G.L. c. 183, § 54B, effective as of October 1, 2006, has a listing of all those persons who can sign discharges, assignments, partial releases, subordination, non-disturbance, recognition and attornment agreements. It eliminates the necessity of votes in most cases when registering discharges, assignments and partial releases of mortgages. It applies to instruments executed prior to or on or after the effective date of the Act. Since the statute refers to persons purporting to hold various offices of an “entity”, the statute is not limited to corporations, but includes other entities such as a limited partnership, a limited liability company and a limited liability partnership. The statute reads in pertinent part as follows:
“A deed of release or written acknowledgment of payment or satisfaction of the debt thereby secured, or a release, partial release or assignment of mortgage, or an instrument of subordination, non-disturbance, recognition, or attornment by the holder of a mortgage...executed before a notary public, justice of the peace or other officer entitled by law to acknowledge instruments, whether executed within or without the commonwealth, by a person purporting to hold the position of president, vice president, treasurer, clerk, secretary, cashier, loan representative, principal, investment, mortgage or other officer, agent, asset manager, or other similar office or position, including assistant to any such office or position, of the entity holding record title thereto on behalf of such entity acting in its own capacity or as a general partner or co-venturer of the entity holding record title, shall be binding upon such entity and shall be entitled to be recorded or filed, and no vote of the entity affirming such authority shall be required to permit recording of filing.”
- Assignments and discharges executed by fiduciaries of deceased mortgagees may be accepted for registration if accompanied by a certificate of appointment of fiduciary which is no more than six (6) months old.
- Regarding ancillary documents, such as conditional assignments of rents, refer to Guideline Number 39, Mortgages: Discharges and Assignments; Collateral Security Documents.
- An affidavit by a Massachusetts attorney which complies with the requirement of G.L. c. 183, § 55(g) constitutes a discharge of a mortgage and a release of the lien on the mortgaged premises. All of such affidavits must be approved at the Land Court in Boston before being accepted for registration.
- There are a great many instances wherein there are minor errors in the names of parties assigning or discharging mortgages. There are cases where Corp. is used rather than Corporation, where Inc. is either omitted or included incorrectly, where N.A. or F.A. is omitted from a bank title.
Minor errors may be corrected on the document when not inconsistent with Guideline 4. Alteration of Documents.
In other cases, in the interest of eliminating the need for supplemental petitions and subsequent Court orders to correct the record, the following procedure is now advised:
The persons presenting such assignments or discharges should be instructed to present such instruments to the Land Court in Boston, for approval. They should present: 1.) The face sheet of the original mortgage, and 2.) The assignment or discharge. There should also be presented some proof of the correct name.
The Land Court registration districts should not decline to accept for filing a form of partial release because it does not include the phrase “release to [blank] all interest acquired under said mortgage.”