Section 231. Sale; notice of; when and how conducted

1. A sale of real
  property made in pursuance of a judgment affecting the title to, or  the
  possession,  enjoyment  or  use  of,  real  property, shall be at public
  auction to the highest bidder.
    2. (a) Notice of such sale shall be given by the officer making it  by
  publishing  a  notice  of  the  time and place of the sale, containing a
  description of the property to be sold, in a newspaper published in  the
  county  in  which  the  property  is located, or, if there is none, in a
  newspaper published in an  adjoining  county,  unless  the  property  is
  situated  wholly  or  partly in a city, or in an incorporated village in
  which a daily, semi-weekly or tri-weekly newspaper is published, and, in
  that case, by publishing notice of the sale in such a daily, semi-weekly
  or tri-weekly paper, except that where such real property is located  in
  a  county  within  the  city  of New York such publication shall be in a
  daily newspaper published within such  county,  or  in  a  weekly  paper
  published  in a city or in such incorporated village. If the property be
  situated in a city, or a village in  which  no  newspaper  is  published
  daily,  semi-weekly  or  tri-weekly,  and  there be an adjoining city or
  village in  the  same  or  another  county,  in  which  a  newspaper  is
  published,   daily,  semi-weekly  or  tri-weekly,  such  notice  may  be
  published in such daily, semi-weekly  or  tri-weekly  newspaper  of  the
  latter  city  or  village or in a weekly newspaper of such city. In each
  case, publication may be either once in each week  for  four  successive
  weeks  or  at  least  twice  in  each  week  for  three successive weeks
  perceding the original date fixed for the sale. If  the  publication  is
  for  three  weeks, such sale shall take place on any day on or after the
  twenty-first day and on or before the twenty-eighth day after the day of
  the first publication; and if the publication is  for  four  weeks  such
  sale  shall  take place on any day on or after the twenty-eighth day and
  on  or  before  the  thirty-fifth  day  after  the  day  of  the   first
  publication.    Any  period  of seven successive days shall constitute a
  week under this section.
    (b) Where the property  is  situated  wholly  outside  a  city  or  an
  incorporated   village   referred   to   in  subparagraph  (a)  of  this
  subdivision, notice of such sale shall also be given by posting  a  copy
  of  the notice of sale at least twenty-eight days preceding the original
  date fixed for the sale in three public places in the town in which  the
  property  is  located, and, if the sale is to be held in another town or
  in a city, in three public places therein.
    3. If the officer appointed to make such sale does not appear  at  the
  time  and  place  where such sale has been advertised to take place, the
  attorney for the plaintiff may postpone or  adjourn  such  sale  not  to
  exceed  four weeks, during which time such attorney may make application
  to the court to have another person appointed to make such sale.  Notice
  of postponement of the sale shall be posted at least three days prior to
  the postponed date in the same places as the  original  notice  of  sale
  when  posting  of the notice of sale is required, and shall be published
  once at least three days prior to the postponed date in the newspaper in
  which the notice of sale was originally published.
    4. The terms of the sale shall be made known at the sale, and  if  the
  property  or  any  part  thereof  is  to be sold subject to the right of
  dower, charge or lien, that fact shall be declared at the  time  of  the
  sale.
    5.  If  the property consists of two or more distinct buildings, farms
  or lots, they shall be sold separately, unless otherwise ordered by  the
  court;  but  where  two  or more buildings are situated in the same city
  lot, they shall be sold together.

    6. At any time within one year after the sale, but not thereafter, the
  court, upon such terms as may be  just,  may  set  the  sale  aside  for
  failure  to comply with the provisions of this section as to the notice,
  time or manner of such sale if  a  substantial  right  of  a  party  was
  prejudiced by the defect.