A. Except as provided in subsections F, G and H of this section, within ninety days after the date of sale of trust property under a trust deed pursuant to section 33-807, an action may be maintained to recover a deficiency judgment against any person directly, indirectly or contingently liable on the contract for which the trust deed was given as security including any guarantor of or surety for the contract and any partner of a trustor or other obligor which is a partnership. In any such action against such a person, the deficiency judgment shall be for an amount equal to the sum of the total amount owed the beneficiary as of the date of the sale, as determined by the court less the fair market value of the trust property on the date of the sale as determined by the court or the sale price at the trustee‘s sale, whichever is higher. A written application for determination of the fair market value of the real property may be filed by a judgment debtor with the court in the action for a deficiency judgment or in any other action on the contract which has been maintained. Notice of the filing of an application and the hearing shall be given to all parties to the action. The fair market value shall be determined by the court at a priority hearing upon such evidence as the court may allow. The court shall issue an order crediting the amount due on the judgment with the greater of the sales price or the fair market value of the real property. For the purposes of this subsection, "fair market value" means the most probable price, as of the date of the execution sale, in cash, or in terms equivalent to cash, or in other precisely revealed terms, after deduction of prior liens and encumbrances with interest to the date of sale, for which the real property or interest therein would sell after reasonable exposure in the market under conditions requisite to fair sale, with the buyer and seller each acting prudently, knowledgeably and for self-interest, and assuming that neither is under duress. Any deficiency judgment recovered shall include interest on the amount of the deficiency from the date of the sale at the rate provided in the deed of trust or in any of the contracts evidencing the debt, together with any costs and disbursements of the action.

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Terms Used In Arizona Laws 33-814

  • Action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Beneficiary: means the person named or otherwise designated in a trust deed as the person for whose benefit a trust deed is given, or the person's successor in interest. See Arizona Laws 33-801
  • Cash: means United States currency. See Arizona Laws 33-801
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Contract: means a promise or a set of promises for the breach of which the law gives a remedy, or the performance of which the law in some way recognizes as a duty, including but not limited to a note, a promissory note or provisions of any trust deed. See Arizona Laws 33-801
  • Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
  • deed of trust: means a deed executed in conformity with this chapter and conveying trust property to a trustee or trustees qualified under section 33-803 to secure the performance of a contract or contracts, other than a trust deed which encumbers in whole or in part trust property located in Arizona and in one or more other states. See Arizona Laws 33-801
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
  • Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
  • Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. Source: OCC
  • including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • Person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Property: includes both real and personal property. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Trust property: means any legal, equitable, leasehold or other interest in real property which is capable of being transferred, whether or not it is subject to any prior mortgages, trust deeds, contracts for conveyance of real property or other liens or encumbrances. See Arizona Laws 33-801
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Trustee: means an individual, association or corporation qualified pursuant to section 33-803, or the successor in interest thereto, to whom trust property is conveyed by trust deed. See Arizona Laws 33-801
  • Trustor: The person who makes or creates a trust. Also known as the grantor or settlor.
  • Trustor: means the person conveying trust property by a trust deed as security for the performance of a contract or contracts, or the successor in interest of such person. See Arizona Laws 33-801

B. If a trustee‘s sale is a sale of less than all of the trust property or is a sale pursuant to one of two or more trust deeds securing the same obligation, the ninety day time limitations of subsection A of this section shall begin on either the date of the trustee’s sale of the last of the trust property to be sold or the date of sale under the last trust deed securing the obligation, whichever occurs last.

C. The obligation of a person who is not a trustor to pay, satisfy or purchase all or a part of the balance due on a contract secured by a trust deed may be enforced, if the person has so agreed, in an action regardless of whether a trustee’s sale is held. If, however, a trustee’s sale is held, the liability of a person who is not a trustor for the deficiency is determined pursuant to subsection A of this section and any judgment for the deficiency against the person shall be reduced in accordance with subsection A of this section. If any such action is commenced after a trustee’s sale has been held, it is subject, in addition, to the ninety day time limitations of subsections A and B of this section.

D. If no action is maintained for a deficiency judgment within the time period prescribed in subsections A and B of this section, the proceeds of the sale, regardless of amount, shall be deemed to be in full satisfaction of the obligation and no right to recover a deficiency in any action shall exist.

E. Except as provided in subsection F of this section, the provisions of this chapter do not preclude a beneficiary from foreclosing a deed of trust in the same manner as a real property mortgage. In an action for the foreclosure of a deed of trust as a real property mortgage the provisions of chapter 6, article 2 of this title are applicable.

F. A deed of trust may, by express language, validly prohibit the recovery of any balance due after trust property is sold pursuant to the trustee’s power of sale, or the trust deed is foreclosed in the manner provided by law for the foreclosure of mortgages on real property.

G. If trust property of two and one-half acres or less which is limited to and utilized for either a single one-family or a single two-family dwelling is sold pursuant to the trustee’s power of sale, no action may be maintained to recover any difference between the amount obtained by sale and the amount of the indebtedness and any interest, costs and expenses.

H. For deeds of trust that are originated after December 31, 2014, subsection G of this section does not apply to trust property as follows:

1. Trust property owned by a person who is engaged in the business of constructing and selling dwellings that was acquired by the person in the course of that business and that is subject to a deed of trust given to secure payment of a loan for construction of a dwelling on the property for sale to another person.

2. Trust property that contains a dwelling that was never substantially completed.

3. Trust property that contains a dwelling that is intended to be utilized as a dwelling but that is never actually utilized as a dwelling.

I. For the purposes of this section, a dwelling is substantially completed if either of the following occurs:

1. Final inspection is completed, if required by the governmental body that issued the building permit for the dwelling.

2. If a final inspection is not required by the governmental body that issued the building permit, the dwelling has been completed in all material respects as prescribed in the applicable ordinances and regulations of the governmental body that issued the building permit for the dwelling.

 

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