Your foreclosure settlement conference
New York requires a court-supervised settlement conference in residential foreclosure cases. It is a negotiation with a court officer present, not a trial, and both sides have to take it seriously.
Held within 60 days of proof of service being filed
Both parties must negotiate in good faith
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A required conversation,
on the record.
Most people expect a courtroom and a decision. A settlement conference is neither. It is a scheduled meeting whose purpose is to find out whether the case can be resolved without a sale.
New York law requires the court to hold one in a residential foreclosure case, and a court rule sets out how it is run. A judge or a court attorney referee presides. The lender sends someone with authority to settle. You can attend with an attorney, or without one.
What gets discussed is practical: loan modifications, repayment arrangements, short sales, a deed in lieu, and any other loss-mitigation option that might let you avoid losing the home. Nothing is decided by force of argument. The point is to see whether an agreement exists.
It is not a pause button
A scheduled conference does not stop the rest of the case or extend your deadline to answer the complaint.
How it works
Before, during and after.
Conferences are often adjourned and repeated over months while a loss-mitigation review runs. Knowing the shape of it makes the delay less alarming.
- 01
The conference is scheduled
The court must hold it within 60 days after the lender files proof of service with the county clerk, or on a later date the parties agree to. You will be notified of the date.
Required by CPLR rule 3408
- 02
You bring your paperwork
Financial documents are the currency of these conferences. An incomplete package is the most common reason a case sits still for months.
Income, expenses, hardship, the loan file
- 03
The case is resolved or released
If an agreement is reached, the case can end on those terms. If not, the case is released from the conference part and continues as ordinary litigation.
Adjournments in between are normal
In detail
What good faith means here.
The good-faith requirement is the part of this rule with teeth, and it is the part homeowners most often do not know about.
Both sides have to negotiate in good faith
New York law puts the duty on both parties, not just the homeowner. A court can impose sanctions where a party fails to meet it, and compliance is judged on the totality of the circumstances rather than any single act.
In practice, complaints about lender conduct at conferences tend to involve repeatedly losing a document package, moving the goalposts on what is required, or sending someone with no authority to agree to anything. Whether any of that rises to bad faith in a given case is for the court, but it is a reason to keep a written record of what you sent and when.
What to bring
Bring more than you think you need, and bring copies.
- Proof of current income for everyone contributing to the household
- Recent tax returns and bank statements
- A monthly budget of what comes in and what goes out
- A short written explanation of the hardship and whether it has ended
- Your mortgage statements and any correspondence with the servicer
- The summons and complaint, and any notices you received before them
What happens if you do not attend
Not appearing does not help you. The case can be released from the conference part and proceed as ordinary litigation, which means the protections and the attention that come with the conference stop applying.
If you cannot make the date, contact the court in advance rather than simply missing it.
Do you need a lawyer for it?
You are allowed to attend without one. Many homeowners do. The lender will not be unrepresented, and the questions that decide these conferences are technical: whether an application is complete, whether a denial was properly explained, whether the numbers the servicer is using are right.
An attorney can also spot problems in the underlying case, such as a defective pre-foreclosure notice, that a conference alone would never surface.
What the conference cannot do
A court cannot order a lender to modify a loan. Only the lender or servicer can approve one. The conference creates a supervised forum and a duty to bargain in good faith; it does not create an entitlement to a particular outcome.
Anyone promising you a modification because a conference is scheduled is promising something they do not control.
This page describes general New York foreclosure procedure. It is not legal advice, and procedure has exceptions, county practice and case law that no general page can apply to an individual situation. NewYorkForeclosureHelp.com is not a law firm, a lender, or a government agency. If a deadline, court date, or sale date is approaching, speak with an attorney promptly.
Common questions
About the settlement conference.
Is this a court hearing?
It is a court-supervised settlement conference rather than a hearing on the merits. A judge or court attorney referee presides, but the purpose is to explore a resolution, not to decide who wins.
When does it happen?
The court must hold it within 60 days after the lender files proof of service on you with the county clerk, or on a later date the parties agree to.
Does the conference pause my case?
No. It does not extend your deadline to answer the complaint. Those run separately, which is why the answer deadline should be handled on its own.
How many conferences will there be?
Often several. Cases are commonly adjourned while a loss-mitigation application is submitted, reviewed, and sometimes resubmitted. That can take months and is not by itself a sign anything is wrong.
What if the servicer keeps losing my documents?
Keep a dated record of everything you send and how you sent it. Both parties owe a duty to negotiate in good faith, and a court can consider a pattern of conduct. Raising it is much easier with a paper trail.
Statutes and sources behind this guide
- F17: CPLR Rule 3408 requires the court to hold a mandatory settlement conference in a residential foreclosure action within **60 days** after proof of service on the defendant is filed with the county clerk, or on an adjourned date agreed by the parties. (CPLR R. 3408), read 2026-09-09
- F18: Both parties must negotiate in good faith; the court may impose sanctions for failure to do so, measured by the totality of the circumstances. (CPLR R. 3408; as above), read 2026-09-09
- F19: The conference covers loan modifications, short sales, deeds in lieu of foreclosure and other loss-mitigation options, and whether a resolution can be reached that lets the defendant avoid losing the home. (CPLR R. 3408), read 2026-09-09
- F20: Court rule 22 NYCRR § 202.12-a governs the conduct of the residential foreclosure settlement conference., read 2026-09-09
- F31: Only the lender or servicer can approve a loan modification. No attorney can promise one. (Strategy blueprint (positioning); `app/src/lib/legal.ts`), read 2026-09-09
Statutory claims on this page were checked against published New York law and court guidance on 2026-09-09 and are recorded, fact by fact, in the site's evidence file. Statutes change; the date is the date of the check.
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