Residential
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May 05, 2025
Mass. Assisted Living Facility Settles Class Suit Over Fees
A Massachusetts assisted living facility has settled claims by a group of low-income, elderly residents that they were charged an illegal "ancillary fee" that depleted much of their monthly allowances.
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May 02, 2025
Miami Rental Property Sellers Want $1.5M Award Reversed
The sellers of a Miami rental property asked the Eleventh Circuit to reverse a $1.5 million judgment against them over the breakdown of a $5.45 million sale of the property, arguing that the buyer failed to prove that it had the money to pay for the property.
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May 02, 2025
Mass. Board Knocks $36K Off Senior Condo's Tax Valuation
A Massachusetts senior condominium unit was overvalued by $36,000, the state Appellate Tax Board ruled in an opinion released Friday, saying the owner's comparable sales analysis showed the property's valuation was inconsistent with the other properties.
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May 02, 2025
NC Public Housing Agency Denies Bias Suit Has Legal Backing
A Charlotte public housing authority and one of its supervisors asked a North Carolina federal judge to rule in their favor ahead of trial over discrimination and retaliation claims brought by one of the authority's former coordinators, arguing the woman's allegations have no legal basis.
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May 02, 2025
Construction Spending Dips In March After Steady Growth
Construction spending in March fell slightly from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2.196 billion, with slightly reduced spending along nearly all the private and public construction subcategories tracked by the U.S. Census Bureau.
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May 02, 2025
Nixon Peabody Appoints Finance, Tax Partner As DC Leader
Nixon Peabody LLP has appointed a more than 20-year veteran of the firm as its Washington, D.C., office managing partner, who focuses his practice on a range of corporate, finance and real estate matters, according to a Thursday announcement.
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May 02, 2025
Reuters Escapes Suit Over NJ Judicial Privacy Law
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging Thomson Reuters violated the New Jersey judicial privacy measure Daniel's Law, finding the plaintiffs failed to properly serve the Canadian organization.
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May 02, 2025
Mass. Board Upholds Home's Valuation Despite Comparables
A Massachusetts homeowner cannot have the value of her home lowered after failing to account for the differences between her home and the comparable sales she provided, the state tax appeals board said in a ruling released Friday.
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May 02, 2025
Goldberg Weprin, Fried Frank Guide $164M Brooklyn Site Sale
Developers Charney Cos. and Tavros, advised by Goldberg Weprin Finkel Goldstein LLP, have bought a fully permitted development site in Brooklyn's Gowanus neighborhood from RFR, led by Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP, for $164 million, the companies said this week.
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May 02, 2025
Houston Multifamily Occupancy Stayed High In Q1
The occupancy rate for Houston multifamily properties stayed at 93.8% in the first quarter of the year, the same as it was last quarter, which is also the highest it's been since 2022, according to a CBRE report.
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May 02, 2025
Trump Proposes Massive Cuts To Federal Housing Assistance
The Trump administration outlined $163 billion in cuts to non-defense government spending next year in a Friday memo from the Office of Management and Budget, including significant cuts to federal rental assistance to shift responsibility for the programs to states.
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May 02, 2025
Community Groups Accept Pause In CTA Litigation
A group of community associations has told the Fourth Circuit they aren't opposed to a government motion to pause litigation over the Corporate Transparency Act, even as they maintained the information disclosure law aimed at small businesses still carries constitutional flaws.
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May 01, 2025
Fla. Condo Wins Noise Dispute With Autistic Man's Family
A Florida appellate panel ruled in favor of a condominium association in a lawsuit over a noise dispute between a family caring for their autistic son and a neighbor, finding no evidence that the family faced discrimination in violation of housing laws.
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May 01, 2025
Fla. Appeals Court Puts Condo Damage Suit To Bed
A Florida state appeals court upheld the dismissal of a condo's Hurricane Irma damage lawsuit against a Florida entity created to handle the claims for insolvent insurers, finding it was time-barred.
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May 01, 2025
Public Fire Model Could Boost Calif. Insurance Oversight
Developing a public wildfire model in California could help provide a transparent benchmark for insurance regulators to better understand fire risk and evaluate rates, but experts warn that challenges remain as the federal government eyes cuts to key climate monitors.
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May 01, 2025
8th Insurer Dismissed In Pulte Coverage Row
Two PulteGroup subsidiaries said Thursday they'll dismiss their property damage coverage claims with prejudice against an insurer over structural issues at a residential development, marking the eighth dismissal of an insurer since the homebuilder first sued a raft of carriers in New Mexico federal court in October 2023.
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May 01, 2025
Hawaii Tenant's Tainted Water Eviction Claims Survive Ruling
A Hawaii federal judge preserved a tenant's claims that he was effectively evicted from his home when a landlord failed to identify or warn of water contamination caused by leaks in 2021 at a U.S. Navy fuel storage facility on Pearl Harbor.
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May 01, 2025
Ballard Spahr Adds Real Estate Ace From Hunton In DC
Ballard Spahr hired ex-Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP attorney Jill S. Parks as a partner for the firm's real estate department and its teams for real estate development and transactions and zoning and land use in its District of Columbia office, the firm announced May 1.
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May 01, 2025
Colo. AG Targets MV Realty's 'Unfair' Homeowner Contracts
The Colorado Attorney General's Office has accused real estate brokerage MV Realty PBC LLC and its Colorado subsidiary of trapping hundreds of local homeowners with "unfair, misleading and deceptive" 40-year brokerage contracts.
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May 01, 2025
States Urge 1st Circ. To Reinstate Federal Housing Grants
A coalition of states urged the First Circuit to reinstate a ruling that had blocked the Trump administration from cutting $30 million in fair housing grants, saying the federal government failed to consider the impact this decision would have on the groups' operations.
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May 01, 2025
Real Estate Lawyers On The Move
Winston & Strawn, Honigman and Stephenson Harwood are among the law firms that have made recent real estate or construction hires.
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April 30, 2025
Multifamily, Lodging Push CMBS Delinquencies Higher In April
Commercial mortgage-backed securities tied to multifamily and lodging drove overall delinquency rates in April back up to heights not seen since early in the COVID-19 pandemic, per an April 30 report from Trepp.
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April 30, 2025
Ill. Developer Gets 6 Years For Role In Bank Embezzlement
A real estate developer has been sentenced to more than six years in prison following his conviction for participating in a multimillion-dollar embezzlement scheme at a now-shuttered bank, federal prosecutors in Chicago announced Wednesday.
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April 30, 2025
Ripe For Revitalization, Owners Transform Class B Malls
Class B malls are the subject of renewed focus as owners and developers add residential, hotel, medical, entertainment, and food and dining uses to properties in an effort to reverse sinking vacancy rates at the decades-old assets.
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April 30, 2025
2 Firms Guide Texas Multifamily Portfolio Buy
Altus Equity Group Inc. said it has partnered up with real estate private equity firm Wellings Capital to acquire a 1,225-unit portfolio of six West Texas apartment communities in a deal guided by Phillips Murrah PC and Beyers Costin Simon.
Expert Analysis
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What CRA Deadline Means For Biden Admin. Rulemaking
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.
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How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers
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.
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2nd Circ. Eminent Domain Ruling Empowers Municipalities
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.
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SEC Should Be Allowed To Equip Investors With Climate Info
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.
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8 Fla. Statutes That Construction Cos. Should Prepare For
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.
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Time To Fix NYC's Broken Property Assessment System
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.
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Understanding The IRC's Excessive Refund Claim Penalty
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.
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Bankruptcy Ruling Shifts Lease Rejection Claim Calculation
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.
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Do Not Overstate Fla. Condo Termination Ruling's Impact
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.
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Takeaways From FDIC's Spring Supervisory Highlights
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.
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What Calif. Eviction Ruling Means For Defaulting Borrowers
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.
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How 3D Printing And Prefab Are Changing Construction
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.
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Wave Of Final Rules Reflects Race Against CRA Deadline
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.