When the notice fails to strictly comply with the mortgage’s notice terms, for example by leaving out or misstating a required right. The Appeals Court held that a bank’s notice of default strictly complied with paragraph 22 of the mortgage, even though it mentioned a reinstatement right tied to a deleted mortgage section and added a sentence about judicial foreclosure. The foreclosure sale stood. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.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 homeowner defaulted on his mortgage. The bank foreclosed and sold the property at auction under the statutory power of sale. The homeowner then sued the bank for breach of contract and asked the court to set aside the sale. He claimed the notice of default and acceleration the bank sent him did not strictly comply with the mortgage.
He made two arguments. First, a rider to the mortgage had deleted paragraph 19, titled “Borrower’s Right to Reinstate After Acceleration,” yet the notice told him he had a right to reinstate. Second, the notice added a sentence about asserting defenses if a judicial foreclosure case were filed, which he said watered down his right to bring his own lawsuit. A Superior Court judge granted summary judgment for the bank.
What the court decided
The Appeals Court affirmed in Chavis v. Citizens Bank, N.A., No. 25-P-829 (Mass. App. Ct. August 24, 2026) (Rule 23.0 decision).
The strict compliance rule. A bank foreclosing under G.L. c. 183, § 21 must strictly comply with certain mortgage terms. Those are the terms directly about the foreclosure sale and the steps the bank must take in connection with it. Pinti v. Emigrant Mtge. Co., 472 Mass. 226, 235 (2015); Thompson v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., 486 Mass. 286, 289 (2020). In a standard Massachusetts mortgage, paragraph 22 lists what the pre-acceleration notice must say, including the right to reinstate after acceleration and the right to bring a court action to challenge the default or the sale.
The reinstatement language. The court found no part of paragraph 22 that the notice failed to follow. Paragraph 22 itself requires the notice to mention the right to reinstate, and the rider did not change paragraph 22. Reading the deletion of paragraph 19 the way the homeowner did would make compliance with paragraph 22 impossible. Other parts of the mortgage also showed that the right still existed. And paragraph 15 says a notice required by applicable law satisfies the mortgage. Massachusetts law requires a default notice to tell the borrower he may redeem by paying the total due before the foreclosure sale. G.L. c. 244, § 35A(c). So the mortgage itself told the homeowner that the right to reinstate was not deleted along with the paragraph that shared its name. See Thompson, 486 Mass. at 293-294.
The court action language. The notice first told the homeowner he had the right to bring a court action to challenge the default or the sale. It then added that if a judicial foreclosure were filed, he could raise defenses there. The court held this was different from the notices that failed in Pinti, which mentioned only defenses in a foreclosure lawsuit, and in Aubee v. Selene Fin. LP, 56 F.4th 1, 7-8 (1st Cir. 2022), a federal appeals case applying Rhode Island law, where the use of “and/or” made the borrower’s rights look like alternatives. Here, the notice clearly stated the right to sue. The extra sentence about defending a judicial foreclosure did not undercut it. The notice strictly complied.
What this means for you
Massachusetts homeowners have a real tool here. Under Pinti, if a bank’s paragraph 22 notice is wrong or misleading about your rights, a foreclosure sale can be void. But this decision shows the limits. Courts look at whether the notice actually conflicts with a specific paragraph 22 requirement, or is likely to mislead a reasonable borrower about how to protect themselves. Extra accurate information, or language a rider seems to contradict, may not be enough.
The most important lesson is in the notice itself. If you get a default notice saying you can bring a court action to challenge the default or the sale, take it literally. In Massachusetts, most foreclosures happen without any lawsuit by the bank. If you wait for the bank to sue you, the sale may happen first.
What to do now
- Keep every default, acceleration and foreclosure notice, with the envelope, and write down the date each arrived.
- Get a full copy of your mortgage, including every rider, and compare paragraph 22 with the notice you received.
- Note the cure deadline in the notice. Massachusetts law may also give you a 90-day right to cure. Act before these deadlines run out.
- If you believe the default is wrong or you have a defense, talk to a lawyer about filing your own court action before the sale.
- Do not assume a defect in the notice will undo a sale later. Raise it early.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. These cases move on short deadlines.
