Residential
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April 22, 2024
Judge Orders Board Vote For REIT After Ponzi Convictions
An investor plans to nominate trustee candidates at real estate investment trust United Development Funding after a Baltimore judge ordered most board members to face reelection this year, with executives convicted in a Ponzi scheme serving time in federal prison.
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April 22, 2024
High Court Probes Homeless 'Status' In Camping Ban Suit
U.S. Supreme Court justices probed the limits of what might be considered criminalizing status amid oral arguments Monday over whether an Oregon city's law banning camping on public property violates the Eighth Amendment's bar on cruel and unusual punishment.
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April 22, 2024
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Davis Polk and Rosenberg & Estis are among the law firms that handled the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, a period that saw properties for a variety of asset classes — including an office building — trade hands.
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April 19, 2024
Attys Wary Of 'Zero Tolerance' Approach In New PFAS Rule
With Friday's finalization of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule designating two "forever chemicals" as hazardous, the stakes just got higher for real property due diligence work.
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April 19, 2024
Yardi Ordered To Provide Info On Apartment Pricing Algorithm
Real estate management software company Yardi Systems Inc. is going to have to turn over information about who has been using its rent maximizer algorithm to renters who claim that at least 11 property management companies have been using the service to fix rental costs, a federal judge has said.
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April 19, 2024
Fla. Brokerage Firms Face Commission Antitrust Action
A group of Florida brokerages faces a proposed class action accusing them of taking part in a National Association of Realtors system that a Missouri jury in October found inflated the commissions home sellers pay to agents.
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April 19, 2024
How Attys Are Helping DC Residents Keep Family Homes
As homeownership rates among Black residents have fallen in the nation's capital, a new initiative aims to provide legal counsel to people living in homes that were passed down through the generations but don't have clear titles.
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April 19, 2024
Student Housing Co. Founder Claims She Was Pushed Out
A co-founder of a global company formed to provide booking for student housing sued her former colleague in Delaware's Court of Chancery on Friday, alleging a scheme by insiders to push her out of the business and then line up a sale to avoid a judgment after the move's reversal.
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April 19, 2024
Fla. Can't Wage Real Estate War On Foreigners, 11th Circ. Told
A group of Chinese citizens and a brokerage firm urged the Eleventh Circuit on Friday to block Florida from enforcing a law prohibiting certain foreign nationals from owning land while they challenge the statute's constitutionality, saying it's discriminatory and preempted by federal authority.
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April 19, 2024
CORRECTED: Fla. Jury Says AIG Mishandled Claim For Irma Damage
A Florida federal jury on Friday found that AIG mishandled part of the claims process for damage from Hurricane Irma to a $95 million oceanfront mansion near Miami but declined to award punitive damages against the insurer.
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April 19, 2024
Polsinelli Adds Shareholder To Tax Credit Practice In Dallas
An attorney who spent more than a decade developing a niche practice specializing in tax credit financing has moved her practice to Polsinelli PC's Dallas office after five years at Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr PC.
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April 19, 2024
Colo. Panel Nixes Short-Term Rental Tax Boost Plan
A Colorado measure to reclassify properties used for short-term rentals so they would be taxed at a higher rate was rejected by a Senate panel.
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April 19, 2024
Landlord Says Willkie Partner Can't Dodge Arbitration
A Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP partner's former landlord asked a Connecticut state judge to force the attorney and his wife back to arbitration in their lease dispute, arguing that they cannot dodge their binding agreement just because the parties' first-choice mediator walked away.
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April 18, 2024
DLA Piper Reps Fallon Co. On $147M Nashville Area Plan
Nashville, Tennessee, officials have signed off on an agreement with The Fallon Company to redevelop a 30-acre downtown-adjacent site into a neighborhood with 1,500 housing units, surrounding a planned stadium for the Tennessee Titans NFL team.
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April 18, 2024
What 4 Real Estate Leaders Said At NYU's REIT Symposium
The public real estate investment trust sector will bounce back from its current troubles "at some point," said Jon Gray, Blackstone's president. He was not the only company executive who sounded hopeful about the industry's future at New York University's 28th annual REIT symposium.
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April 18, 2024
SL Green Slashes Yet Another NYC Office Loan
SL Green Realty Corp. executives announced yet another deal extinguishing tens of millions of dollars of debt tied to a Manhattan office building, leaving analysts scratching their heads at an earnings call for the second quarter in a row.
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April 18, 2024
Ga. Corp., Personal Income Tax Rates Dropping To 5.39%
Domestic and foreign companies doing business in Georgia will continue to pay the same tax rate as individuals, but both corporate and personal rates will fall, according to a tax package signed Thursday by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
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April 18, 2024
Blackstone, Expecting CRE Rebound, Leans Into Deal-Making
Executives at Blackstone, the world's largest landlord and alternative asset manager, said they see signs that commercial real estate is beginning to bounce back, despite macroeconomic challenges and a shift in how people use offices.
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April 18, 2024
Maui County Sued Over Wildfire Landfill Debris Storage
Maui County has been slapped with a lawsuit in Hawaii federal court alleging it relied on a deficient, 28-year-old environmental impact statement when taking over a nearly 20-acre parcel of land to house debris from last year's massive wildfires, in violation of the Hawaii Environmental Protection Act.
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April 18, 2024
Judge Backs Keller Williams' Exit From 'Shotgun' Claim
A federal magistrate judge recommended releasing Keller Williams Realty from a proposed class action, calling the lawsuit a "shotgun pleading" claiming the broker sought to generate commissions with harassing phone calls to pressure homeowners into selling.
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April 18, 2024
Mich. Treasury Dept. Clarifies Homestead Property Tax Credit
Michigan's Treasury Department clarified when a homestead property tax credit applies to property that is contiguous to a property owner's home.
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April 17, 2024
Hawaii AG Releases Timeline Of Deadly Lahaina Wildfire
Hawaii's attorney general on Wednesday released findings from the first report of a three-part investigation into how state and county governments responded to the wildfires that ignited on the island of Maui last year, decimating the historic town of Lahaina and leaving more than 100 people dead.
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April 17, 2024
Fannie Mae Gets Partial Early Win In $12M Loan Default Row
A Texas federal judge mostly sided with Fannie Mae in its suit over a defaulted $23.26 million multifamily loan, of which the government enterprise claims it's still owed $12.56 million.
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April 17, 2024
States, Biz Groups Back Fight Over DOE Furnace Rules
Eighteen states and several business associations are backing gas utility groups' challenge to the U.S. Department of Energy's tighter energy efficiency standards for furnaces and water heaters, telling the D.C. Circuit that the agency is unlawfully forcing a switch to new appliances.
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April 17, 2024
Okla. Lawmakers OK Use Of Images For Property Inspections
Oklahoma would allow county assessors to inspect property remotely using aerial images taken from airplanes after an initial in-person inspection under a bill passed by the state House of Representatives and headed to the governor.
Expert Analysis
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In The CFPB Playbook: The Bureau In The Courts
From defending the constitutionality of its funding and the scope of its rulemaking authority in the courts to releasing more nonbinding guidance, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had a busy summer. Orrick's John Coleman discusses all this and more in the second installment of quarterly bureau activity recaps by former CFPB personnel.
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Fintech Cos. Should Consider Asset-Based Financing For RE
Fintech companies that own or plan to acquire real property may be able to utilize asset-based financings to access more efficient and cost-effective forms of capital beyond traditional venture capital sources, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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What To Consider When Converting Calif. Offices To Housing
In light of California legislators' recent efforts to expedite the process for converting offices into residential buildings, developers should evaluate both the societal upsides, and the significant economic and legal hurdles, of such conversions, says Steven Otto at Crosbie Gliner.
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How New Lawyers Can Leverage Feedback For Growth
Embracing constructive criticism as a tool for success can help new lawyers accelerate their professional growth and law firms build a culture of continuous improvement, says Katie Aldrich at Fringe Professional Development.
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9 Consumer Finance Issues To Note From CFPB Report
A recent report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau highlights abusive consumer finance tactics that the agency uncovered during supervisory examinations over the last year — among the most significant issues identified: deceptive practices in automotive loan servicing, and consumer reporting and debt collection compliance failures, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Twitter Legal Fees Suit Offers Crash Course In Billing Ethics
X Corp.'s suit alleging that Wachtell grossly inflated its fees in the final days of Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition provides a case study in how firms should protect their reputations by hewing to ethical billing practices and the high standards for professional conduct that govern attorney-client relationships, says Lourdes Fuentes at Karta Legal.
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Transaction Risks In Residential Mortgage M&A Due Diligence
As the residential mortgage market continues to consolidate due to interest rate increases and low housing volume, buyers and sellers should pay attention to a number of compliance considerations ranging from fair lending laws to employee classification, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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Ore. Warranty Ruling Complicates Insurance Classification
The Oregon Court of Appeals' recent TruNorth v. Department of Consumer and Business Services holding that a service contract — commonly referred to as an extended warranty — covering commercial property is subject to the state's consumer service contract laws raises regulatory questions for contract obligors, sellers and administrators, say attorneys at Locke Lord.
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ABA's Money-Laundering Resolution Is A Balancing Act
While the American Bar Association’s recently passed resolution recognizes a lawyer's duty to discontinue representation that could facilitate money laundering and other fraudulent activity, it preserves, at least for now, the delicate balance of judicial, state-based regulation of the legal profession and the sanctity of the attorney-client relationship, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
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FCRA Legislation To Watch For The Remainder Of 2023
If enacted, pending federal and state legislation may result in significant changes for the Fair Credit Reporting Act landscape and thus require regulated entities and practitioners to pivot their compliance strategies, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Regulators Must Get Creative To Keep Groundwater Flowing
Even as populations have boomed in Sun Belt states like Arizona, California and Texas, groundwater levels have diminished due to drought and overuse — so regulators must explore options including pumping limits, groundwater replenishment and wastewater reuse to ensure future supplies for residential and commercial needs, says Jeffrey Davis at Integral Consulting.
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Law Firm Professional Development Steps To Thrive In AI Era
As generative artificial intelligence tools rapidly evolve, professional development leaders are instrumental in preparing law firms for the paradigm shifts ahead, and should consider three strategies to help empower legal talent with the skills required to succeed in an increasingly complex technological landscape, say Steve Gluckman and Anusia Gillespie at SkillBurst Interactive.
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What Upholding Of Short-Term Rental Law Means For NYC
A New York state judge's dismissal of Airbnb's challenge against the Short-Term Rental Registration Law will benefit the city's hospitality industry and exert downward pressure on apartment rents, and potentially provide a model for other local governments around the U.S. to curb short-term apartment rentals, says Alexander Lycoyannis at Holland & Knight.