S-4023.1  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 6633

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      56th Legislature     2000 Regular Session

By Senators McCaslin and Winsley

Read first time 01/21/2000.  Referred to Committee on Commerce, Trade, Housing & Financial Institutions.

Reconveying mortgages and deeds of trust.

    AN ACT Relating to reconveying mortgages and deeds of trust; and amending RCW 61.16.020, 61.16.030, and 61.24.110.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

    Sec. 1.  RCW 61.16.020 and 1995 c 62 s 14 are each amended to read as follows:

    Whenever the amount due on any mortgage is paid, the mortgagee or the mortgagee's legal representatives or assigns shall, ((at the request of any person interested in the property mortgaged)) within sixty days, execute an instrument in writing referring to the mortgage by the volume and page of the record or otherwise sufficiently describing it and acknowledging satisfaction in full thereof.  ((Said)) The instrument shall be duly acknowledged, and ((upon request)) shall be recorded in the county wherein the mortgaged property is situated.  Every instrument of writing ((heretofore)) recorded before the effective date of this act and purporting to be a satisfaction of mortgage, which sufficiently describes the mortgage which it purports to satisfy so that the same may be readily identified, and which has been duly acknowledged before an officer authorized by law to take acknowledgments or oaths, is hereby declared legal and valid, and a certified copy of the record thereof is hereby constituted prima facie evidence of such satisfaction.

    Sec. 2.  RCW 61.16.030 and 1999 c 233 s 8 are each amended to read as follows:

    If the mortgagee fails to acknowledge satisfaction of the mortgage as provided in RCW 61.16.020 sixty days from the date ((of such request or demand)) paid, the mortgagee shall forfeit and pay to the mortgagor damages and a reasonable attorneys' fee, to be recovered in any court having competent jurisdiction, and ((said)) the court, when convinced that ((said)) the mortgage has been fully satisfied, shall issue an order in writing, directing the auditor to immediately record the order.

    Sec. 3.  RCW 61.24.110 and 1998 c 295 s 13 are each amended to read as follows:

    The trustee shall reconvey all or any part of the property encumbered by the deed of trust to the person entitled thereto ((on written request of the beneficiary, or upon)) within sixty days of satisfaction of the obligation secured ((and written request for reconveyance made by the beneficiary or the person entitled thereto)).  The reconveyance shall be recorded in the county where the property is located.

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