Residential
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March 26, 2025
NY Court Of Appeals Ices Free Rent Cases, Redefines Fraud
A unanimous decision this month by New York's highest court scrambled landlord attorneys' strategy in pending rent overcharge cases, but also handed their clients a win on whether rent concessions expose landlords to overcharge claims.
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March 26, 2025
Sotomayor Urges Caution On Nondelegation Doctrine Revamp
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor cautioned her colleagues during oral arguments Wednesday against using a challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's administration of a broadband subsidy program as a way to resurrect the long-dormant nondelegation doctrine. Several conservative justices, however, seemed willing to disregard that admonition.
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March 26, 2025
NYC Property Cos. Hit With Security Deposits Class Action
A proposed class of residential tenants accused a property manager and a property owner in New York federal court on Wednesday of violating state law by not placing their security deposits in accounts that would accrue interest and paying security deposits without accrued interest after the tenants moved out.
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March 26, 2025
JP Morgan REIT Buys Sunbelt Housing Projects For $67M
J.P. Morgan Real Estate Income Trust Inc. has bought two residential communities in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Atlanta for a combined $67 million as part of a larger strategy of investing in workforce housing, the company said Wednesday.
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March 26, 2025
Student Housing Dispositions Declined In 2024, Colliers Says
Dispositions of student housing properties mostly decreased among varying types of funds in 2024, according to a Colliers report.
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March 26, 2025
New FinCEN Rule Is 'Game Changer' For Real Estate Investors
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's stopgap rule removing beneficial ownership reporting requirements for U.S. companies significantly lightens the regulatory burden for investors, especially those in the real estate sector, attorneys told Law360 Real Estate Authority.
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March 26, 2025
Greystar Scores Partial Win In Eviction Fee Lawsuit
A Massachusetts federal judge has trimmed some claims from a proposed class action accusing a Greystar entity and a Boston residential building owner of unlawfully charging tenants legal fees related to eviction proceedings.
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March 26, 2025
Resi Buildings Next Up In $500M New Jersey Office Revamp
The Connell Co. unveiled plans on Wednesday for a luxury residential component of a 185-acre, mixed-use campus in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, the latest phase in the owner's $500 million overhaul of an outdated office park.
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March 25, 2025
Home Sellers Oppose DOJ Statement In Mass. Listing Deal
Home sellers that agreed to a $3.95 million settlement with a multiple listing service over its broker commission rules are defending the deal from the U.S. Department of Justice's attacks, telling the Massachusetts federal judge weighing approval that the government has yet to suggest terms it would find acceptable.
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March 25, 2025
Insurers Must Face Heating Oil Buyers' $35M Coverage Suit
Customers who allege they suffered $35 million in damage after purchasing substandard heating oil can continue to seek coverage of underlying litigation, with a Massachusetts federal judge saying Tuesday their case contained enough controversy to deny insurers summary judgment.
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March 25, 2025
Hamilton Lane Buys Major Stake In $74M Multifamily Portfolio
Hamilton Lane Partners purchased an 85% stake in a $74 million portfolio of multifamily properties located in New York City's SoHo and West Village neighborhoods, the investment manager announced Tuesday.
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March 25, 2025
State Farm Beats Suit Alleging Property Loss Undervaluation
A Pennsylvania federal judge on Tuesday tossed a proposed class action brought by homeowners accusing State Farm of limiting compensation by improperly employing a "new construction" setting in software when calculating property damage, finding their policy did not require the insurer to use a specific computation method for loss calculations.
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March 25, 2025
NJ Judge Upholds Mansion Tax On Sale Of Doomed House
A New Jersey company that bought a property for $4.7 million after obtaining approval to demolish an uninhabitable farmhouse on the land and use the property for industrial purposes owes the state's so-called mansion tax on the purchase, the state Tax Court ruled Tuesday.
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March 25, 2025
Judge Orders HUD To Reinstate $30M In Housing Grants
A Massachusetts federal judge temporarily revived $30 million in housing anti-discrimination grants slashed by the Trump administration, explaining that his hands are essentially tied by a First Circuit ruling in a separate case reinstating teacher training grants.
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March 25, 2025
Colo. Atty Gave $2M Mineral Rights To Other Client, Suit Says
The special district for a Colorado residential community has sued its former lawyer and firms White Bear Ankele Tanaka & Waldron PC and Spencer Fane LLP for malpractice, claiming the attorney failed to secure its mineral rights, instead executing a deal that favored one of Spencer Fane's other clients.
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March 25, 2025
Miami Realtors Urge Creativity In Help For Condo Owners
With talk of a Florida condo crisis garnering national headlines and commanding significant attention during the state legislature's annual session, leaders at the Miami Association of Realtors said they hope lawmakers will take a creative approach and look to initiatives Miami-Dade County has pursued to help owners navigate these rough waters.
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March 24, 2025
NC Urges Court To Rule Fla. Realty Co. Duped Homeowners
The North Carolina Attorney General's Office has urged a state business court to find that a Florida real estate company targeted homeowners and tricked them into signing long-term predatory agreements in exchange for small cash advances, saying it is undisputed that the law was broken.
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March 24, 2025
PPR Capital Buys $87M Tenn. Build-To-Rent Community
Private equity real estate investment firm PPR Capital Management and real estate investment firm and developer Center Creek Capital Group collaborated on an $87 million acquisition of a Knoxville, Tennessee, build-to-rent community, PPR announced Monday.
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March 24, 2025
Colo. Tenants Accuse Centerspace Of Neglect, Junk Fees
Tenants at an apartment building in Denver, Colorado, have accused landlord Centerspace LP of neglecting the property, allowing refuse and safety violations to pile up even as it charged residents surprise junk fees, per a suit the landlord removed to Colorado federal court.
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March 24, 2025
NM House Requests Study Of Short-Term Rental Tax Policy
New Mexico's House of Representatives unanimously approved legislation requesting a study on how the state's tax policies and regulatory framework affect short-term rentals.
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March 24, 2025
Texas High Court Revives Developer's Floodplain Takings Suit
The Texas Supreme Court has said a developer can again argue at trial court that Houston's new floodplain system thwarted its planned community and amounted to a regulatory taking, even though the ordinance was a valid exercise of police power.
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March 24, 2025
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Hogan Lovells and Sidley Austin are among the law firms that landed work on the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, a group of transactions that included a pair of nine-figure Manhattan deals.
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March 24, 2025
Comparable Homes Don't Lower Mass. Property's $430K Value
A Massachusetts home will remain valued at $429,500, a state tax panel said in a decision released Monday, rejecting the owner's arguments that the home valuation grew at a higher rate than that of comparable properties.
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March 24, 2025
No Evidence To Lower Home Value, Mass. Panel Says
A Massachusetts panel declined to drop a condominium unit's valuation in a decision released Monday, rejecting the owner's argument that local assessors had increased home valuations in that particular area more than for other homes in the town.
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March 21, 2025
NJ AG Says Landlord Discriminated Against Low-Income Renters
The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights has found probable cause that the owner of a Garden State apartment complex and its leasing agent allegedly discriminated against poor tenants through illegal minimum-income requirements, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced Friday.
Expert Analysis
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New AI Lending Tech Could Exacerbate Old Bias Risks
As credit and mortgage lending businesses increasingly utilize artificial intelligence technology to help make decisions, they must be aware of the legal risks that may arise under familiar anti-discrimination laws, say Kali Bracey and Grace Wallack at Jenner & Block.
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AI Road Ahead Is Promising For Cautious Fintechs
Financial institutions should understand the conceptions and misconceptions about artificial intelligence likely to influence regulators, and proactively study potential adverse impacts and establish use case strategies and other guardrails for deploying AI, say attorneys at Jones Day.
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Why All Eyes Are On Florida's Affordable Housing Reform
Florida's Live Local Act, which took effect last month, promotes much-needed affordable housing developments with a mix of zoning preemption provisions and tax benefits that may attract interest from developers across the nation, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.
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What Came Of Texas Legislature's Long-Promised Tax Relief
Following promises of historic tax relief made possible by a record budget surplus, the Texas legislative session as a whole was one in which taxpayers that are large businesses could have done somewhat better, but the new legislation is clearly still a positive, say attorneys at Baker Botts.
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Looking Behind The Curtain Of Residential Transition Loans
As residential transition loans and securitizations of such loans grow increasingly popular, real estate stakeholders should take care to understand both the unique features and potential challenges offered by this novel asset class, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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Hedging Variable Interest Rates In A Volatile Market
Variable rate loans, which were an advantageous borrowing method prior to the recent Federal Reserve rate hikes and subsequent volatility, are now the difference between borrowers remaining current on their obligations and defaulting due to the sharply increasing debt service requirements of their loans, say attorneys at Cassin & Cassin.
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CRA Plays Role In DOJ Fight Against Redlining
The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent consent order with ESSA Bank & Trust is a reminder that although the Community Reinvestment Act lacks a civil enforcement provision, financial institutions' CRA compliance efforts may have ramifications under various anti-discrimination statutes, say Collin Grier and Levi Swank at Goodwin.
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Colo. Eviction Case Could Transform Tenant Rights
The Colorado Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in a case that could open the door for tenants to assert allegations of discrimination and retaliation during eviction proceedings, and dramatically prolong the state's process, says Jacob Hollars at Spencer Fane.
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Harsh 11th Circ. Rebuke Should Inspire Changes At CFPB
The Eleventh Circuit's recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Brown decision, which found the CFPB's conduct had been egregious in a debt collection enforcement action, should encourage some reflection at the bureau regarding its level of attention to the reasonable due process concerns of regulated institutions, says Eric Mogilnicki at Covington.
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3 Alternatives To CRE Collateralized Loan Obligations
With current commercial real estate market conditions pushing issuers away from collateralized loan obligations, several Freddie Mac offerings should be considered as alternative exit strategies for mortgage loans secured by multifamily properties, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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Fla. Banking Brief: All The Notable Compliance Updates In Q2
Florida financial institutions must now navigate minimum interest rates for attorney trust accounts, restrictions on property sales to prohibited foreigners, and a ban on weighing environmental, social and governance factors to determine a customer's creditworthiness — changes that will add to banks' compliance pressures, says Patricia Hernandez at Avila Rodriguez.
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NY Court Sends Mixed Signals On Contested Foreclosure Law
Although New York's Appellate Division, Second Department, has avoided addressing the constitutionality and retroactive application of the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act, its conflicting pattern of applying FAPA to existing cases is creating confusion regarding the future of the law, say Christopher Gorman and John Muldoon at Abrams Fensterman and litigation support analyst Robert Marx.
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Expect CFPB Scrutiny On AI In Lending
As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau prioritizes regulatory oversight of the financial services industry's use of automated systems and artificial technology, it will need to balance regulation and innovation, and companies should prepare to mitigate any potential for bias or unfair, deceptive or abusive acts and practices, say attorneys at Goodwin.