Residential
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May 15, 2024
Accusations Execs Looted RE Platform To Play Out In NY
Two directors of Fang Holdings Ltd. and their affiliates will have to face claims in New York of orchestrating a scheme to strip the Chinese operator of an online real estate portal of its value for personal gain after the court refuted arguments that the litigation belongs elsewhere.
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May 15, 2024
11th Circ. Judge Doubts Defense Of IRS Easement Notice
An Eleventh Circuit judge was skeptical Wednesday of the government's arguments that the Internal Revenue Service could issue a notice imposing reporting requirements on potentially abusive conservation easements without soliciting public feedback that administrative law requires.
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May 15, 2024
Arizona Judge Revives Opendoor Investors' Securities Suit
An Arizona federal judge has revived a consolidated securities class action accusing real estate company Opendoor Technologies Inc. of misleading investors about the benefits of its pricing algorithm software in order to go public in a reverse merger with a special-purpose acquisition company.
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May 15, 2024
Tenant Screening Co. Hit With Race Bias Complaint
A tenant screening software company racially discriminated against prospective Black residents by providing landlord and property manager users with the option to exclude housing voucher holders, according to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development suit filed by three fair housing rights groups.
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May 15, 2024
Md. Tax Court Affirms Denial Of Credit For Townhouses
A Maryland real estate developer was correctly denied a tax credit for townhouses built in Baltimore, as the credit is limited to certain multifamily buildings, the state tax court ruled.
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May 15, 2024
Colo. Will Extend Property Tax Assessment Rate Cuts
Colorado will extend its current temporary property tax rate reductions into 2024 and will lower tax rates for future years under a bill signed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.
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May 15, 2024
Klobuchar Wants FTC To Make Firms Report Real Estate Buys
It's time for the Federal Trade Commission to require the companies and private equity firms gobbling up residential real estate to report those acquisitions to the agency for antitrust purposes the same way they have to report other big purchases, Sen. Amy Klobuchar said.
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May 15, 2024
Holland & Knight Hospitality Leader Sees Mixed-Use Boom
As hotel companies ride a rebound in travel following occupancy lows in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the hospitality sector is also benefiting from a boom in demand for mixed-use residential and hotel projects, one of Holland & Knight LLP's hospitality leaders told Law360 in a recent interview.
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May 15, 2024
Mortgage Co.'s $2.4M Data Breach Settlement Gets Initial OK
A Connecticut federal judge gave her initial sign-off to a $2.4 million settlement between mortgage firm Planet Home Lending LLC and a consolidated class of customers whose personal data, including their Social Security numbers, was exposed in a cyberattack.
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May 14, 2024
RealPage, Landlords Look To Trim Ariz. Price-Fixing Case
Rental algorithm company RealPage and several landlords have urged an Arizona state court to trim fraud claims from the attorney general's case accusing them of using software to illegally raise rents for hundreds of thousands of renters, and they also asked to limit the time frame for enforcers' antitrust claims.
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May 14, 2024
Keller Williams Freed From Fla. 'Shotgun' Class Action, For Now
A Florida federal judge on Tuesday released Keller Williams Realty from a proposed racketeering class action, agreeing with a magistrate judge that the suit was a "shotgun pleading" claiming the broker sought to generate commissions by harassing homeowners into selling their properties.
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May 14, 2024
Colo. Lawmakers OK Sales Tax Exemption For Modular Homes
New modular homes would be exempt from Colorado's sales and use taxes, saving taxpayers about $1 million annually, under legislation passed by lawmakers and heading to Gov. Jared Polis.
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May 14, 2024
Tenn. Judge Wants Default Win For Bank But No Atty Fees
A Tennessee magistrate judge recommended partially granting a default judgment win to a bank suing a Florida-based developer accused of defaulting on about $15.3 million in loans, but also suggested denying the bank attorney fees.
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May 14, 2024
NJ Tax Court Nixes Condo Owners' Exemption Claims
A New Jersey condominium building is not eligible for a five-year property tax exemption because the developer and owners did not enter into a tax agreement with the city prior to the units being built, the state Tax Court ruled.
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May 14, 2024
Texas City, Homeowners Get Early Win In Land Dispute
A federal judge has sided with a Texas city, a property owners association and others against a manufactured housing company's suit accusing the defendants of wrongfully impeding its development of nearly 300 lots.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Activist Investor Pressures Proptech Co. To Privatize Or Sell
Land & Buildings Investment Management urged SmartRent Inc. to consider privatizing or selling to a bigger business, arguing Tuesday that the property technology company is delivering lackluster results, despite the platform's popularity.
3 Takeaways From The Real Deal's New York City Forum
Industry professionals at The Real Deal's New York City Real Estate Forum this year aired a lot of grievances about housing and development policies in the Big Apple and Empire State, though panels also touched on a major problem facing lenders.
Upstate NY Cities Aim To Join Rent-Regulated Ranks
After a 2019 tweak to state law allowed localities beyond New York City and its surrounding counties to opt into rent stabilization for the first time since the original legislation was passed in 1974, a smattering of upstate cities have attempted to do just that, to varying degrees of success.
Expert Analysis
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11th Circ. Ruling May Foreshadow Ch. 15 Clashes
The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in In re: Talal Qais Abdulmunem Al Zawawi has introduced a split from the Second Circuit regarding whether debtors in foreign proceedings must have a domicile, calling attention to the understudied nature of Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code, say attorneys at Cleary.
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Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.
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A Look At New IRS Rules For Domestically Controlled REITs
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.
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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.