Usually not. The Appeals Court held that a mortgage assignment with the wrong original lender’s name and no book and page number was still valid, so the bank that bought the home at foreclosure could evict the former owners. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
What happened
The homeowners gave a mortgage to a lender in 2005. In 2008, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS), acting for that lender, signed a form assigning the mortgage to Wells Fargo as trustee. As signed, the form named an unrelated third party as the original mortgagee and left the book and page of the recorded mortgage blank. The blank for the new owner’s name had a handwritten “X,” and a matching “X” further down the page was followed by a stamp giving Wells Fargo’s full name. The version recorded at the registry of deeds in March 2008 had Wells Fargo’s name and the book and page filled in by hand. Wells Fargo foreclosed in 2024, bought the property at the sale, served a notice to quit and filed a summary process case in Housing Court. The judge granted summary judgment to Wells Fargo.
What the court decided
The Appeals Court affirmed. See Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Abi-Saad, No. 25-P-1043 (Mass. App. Ct. July 20, 2026) (Rule 23.0 decision). The former owners argued the assignment was void, which would break the chain of title and undo the foreclosure. The court rejected both of their arguments, even looking only at the assignment as it was signed, before anything was added.
First, the assignment met G.L. c. 183, § 54B. That statute makes a mortgage assignment binding when it is signed before a notary by someone who claims to hold an officer position, such as vice president, with the entity that holds the mortgage. MERS was the record holder, an assistant vice president of MERS signed, and a notary attested the signature. The court relied on Bank of N.Y. Mellon Corp. v. Wain, 85 Mass. App. Ct. 498 (2014), which upheld an assignment in similar circumstances. It contrasted Sullivan v. Kondaur Capital Corp., 85 Mass. App. Ct. 202 (2014), where the assignment did not show the signer’s authority at all.
Second, the errors on the form did not make the assignment void. The assignment still identified the mortgage by its date, the property and the loan amount, so it was clear which mortgage was being assigned. Naming the wrong original mortgagee might at most make the assignment voidable, meaning a party with an interest in it could challenge it. It did not make it void. Under Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Anderson, 89 Mass. App. Ct. 369 (2016), and Wain, a homeowner has standing to challenge only defects that make an assignment void, not ones that make it merely voidable.
Third, the assignment did not leave the new owner blank. Under U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n v. Ibanez, 458 Mass. 637 (2011), an assignment that does not name the assignee conveys nothing. Here, the court read the two matching “X” marks together. The first marked the assignee’s spot, and the second pointed to the stamp with Wells Fargo’s name. That was enough to identify the assignee.
What this means for you
If you are facing eviction after a foreclosure, you can challenge whether the bank had the right to foreclose. But the challenge has to show the paperwork was void, not just messy. Typos, a wrong lender name, or a missing book and page number usually will not be enough if the assignment was signed by an officer of the record holder in front of a notary.
This is the trap. Defects that courts treat as merely voidable can be raised only by a party with an interest in the assignment, not by the former owner, and the eviction keeps moving while you argue them. A truly void assignment, such as one that never names who is getting the mortgage, is different. So is a foreclosure by a company that did not hold the mortgage when it gave notice and held the sale.
Look closely at what each document actually says, and focus on the defects that the law treats as serious.
What to do now
- Get certified copies of your mortgage and every recorded assignment from the registry of deeds.
- Check who held the mortgage on record when the foreclosure notice went out and on the day of the sale.
- Read the foreclosure notice and compare it with the recorded assignments.
- If you receive a notice to quit or a summary process summons, file your answer and any defenses on time.
- Talk to a lawyer about whether the problems you see could make the assignment void, not just voidable.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. Housing Court deadlines are short.
