Housing (Mortgages)

This bill (S 4088) gives homeowners facing real property disputes who cannot afford a lawyer the right to have a court assign them counsel. It directly affects low-income homeowners involved in property cases like evictions or foreclosure. The key provision requires courts to provide court-appointed lawyers through existing county legal aid systems (under Article 18-B of the County Law), mirroring how representation is handled for criminal defendants or family court cases. The bill updates county law to explicitly include "certain real property actions" in the scope of assigned counsel programs. It does not create new funding but formalizes access to existing representation mechanisms for qualifying property disputes.

Provides for free legal representation in certain mortgage foreclosure actions where the homeowner is financially unable to obtain counsel; requires notice of such availability.