A Deed Of Trust Is Not A Mortgage.

Civil Code §2932.5 states:  “Where a power to sell real property is given to a mortgagee . . .[t]he power of sale may be exercised by the assignee if the assignment is duly acknowledged and recorded.”  Here a deed of trust was assigned but not recorded, and the homeowner lost in the trial court.  Despite rumblings in federal courts about applying 2932.5 to deeds of trust as well as mortgages, a Court of Appeal held firm:  “We are cognizant that there continues to be a controversy among the various federal courts concerning whether section 2932.5’s limitation to mortgages continues to be viable given the similarities between mortgages and deeds of trusts.  The issue is one that the Legislature may wish to consider.”  Haynes v. EMC Mortgage Corporation  (Cal. App. First Dist., Div. 4;  April 24, 2012) 205 Cal.App.4th 329.