The Appeals Court held that the Housing Court had jurisdiction over a post-foreclosure eviction even though the home was registered land, and it upheld summary judgment for the foreclosing bank because the former owner offered no evidence to back up her defenses. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
What happened
In 2005, two homeowners gave a mortgage on their home in Sandwich. The mortgage and a later assignment to the bank were registered in the Land Court and recorded in the registry of deeds. After the owners defaulted, an officer of the bank’s loan servicer signed the required foreclosure affidavits in 2021, and in 2022 the bank published notice and bought the property at the foreclosure auction. In September 2023 the bank served a notice to quit and then a summary process complaint, and it later moved for summary judgment. One owner answered and opposed the motion; the other did not appear at the hearing and was defaulted. A Housing Court judge granted summary judgment for the bank.
What the court decided
In Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Earle, No. 24-P-1440 (Mass. App. Ct. April 28, 2026) (Rule 23.0 decision), the Appeals Court affirmed.
The bank’s proof was enough. After a foreclosure, the buyer can make a first-level (prima facie) case for possession by producing the recorded foreclosure deed and the affidavit of sale under G.L. c. 244, § 15. Federal Nat’l Mtge. Ass’n v. Hendricks, 463 Mass. 635 (2012). The bank did that, and also filed an affidavit about its note holder status and compliance with the mortgage. The former owner then had to respond with an affidavit or other evidence showing a real factual dispute. Here, the judge found the owner’s defenses conclusory and unsupported by admissible evidence, and the Appeals Court agreed.
Registered land did not take the case out of Housing Court. The owner argued that because G.L. c. 185, § 1, gives the Land Court exclusive jurisdiction over complaints affecting title to registered land, the Housing Court could not decide this eviction. The court rejected that argument. The Supreme Judicial Court has held that a former owner may challenge the buyer’s title as a defense in a Housing Court summary process case. Bank of N.Y. v. Bailey, 460 Mass. 327 (2011). Nothing in that decision suggests the Housing Court loses jurisdiction when the land is registered. The court also noted that the Land Court does not hear summary process cases at all.
Other arguments failed for lack of evidence or support. The owner claimed the bank failed to act in good faith, but she put no evidence in the record to support her account. Her equal treatment challenge to the appeal bond also failed. G.L. c. 239, §§ 5 and 6, require a bond for post-foreclosure appeals from the Superior Court too, and the judge had waived her bond, so the court did not reach the constitutional question. She also argued that relying on the affidavit required by G.L. c. 244, § 35C, to show the bank held the note violated due process. The court disagreed. She had a chance to dispute the note facts and did not, and a foreclosing party does not need physical possession of the note. Eaton v. Federal Nat’l Mtge. Ass’n, 462 Mass. 569 (2012).
The judgment also stood against the defaulted owner. A summary process default judgment is not directly appealable. Adjartey v. Central Div. of the Hous. Court Dep’t, 481 Mass. 830 (2019). His motion to remove the default had been denied, and he made no argument that the denial was wrong.
What this means for you
If you are facing eviction after a foreclosure, the Housing Court can hear your case and your challenge to the foreclosure, even on registered land. But this decision shows the trap: once the bank files its foreclosure deed and affidavit of sale, you cannot win just by saying the foreclosure was wrong. You need proof, such as your own sworn affidavit, mailed notices, letters, or records showing a specific defect.
Showing up also matters. The owner who did not come to the hearing was defaulted, could not appeal the judgment itself, and was left with a motion to remove the default. And if you cannot afford an appeal bond, G.L. c. 239, § 5, requires the court to waive it if you are indigent and have a defense that is not frivolous.
What to do now
- Go to every hearing. A default can end your case and limit your right to appeal.
- Gather your foreclosure papers: notices of default, notices of sale, letters from the servicer, and the foreclosure deed and affidavit.
- Put your defenses in a sworn affidavit with documents attached. General statements in an answer are not enough to stop summary judgment.
- If you lose, file any notice of appeal within 10 days and ask about a bond waiver if you cannot pay.
- Talk to a lawyer early about whether the foreclosure followed the mortgage and the statute.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. Housing Court deadlines are short.
