2A:50-22. Action against person assuming payment of mortgage debt

No action to enforce an agreement, express or implied, to assume or guarantee the payment of any mortgage, or of any bond or note secured by a mortgage, shall be maintained against a person making such agreement unless the mortgage shall have been first foreclosed, or extinguished by the foreclosure of a prior mortgage or lien, provided no such action may be maintained unless:

a. The person making such agreement was made a party defendant in the foreclosure action, and

b. The action is commenced within 3 months from the date of sale, or if confirmation was or is required, from the date of the confirmation of the sale of the mortgaged premises, in the foreclosure action or in the case of the extinguishment of the mortgage lien by the foreclosure of a prior mortgage or lien, then within 12 months from the date of such extinguishment, and

c. A notice of intention to bring the action, is filed in the office of the register or the clerk as the case may be, of the county wherein the mortgaged premises are located, before the commencement of the action, and

d. The plaintiff shall in his complaint offer to credit upon the indebtedness the fair market value, which shall be specified, of the mortgaged premises as of the date of the sale in the foreclosure suit, in any case where the plaintiff was the purchaser of the mortgaged premises at such sale, and in such case the defendant may contest, in the action, the amount of such fair market value; and

e. The plaintiff shall join in the action any and all persons within the jurisdiction of the State of New Jersey alleged to be liable upon the note or as obligors upon the bond and upon any other agreement of assumption of payment of the same note or bond, express or implied, and upon any and all agreements or covenants to pay the same note or bond, or any moneys alleged to be due thereon, as principal, guarantor, surety or otherwise, whether such persons are alleged to be liable directly, indirectly, jointly, severally, or in the alternative.

L.1951 (1st SS), c.344; amended by L.1979, c. 286, s. 10.