an estate for years therein hereafter executed has, prior to the maturity date fixed in that obligation, become due or been declared due by reason of …

(a) (1) Commencing with the date that the notice of sale is deposited in the mail, as provided in Section 2924b, and until the property is sold pursuant to the power of sale contained in the mortgage or deed of trust, a beneficiary, trustee, mortgagee, or their agent or successor…

(a) The beneficiary or mortgagee of any deed of trust or mortgage on real property either containing one to four residential units or given to secure an original obligation not to exceed three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) may, with the written consent of the trustor or mor…

(a) As used in this section and Sections 2924g and 2924h, “property” means real property or a leasehold estate therein, and “calendar week” means Monday through Saturday, inclusive. (b) (1) Except as provided in subdivision (c), before any sale of property can be made under the p…

(a) (1) All sales of property under the power of sale contained in any deed of trust or mortgage shall be held in the county where the property or some part thereof is situated, and shall be made at auction, to the highest bidder, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on any bus…

(a) Each and every bid made by a bidder at a trustee’s sale under a power of sale contained in a deed of trust or mortgage shall be deemed to be an irrevocable offer by that bidder to purchase the property being sold by the trustee under the power of sale for the amount of the bi…

(a) This section applies to loans secured by a deed of trust or mortgage on real property containing one to four residential units at least one of which at the time the loan is made is or is to be occupied by the borrower if the loan is for a period in excess of one year and is a…

(a) Unless an interpleader action has been filed, within 30 days of the execution of the trustee’s deed resulting from a sale in which there are proceeds remaining after payment of the amounts required by paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 2924k, the trustee sha…

(a) The trustee, or the clerk of the court upon order to the clerk pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 2924j, shall distribute the proceeds, or a portion of the proceeds, as the case may be, of the trustee’s sale conducted pursuant to Section 2924h in the following order of pr…

(a) In the event that a trustee under a deed of trust is named in an action or proceeding in which that deed of trust is the subject, and in the event that the trustee maintains a reasonable belief that it has been named in the action or proceeding solely in its capacity as trust…

(a) For purposes of this section: (1) “Prospective owner-occupant” means a natural person who presents to the trustee an affidavit or declaration, pursuant to Section 2015.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure, that: (A) They will occupy the property as their primary residence within …

Nothing in this article shall relieve a person deemed the legal owner of real property when the trustee’s deed is recorded from complying with applicable law regarding the eviction or displacement of tenants, including, but not limited to, notice requirements, requirements for th…

(a) On and after January 1, 2023, in the case of any real property purchased pursuant to Section 2924m by an eligible bidder described in subparagraphs (C) to (G), inclusive, of paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of that section, the property shall be subject to a recorded covenant…

(a) For purposes of this section, it is the intent of the Legislature to do all of the following: (1) Allow for prospective owner-occupants and eligible bidders to have the first opportunity to purchase properties that have been acquired through the foreclosure process by an enti…

The fact that a transfer was made subject to defeasance on a condition, may, for the purpose of showing such transfer to be a mortgage, be proved (except as against a subsequent purchaser or incumbrancer for value and without notice), though the fact does not appear by the terms …

A mortgage is a lien upon everything that would pass by a grant of the property. (Enacted 1872.)

A mortgage does not entitle the mortgagee to the possession of the property, unless authorized by the express terms of the mortgage; but after the execution of the mortgage the mortgagor may agree to such change of possession without a new consideration. (Enacted 1872.)

A mortgage does not bind the mortgagor personally to perform the act for the performance of which it is a security, unless there is an express covenant therein to that effect. (Enacted 1872.)

No person whose interest is subject to the lien of a mortgage may do any act which will substantially impair the mortgagee’s security. (Enacted 1872.)

(a) (1) A legal owner shall maintain vacant residential property purchased by that owner at a foreclosure sale once that sale is deemed final, or acquired by that owner through foreclosure under a mortgage or deed of trust. A governmental entity may impose a civil fine upon the l…

(a) Prior to imposing a fine or penalty for failure to maintain a vacant property that is subject to a notice of default, that is purchased at a foreclosure sale, or that is acquired through foreclosure under a mortgage or deed of trust, a governmental entity shall provide the ow…