Residential

  • May 13, 2024

    NYC Nonprofits Want Landlords' Housing Courts Suit Tossed

    New York City tenant and immigrant rights nonprofits urged a New York state court to toss a suit from landlords who claim the state's court system handles eviction proceedings so slowly and inefficiently that they're deprived of their property rights.

  • May 13, 2024

    REIT Says Vegas Hotels Win Backs Tossing DC RealPage Suit

    A real estate investment trust seeking out of the D.C. attorney general's rental algorithm price-fixing suit pointed the superior court judge to last week's decision tossing what it said are extremely similar allegations against a group of Las Vegas hotels.

  • May 13, 2024

    Peer Street Ch. 11 Ruling Hinges On Pro Se Creditor's Protest

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge told real estate investment platform Peer Street Inc. on Monday that she would make a final ruling on confirmation of the company's Chapter 11 plan in the coming days, but only after finishing a review of a pro se creditor's complaints about the otherwise consensual wind-down deal.

  • May 13, 2024

    NJ Justices Hold Contract Supersedes Real Estate Wage Law

    The contract a real estate agent signed deeming him an independent contractor is enough to resolve his claims of improper wage deductions, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Monday, saying that a state three-prong test doesn't need to apply.

  • May 13, 2024

    JLL, Multifamily Developer Drop Row Over Procurement Fee

    Jones Lang LaSalle Americas Inc. permanently dropped its Florida federal court suit accusing a multifamily developer of owing it a procurement fee after JLL secured $24 million in financing for a Sunshine State apartment complex.

  • May 13, 2024

    Mass. Tax Board Rejects Plea To Cut Home Valuation

    A Massachusetts homeowner's argument that his property was overvalued because its assessment increased by a higher percentage than those of neighboring properties was rejected by the state's tax appeals board in a decision released Monday.

  • May 13, 2024

    NY Bill Seeks Property Tax Break For Upgrades To Cut Carbon

    New York would create a property tax exemption for capital improvements made to residential property for the purpose of reducing carbon emissions under a bill introduced in the state Assembly.

  • May 13, 2024

    NJ Firm's Former Exec Says Home Purchase Not Tied To Theft

    A previous McElroy Deutsch executive is fighting a claim on her house after her husband, another former firm leader, copped to stealing $1.5 million, arguing his theft began after January 2017 and therefore the firm could not show funds were used to purchase their New Jersey home in 2016.

  • May 13, 2024

    Justices Deny Review Bid From Convicted REIT Execs

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a bid by four incarcerated executives with Texas real estate investment trust United Development Funding to overturn a Fifth Circuit ruling upholding their convictions in a Ponzi scheme.

  • May 13, 2024

    Ex-Pa. City Housing Head Gets 3 Years In Prison For Fraud

    The former head of an economically distressed Pennsylvania city's public housing authority was sentenced Monday to over three years in prison for bilking the agency out of $545,000 through a yearslong scheme of submitting inflated contracting bills for housing repairs to line his own pockets.

  • May 13, 2024

    High Court Won't Take Up Wyo. Wildfire Suit

    The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a suit by survivors of the 2018 Roosevelt wildfire in Wyoming against the U.S. Forest Service over the government's decisions in fighting the fires.

  • May 10, 2024

    Colo. Investor Says Fox Rothschild Atty's Missteps Cost $3M

    One of three investors behind a Colorado development has filed suit against Fox Rothschild LLP and an attorney in state court, alleging that the attorney's failures led the entity to lose upwards of $3 million when a relationship with the fellow investors soured.

  • May 10, 2024

    Solar Co. Stockholders Claim Execs, Board Caused Losses

    SunPower's current and former leadership was accused in a derivative shareholder suit of sending the residential solar power company into a financial tailspin by revising financial statements multiple times and causing the stock value to drop.

  • May 10, 2024

    Ore. Court Drops Tax Value Of Rural Property

    The Oregon Tax Court lowered the real market valuation of a rural property with outbuildings used for storage of a car collection, relying partially on the owner's cost approach to the value.

  • May 10, 2024

    Nationstar Mortgage Wants To Escape 'Junk Fee' Suit

    Nationstar Mortgage LLC has asked a Washington federal judge to toss a proposed class action alleging it illegally charged homeowners a "junk fee" for written payoff quotes, saying the suit's claims fail because expedited payoff fees are not unlawful and do not breach the terms of the relevant loan agreements.

  • May 09, 2024

    Industry Orgs Urge DC Circ. To Ax HUD Disparate Impact Rule

    Several industry associations are backing a D.C. Circuit challenge to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rule governing disparate impact claims under the Fair Housing Act, contending the federal agency exceeded its powers and ignored Supreme Court precedent in issuing the regulation.

  • May 09, 2024

    Making Borrower Contact Ex Was Reasonable, Court Told

    A Connecticut woman's lawsuit accusing her mortgage servicer of forcing her to get in touch with an abusive ex-partner must be dismissed because it doesn't properly state a claim for violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the company told a federal court Thursday.

  • May 09, 2024

    REIT Says Insurers Must Cover Antitrust Conspiracy Claims

    A real estate investment trust accused its insurers of wrongfully denying coverage for an underlying multidistrict litigation alleging that the company was part of an antitrust conspiracy to inflate rents for multifamily housing, telling a Colorado federal court that the MDL falls plainly within multiple coverage parts of its policies.

  • May 09, 2024

    NY Appeals Court Says Parking Garage Is Rent-Stabilized

    A New York state appeals court on Thursday upheld a housing agency's decision finding that a parking garage in a building in the Bronx borough of New York City is rent-stabilized.

  • May 09, 2024

    NY Tribunal Affirms Couple Can't Claim Real Estate Deduction

    A New York couple was correctly denied a real estate deduction on their personal income tax returns because the husband didn't qualify as a real estate professional, the state Tax Appeals Tribunal affirmed in a decision released Thursday.

  • May 09, 2024

    Mass. Tax Board Axes Home's Value Based On Similar Sales

    A Massachusetts home was overvalued, the state Appellate Tax Board ruled, finding evidence of comparable sales presented by the homeowner to be persuasive.

  • May 09, 2024

    Colo. Lawmakers Approve Extended Property Tax Cuts

    Colorado would extend its current temporary property tax rate reductions into 2024 and would lower tax rates for future years under legislation passed by Colorado lawmakers that could save property owners about $1 billion in its first year.

  • May 09, 2024

    Va. Builder's Sand Purchases Found Subject To Sales Tax

    A Virginia homebuilder that purchased dirt and sand must pay sales tax on those purchases because both are tangible personal property, the state's tax commissioner ruled.

  • May 08, 2024

    Fla. Condo Terminations Could Spread, But Won't Be Easy

    A reckoning is approaching for aging condominium buildings across Florida, with state structural inspections and reserve studies mandated after the deadly 2021 Surfside building collapse due at year's end. But although this could present much needed redevelopment opportunities, the path looks as difficult to navigate as ever, experts said at a real estate conference this week in Miami.

  • May 08, 2024

    Execs Weigh In On Housing Trends At DLA Piper Panel

    Why is it so hard to build housing? Blame high interest rates, spiking insurance rates and maybe even some sort of elderberry beetle — according to a group of housing development executives gathered in Chicago this week for DLA Piper's annual real estate conference.

Expert Analysis

  • A Look At New IRS Rules For Domestically Controlled REITs

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    The Internal Revenue Services' finalized Treasury Regulations addressing whether real estate investment trusts qualify as domestically controlled adopt the basic structure of previous proposals, but certain new and modified rules may mitigate the regulations' impact, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • What CRA Deadline Means For Biden Admin. Rulemaking

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    With the 2024 election rapidly approaching, the Biden administration must race to finalize proposed agency actions within the next few weeks, or be exposed to the chance that the following Congress will overturn the rules under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Covington.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

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    Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.

  • 2nd Circ. Eminent Domain Ruling Empowers Municipalities

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, finding that a pretextual taking does not violate the Fifth Amendment's takings clause, gives municipalities a powerful tool with which to block unwanted development projects, even in bad faith, say James O'Connor and Benjamin Sugarman at Phillips Lytle.

  • SEC Should Be Allowed To Equip Investors With Climate Info

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule to require more climate-related disclosures will provide investors with much-needed clarity, despite opponents' attempts to challenge the rule with misused legal arguments, say Sarah Goetz at Democracy Forward and Cynthia Hanawalt at Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change.

  • 8 Fla. Statutes That Construction Cos. Should Prepare For

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    In this article, Jason Lambert at Hill Ward discusses a number of recent bills out of the Florida Legislature targeting construction companies in the Sunshine State that have been sent to the governor for signature, at least some of which will have broad impacts that affected companies should prepare for ahead of the July 1 effective date.

  • Time To Fix NYC's Broken Property Assessment System

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    A New York appellate court's decision to revive Tax Equity Now New York v. City of New York may force the city to revamp its outdated and unfair real estate tax assessment system, which could be fixed with a couple of simple changes, says Seth Feldman at Romer Debbas.

  • Understanding The IRC's Excessive Refund Claim Penalty

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    Taxpayers considering protective refund claims pending resolution of major questions in tax cases like Moore v. U.S., which is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, should understand how doing so may also leave them vulnerable to an excessive refund claim penalty under Internal Revenue Code Section 6676, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Bankruptcy Ruling Shifts Lease Rejection Claim Calculation

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    A New York federal court’s recent ruling in In re: Cortlandt provides guidance on how to calculate a landlord's damages claim when a bankruptcy debtor rejects a lease, changing from an approach that considers the remaining rent due under the lease to one that considers the remaining time, say Bethany Simmons and Noah Weingarten at Loeb & Loeb.

  • Do Not Overstate Fla. Condo Termination Ruling's Impact

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    A close look at the unique language at issue in Avila v. Biscayne, in which a Florida appellate court deemed a condo termination to be invalid, shows that the case is unlikely to significantly affect other potential terminations, say Barry Lapides and Edward Baker at Berger Singerman.

  • Takeaways From FDIC's Spring Supervisory Highlights

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s spring 2024 consumer compliance supervisory report found that relatively few institutions had significant consumer compliance issues last year, but the common thread among those that did were inadequacies or failures in disclosures to consumers, says Matthew Hanaghan at Nutter.

  • Walking With My Dog Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Thanks to my dog Birdie, I've learned that carving out an activity different from the practice of law — like daily outdoor walks that allow you to interact with new people — can contribute to professional success by boosting creativity and mental acuity, as well as expanding your social network, says Sarah Petrie at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

  • What Calif. Eviction Ruling Means For Defaulting Borrowers

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    A California appellate court's recent decision in Homeward Opportunities v. Taptelis found that a defaulting borrower could not delay foreclosure with an improperly served notice of pendency of action, but leaves open a possibility for borrowers to delay eviction proceedings merely by filing lawsuits, say Anne Beehler and Krystal Anderson at Holland & Knight.