RPAPL 1306 requires every lender, loan servicer, or assignee in a New York residential foreclosure to electronically file borrower and loan information with the Superintendent of Financial Services within three business days of mailing the 90-day pre-foreclosure notice under RPAPL 1304. New York courts treat that filing as a condition precedent to starting the foreclosure lawsuit. Miss it, file late, or leave required fields blank, and the case can be dismissed.
Which Loans the Filing Applies To
The filing obligation is tied to the definition of a “home loan” in RPAPL 1304. That covers loans where the borrower is an individual, the debt is primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, and the property is a one-to-four family home or condominium unit in New York that the borrower occupies or intends to occupy as a principal residence.1New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Code 1304 – Required Prior Notices Investment properties, commercial real estate, and loans to business entities do not qualify, so they don’t trigger a 1306 filing.
Cooperative apartment loans are covered too. RPAPL 1306 applies after mailing the 1304 notice and, for co-ops, after mailing the notice required by UCC Section 9-611(f).2New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 1306 – Filing With Superintendent The three-business-day window is the same.
The Three-Business-Day Deadline
The clock starts on the day the lender mails the RPAPL 1304 pre-foreclosure notice. That notice must be mailed by registered or certified mail and separately by first-class mail, to both the borrower’s last known address and the property address, in its own envelope apart from any other mailing.1New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Code 1304 – Required Prior Notices The mailing date is what starts the three-business-day window for the electronic filing.
The Department of Financial Services runs the online portal that accepts the filing. Once the lender completes the required fields and submits, the system assigns a tracking number and emails it to the filer.3Department of Financial Services. Pre-Foreclosure Notice Filing Information – Instructions After the tracking number is assigned, the portal will not accept corrections or amendments to that submission. If an error is caught before the tracking number is generated, the system prompts the filer to fix it; for bulk uploads, the system flags the problem record so it can be resubmitted. Once the tracking number is locked, that filing is what the lender is stuck with.4Department of Financial Services. FAQ – Pre-Foreclosure Information Form and Section 1306 of RPAPL
What the Filing Must Contain
RPAPL 1306 subdivision 2 sets the minimum data: the borrower’s name, address, and last known telephone number, along with the amount the lender claims is due and owing. The lender must also give the Superintendent enough additional information to identify the type of loan.2New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 1306 – Filing With Superintendent The Superintendent can later request more information if it would help determine whether the borrower could benefit from housing counseling or other foreclosure prevention services.
Every data point in the filing should match the information in the 1304 notice that was actually mailed. A 2026 trial court decision treated missing borrower addresses or phone numbers as a potential compliance defect, since the statute requires those fields “at a minimum.”5New York State Unified Court System. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v Robinson The reverse mortgage version of the form includes additional questions reflecting Real Property Law Section 280-D changes that took effect in April 2021.6Department of Financial Services. Foreclosure Filing System
When the filing goes through, the system generates a Proof of Filing containing the tracking number and submission date. The statute requires the foreclosure complaint to include “an affirmative allegation” that the lender complied with RPAPL 1306, and the Proof of Filing is the document that backs up that allegation.2New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 1306 – Filing With Superintendent
The Second Filing After the Lis Pendens
The three-business-day filing is only the first step. Within five business days of filing a lis pendens, which is the public notice that a foreclosure lawsuit has been filed, the lender must submit a second filing through the same DFS system.3Department of Financial Services. Pre-Foreclosure Notice Filing Information – Instructions The second filing updates DFS on the loan and confirms that litigation is under way. It is mandatory for any loan that already has a first-step filing on record. The borrower information submitted through the portal is not public: it’s exempt from disclosure under New York’s Freedom of Information Law and from certain provisions of the Personal Privacy Protection Law, and DFS uses it to route foreclosure prevention outreach and analyze trends.
What Happens When the Lender Gets It Wrong
Because the filing is a condition precedent to the foreclosure action, courts will not overlook late or defective submissions as a formality. In TD Bank, N.A. v. Leroy, the trial court treated a late filing as a harmless defect and let the case proceed. The Second Department reversed, holding that the lender could only prevail on summary judgment by demonstrating it had filed the required form within three business days of mailing the 1304 notice.7New York State Law Reporting Bureau. TD Bank, N.A. v Leroy The court did note one nuance: RPAPL 1306 noncompliance is not a jurisdictional defect, so the court still has power to hear the case. But without proof of timely filing, the lender cannot win it.
A 2026 trial court decision in Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Robinson went further, stating that “strict compliance with the statutory requirement of making the appropriate filing . . . is required” and rejecting a substantial compliance argument.5New York State Unified Court System. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v Robinson Under that reading, even a missing address or phone number can sink the case. When dismissal comes on 1306 grounds, the lender’s only path forward is to restart the pre-foreclosure process from the beginning: new 1304 notice, new 90-day waiting period, new DFS filing.
How Homeowners Can Use RPAPL 1306 to Push Back
If you’re facing a foreclosure lawsuit, RPAPL 1306 gives you a concrete way to challenge it before the case gets near the merits. Start with the complaint itself. The statute requires the lender to affirmatively allege compliance with 1306. If that allegation is missing, you have grounds for a motion to dismiss.
Where the allegation is present, ask for the Proof of Filing and compare it to the mailing date of the 1304 notice you received. If more than three business days passed between the mailing and the electronic filing, the lender failed to comply. Compare the data in the filing to what appeared in the notice: mismatches in the amount claimed due, your address, or your phone number can support a noncompliance argument, particularly under the strict compliance standard the courts have applied.
The 1304 notice itself is worth examining. If the lender never mailed a proper 90-day notice, there was nothing to trigger the 1306 obligation and the whole pre-foreclosure sequence is defective. Courts have dismissed cases where the 1304 notice was missing required content, wasn’t sent by both mailing methods, or wasn’t mailed in its own envelope. The 1304 notice also lists government-approved housing counseling agencies for your county and provides the Attorney General’s Homeowner Protection Program hotline at 1-855-466-3456. Calling a counselor early puts you in a stronger position whether you end up defending the case on procedural grounds or negotiating a workout.