<p class="main-head"><b>ASSIGNMENT OF LEASES AND RENT</B></p>
<p class="sub-main">    
		Must a Collateral Assignment of Leases and Rents recorded along with a 
		mortgage be separately discharged where the mortgage itself has been 
		discharged?&nbsp; No, according to Eno and Hovey, <I>Massachusetts 
		Practice - Real Estate Law with Forms, </I>West Publishing Co., (Third 
		Edition, 1995), &#167;9.17.&nbsp; The assignment is merely additional 
		security for a mortgage and is automatically discharged upon the 
		discharge of the mortgage.<br /><br />
		The rationale for a Collateral Assignment of Leases and Rents with regard to the rights and 
		ability of a mortgagee to collect rents in the event of a default under 
		the mortgage is discussed in the case of <I>HRPT Advisors, Inc. v. 
		Macdonald, Levine, Jenkins &amp; Co., PC., </I>43 Mass.AppCt. 613, 686 
		N.E.2d 203 (1997).<br /><br />
		In Massachusetts the rule is that entry by a mortgagee in possession and assertion of title&nbsp; 
		under a mortgage granted prior to a lease, ousts the tenant and 
		terminates the lease.&nbsp; There is no privity of contract between the 
		tenant and the mortgagee.&nbsp; The mortgagee has superior possessory 
		rights with respect to those of the tenant following the landlord&#39;s 
		default.<br /><br />
		The mortgagee may either terminate the leases and lost its right to rents or 
		demand that the tenant remit rents to mortgagee pursuant to this 
		assignment. 
        </p>