## Facts

- Hamilton sold residential real property to the Carpenters for $12,500; $7,500 was financed by a note secured by a recorded deed of trust.
- After the deed of trust was recorded, the Carpenters recorded a declaration of homestead on the property.
- The Carpenters defaulted; Hamilton pursued judicial foreclosure under California procedure.
- A foreclosure judgment was entered and later affirmed on appeal.
- At the commissioner’s foreclosure sale, Hamilton purchased the property and received a recorded certificate of sale.
- The Carpenters remained in possession during the one-year statutory redemption period but did not redeem.
- After the redemption period expired, a commissioner’s deed issued and was recorded; Hamilton obtained possession through a writ of assistance.
- The Carpenters made multiple unsuccessful attempts to set aside the judgment and sale, then filed this action to quiet title.
- Hamilton cross-complained for title and for the reasonable rental value of the Carpenters’ occupancy during the redemption year.
- The trial court quieted title in Hamilton and awarded Hamilton $1,300 as reasonable rental value for the redemption period, with interest from the end of the redemption period.

## Issues

1. Whether the Carpenters could relitigate and defeat Hamilton’s title in a quiet title action after prior appellate affirmances of the foreclosure judgment and the sale proceedings.
2. Whether a homestead declaration recorded after a deed of trust can defeat the deed of trust lien or the purchaser’s title obtained through foreclosure.
3. Whether the foreclosure-sale purchaser may recover the reasonable rental value (use and occupation) of the property from the judgment debtors who remain in possession during the statutory redemption period.

## Decision

- The judgment was affirmed.
- Title was properly quieted in Hamilton based on the foreclosure judgment, sale, and commissioner’s deed, and the Carpenters’ renewed attacks on those proceedings were rejected.
- The Carpenters’ homestead, recorded after the deed of trust, did not impair Hamilton’s lien or the title acquired through foreclosure.
- The $1,300 award for reasonable rental value during the one-year redemption period, with interest from the end of that period, was upheld.

## Legal Principles

- A declaration of homestead recorded after a deed of trust is subordinate to the previously recorded lien and does not bar foreclosure or defeat the foreclosure purchaser’s title.
- Once foreclosure validity and sale proceedings have been finally adjudicated, later attempts to undo them through new actions, including quiet title suits, are barred.
- A purchaser at a judicial foreclosure sale may recover the reasonable value of the judgment debtor’s use and occupation of the property during the statutory redemption period when the debtor remains in possession without redeeming.

## Conclusion

The court confirmed that a later-recorded homestead does not defeat a prior deed of trust and that, after a judicial foreclosure sale, the purchaser may recover reasonable rental value for the debtor’s continued occupancy during the redemption period; the foreclosure purchaser’s title, once finally upheld, cannot be relitigated through a subsequent quiet title action.


Carpenter v. Hamilton, 24 Cal. 2d 95 (Cal. 1944)