The court found the "statute procedurally defective in that the mortgagee was given no opportunity to be heard and could not even question the amount of the lien placed ahead of his mortgage. Compelled to “sit idly by” while the value of his lien was being diminished, the mortgagee, the court took pains to point out, “ is given no opportunity for a hearing and cannot question the reasonableness or the amount of the expense [incurred for repairs]. * * * The result of this procedure is that the [mortgagees] pay for all the improvements and alterations without having been given their day in court or afforded any hearing ” (279 N. Y., at p. 277).
The 1962 amendatory act fully remedied the procedural deficiencies remarked in the Central Sav. Bank case. As tile statute now reads, it provides that the receiver’s lien shall have priority over an existing mortgage only if the mortgagee is given notice of the Buildings Department’s order directing removal of the nuisance as well as notice of the department’s application for the appointment of a receiver. Instead of being relegated to the sidelines, to “ sit idly by”, the mortgagee has an opportunity to participate in the proceedings from beginning to end. More specifically, not only does he have the right to enforce his lien by an action to foreclose his mortgage but he has the opportunity of contesting the department’s charge that a nuisance exists; and, if that issue is found against him, he may either do the required work himself—securing a lien against the rents — or, after the work is performed by the receiver, reimburse the latter for his expenditures and obtain an assignment of his lien. Finally, the mortgagee may, when the receiver renders his account to the court, question the reasonableness of the expenses incurred by h