Madison Properties, Inc., a Corporation v. United States

Appellant seeks to redeem realty purchased by the United States at foreclosure sale following default on an F.H.A. insured mortgage. The District Court ruled that federal law controls, but observed that there are no federal provisions establishing a right to redeem or procedures therefor. It recognized that it was the custom of the U. S. Marshal in the district to follow Washington state law, allowing redemption within a year after foreclosure sale, and that the sale in this case had referred to this custom. It then ruled that the prescribed Washington procedures for redemption within a year had not been followed and that a differing federal rule would in no event be more generous than the state’s. Accordingly redemption was denied. We agree.

It is well established that federal law controls. Clark Investment Co. v. United States, 364 F.2d 7 (9th Cir. 1966). While courts of equity have long recognized an equity of redemption in' a mortgagor prior to foreclosure sale, any right of redemption after the sale is purely statutory. 9 Thompson on Real Property §§ 4822-3 (1958). Since there is no applicable federal statute extending redemption, redemption in this case must depend on…