Residential

  • June 17, 2024

    Fla. Condo Board Says Group Wrongly Accused It Of Crimes

    A Florida condominium association has brought a Miami-Dade County state court lawsuit against a residents group over defamation, accusing the group of luring tenants into a WhatsApp chat to disseminate false statements, including that board members committed crimes.

  • June 17, 2024

    Pastor Tied To NYC Mayor Gets 9 Years For Fraud Conviction

    A clergyman and self-described mentee of New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Monday was sentenced to nine years in federal prison following his conviction at trial for a series of fraudulent real estate and business loans, among other misdeeds.

  • June 17, 2024

    PennyMac 'Shocked' Investors With Post-Libor Fix, Suit Says

    PennyMac's mortgage investment arm has been hit in California federal court with a proposed class action accusing it of using last year's discontinuation of Libor to unfairly and unlawfully lock in a lower dividend for some of its preferred stock, stiffing investors out of millions.

  • June 17, 2024

    Wash. Property Manager Hit With Suit Over Extra Fee

    A proposed class of former tenants accused a Bellevue, Washington, property management company of violating state law by charging a $100 security deposit disposition fee when tenants move out.

  • June 17, 2024

    HUD Freed From Pa. Pot Patients' Suit Over Housing Rebuff

    Unless the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development fulfills its threat to withhold a Pennsylvania county housing agency's funding for complying with a state court order to admit licensed medical marijuana patients, a lawsuit by the county agency and two potential tenants is premature, a federal judge ruled Monday.

  • June 17, 2024

    Ginnie Mae, HUD Want Bank's Loan Lien Suit Sent To Dallas

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Ginnie Mae pushed for the transfer of Texas Capital Bank's suit in Texas federal court over a vacated loan lien, arguing that the bank is contractually required to file its suit in a different division within the same district.

  • June 17, 2024

    Consulting Firms To Pay $11.3M Over Rent Help Site Breach

    A consulting firm and its subcontractor have agreed to pay $11.3 million to resolve a False Claims Act suit alleging that they allowed the personal data of low-income New Yorkers to be compromised while operating a pandemic-era rental assistance program website.

  • June 17, 2024

    Archer Daniels Wants Groundwater Wells Suit Tossed

    Archer Daniels Midland Co. urged an Illinois state court to dismiss a proposed class action that accuses the food processing giant of damaging local properties by digging groundwater wells.

  • June 17, 2024

    RI Allows Unrestricted Property Tax Rates In Providence

    Rhode Island is authorizing the city of Providence to adopt a classification system that allows unrestricted tax rates for residential, commercial, industrial and tangible personal property under bills that became law without the governor's signature.

  • June 17, 2024

    NJ Tax Court Upholds Town's $1M Valuation Of Residence

    The New Jersey Tax Court affirmed the township of Montclair's roughly $1 million valuation of a single-family residence, saying the homeowners failed to account for differences in other properties that they argued warranted cutting the assessment.

  • June 14, 2024

    Property Plays: Net Lease REIT, Vornado, Citadel

    Property Plays is a weekly roundup of the latest loans, leases, sales and projects around the country. Send your tips — all confidential — to realestate@law360.com.

  • June 14, 2024

    Zillow Settles Antitrust Case Against ShowingTime Rival

    Zillow has reached a settlement ending its case in Arizona federal court accusing a pair of multiple listing services of blocking members from using its ShowingTime tool in order to protect a rival tool that allows real estate agents and others to manage property showings.

  • June 14, 2024

    Colo. Town Says It Took Resort Co.'s Land To Protect Sheep

    A Colorado town has told a state appeals court it was justified in condemning and taking over local land that was owned by The Vail Corp. because the town needed to preserve wildlife space for a bighorn sheep herd.

  • June 14, 2024

    Miami Tower Takes $668M In Fla.'s Biggest Construction Loan

    Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP and Saul Ewing LLP advised developer Property Markets Group on taking out a $668 million construction loan — the largest in state history — for its Waldorf Astoria Hotel and Residences Miami.

  • June 14, 2024

    Political Speech Groups Challenge NJ Judicial Privacy Case

    Two voting-integrity groups moved Friday to dismiss federal claims brought against them under New Jersey's Daniel's Law on the grounds that their business of publishing voter registration information is political speech protected by the First Amendment and federal voting rights laws.

  • June 14, 2024

    Polsinelli Adds Ex-Withers Real Estate Atty In NY

    Polsinelli PC has hired a commercial real estate attorney from Withers as a shareholder in New York.

  • June 13, 2024

    CRE Expert Joins Emmet Marvin's Real Estate Finance Group

    Emmet Marvin & Martin LLP announced that the firm has added a partner to its real estate finance group, bringing with her the commercial real estate expertise she gained from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP.

  • June 13, 2024

    NexPoint Asks Investors To Shake Up REIT After Ponzi Case

    In a letter to shareholders June 13, an investor accused four incumbent trustees of repeatedly acting against their fiduciary duties in overseeing United Development Funding, a Texas-based firm controlled by four executives now serving time for running a Ponzi scheme.

  • June 13, 2024

    Mich. Bill Seeks Income Tax Credit For Home Down Payments

    Michigan would create an income tax credit for homebuyers who purchase a single-family residence that would equal a portion of the down payment amount as part of a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.

  • June 13, 2024

    Fla. Developer Inks $50M Capital Stack for Affordable Complex

    Developer and construction company Pinnacle announced that it has secured $49.9 million in financing from various sources, which will allow the company to begin construction on a 120-unit expansion of an affordable housing community in unincorporated Miami-Dade County.

  • June 13, 2024

    Blackstone's $10B AIR Buy Gets Nod From Top 2 Proxy Firms

    Denver-based Apartment Income REIT Corp.'s shareholders have recommendations from the two leading proxy advisory firms to approve an agreement to sell off the real estate investment trust to private equity giant Blackstone for $10 billion, the company announced June 13. 

  • June 13, 2024

    Thompson Thrift Closes $250M Multifamily Development Fund

    Thompson Thrift announced that the national real estate firm raised more than $250 million for its latest multifamily development fund, which will enable work on seven housing communities in suburban markets across the nation.

  • June 13, 2024

    Ohio Senate OKs Requiring Tax Payments For Property Splits

    Ohio would require delinquent property taxes to be paid before a real parcel was subdivided or transferred and would prohibit tax-delinquent property owners from buying tax-foreclosed property under a bill passed by the state Senate.

  • June 13, 2024

    NYC Real Estate Week In Review

    Willkie, Latham and Milbank were among the law firms that handled the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, a period that saw three deals north of $100 million hit records.

  • June 12, 2024

    NY Court Axes Landlords' Challenge To Rent Law Tweak

    A New York federal judge dismissed landlords' suit challenging a December law that raised the stakes for property owners that fail to cooperate with municipalities attempting to enact rent stabilization, finding again that their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment claims fall short.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • How 3D Printing And Prefab Are Changing Construction

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    The growing popularity of trends like 3D printing technology and prefabrication in the construction industry have positive ramifications ranging from reducing risks at project sites to streamlining construction schedules, say Josephine Bahn and Jeffery Mullen at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Wave Of Final Rules Reflects Race Against CRA Deadline

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    The flurry of final rules now leaping off the Federal Register press — some of which will affect entire industries and millions of Americans — shows President Joe Biden's determination to protect his regulatory legacy from reversal by the next Congress, given the impending statutory look-back period under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • A Deep Dive Into High Court's Permit Fee Ruling

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    David Robinson and Daniel Golub at Holland & Knight explore the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling that a local traffic impact fee charged to a California property owner may be a Fifth Amendment taking — and where it leaves localities and real estate developers.

  • The Case For Overturning Florida Foreclosure Ruling

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    A Florida appellate court's recent decision in Desbrunes v. U.S. Bank National Association will potentially put foreclosure cases across the state in jeopardy, and unless it is reconsidered, foreclosing plaintiffs will need to choose between frustrating and uncertain options in the new legal landscape, say Sara Accardi and Paige Knight at Bradley.