Residential
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December 02, 2024
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Goodwin Procter and Blank Rome are among more than half a dozen law firms that guided the top New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, a busy period for filings despite the holiday-shortened week.
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December 02, 2024
Partnership Offers Proptech Players Range Of Legal Expertise
Goodwin Procter LLP and the Center for Real Estate Technology and Innovation have teamed up to try to help proptech companies capitalize on a potential upswing. Law360 Real Estate Authority recently spoke with the founder and co-leader of Goodwin's proptech group and the founder of CRETI about what they think they can provide to help companies succeed.
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November 27, 2024
Landlords Tell NY High Court To Nix Kingston's Rent Rollback
A nonprofit representing property owners and a group of Kingston, New York, landlords urged the state's highest court to reverse a lower court's March ruling that upheld the city's rent stabilization resolution, its 15% rent rollback and its retroactive rent threshold that could result in refunds for illegal rent overcharges.
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November 27, 2024
Developer Reboots Plan For Miami Beach Deauville Project
Miami Beach officials have reviewed a new plan to bring a hotel and condominium towers to the city's former Deauville Beach Resort location, with developers relying on a new state law preventing voter opposition of the sort that ended a previous intended development at the site two years ago.
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November 27, 2024
Developer Settles Landslide Claims From Ryan Homes, Town
The bankrupt developer of a housing project that was beset by landslides has settled with a construction company and a Western Pennsylvania township in exchange for finishing some of its remaining cleanup work and giving the township the remaining lots, burying a six-year dispute.
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November 27, 2024
Compass NJ Tapped To Sell $33M Miles Guo Mansion In Ch. 11
The trustee handling the Chapter 11 of exiled Chinese businessman and convicted fraudster Miles Guo asked the Connecticut bankruptcy court to let him hire four agents with residential real estate firm Compass to sell a historic 58-room mansion in Mahwah, New Jersey.
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November 27, 2024
Mich. Bill Would Bar Local Property Tax Caps Tied To Rate Cut
Michigan would bar local governments from imposing caps on annual property tax revenue that require an automatic rate reduction as part of a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.
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November 27, 2024
Data Cos. Lose Challenge To NJ Judicial Privacy Law
A federal judge has ruled that the New Jersey judicial privacy and security measure known as Daniel's Law is constitutional, handing a defeat to a large group of data brokers accused of illegally posting judges' names and addresses online.
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November 27, 2024
Howard Hughes Corp. Beats Hurricane Harvey Flood Suit
A Texas state appellate court has sided with Howard Hughes Corp. and an engineering company in an appeal brought by homeowners who claimed the companies were liable for property damage caused by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017.
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November 26, 2024
NAR Buyer-Broker Settlement Approved Over DOJ Concerns
A Missouri federal judge granted final approval Tuesday to the National Association of Realtors' antitrust settlement with home sellers, signing off on a $418 million payment and changes to broker commission rules, as NAR and the plaintiffs assailed the U.S. Department of Justice for raising last-minute concerns about the deal.
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November 26, 2024
NYC Lawmakers Detail Breakdown Of $5B Housing Plan
The New York City Council's $5 billion "City for All" initiative aims to provide more funding for affordable housing development and preservation, a down payment assistance program, infrastructure investments and more, the city lawmakers announced.
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November 26, 2024
9th Circ. Pauses Ruling For VA To Build Vets' Housing
The Ninth Circuit paused a federal judge's order for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to build housing for veterans on a Los Angeles campus, allowing time for several constituents to weigh in on the matter.
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November 26, 2024
New Orleans Property Owner Revives Bid To Nix Arbitration
A New Orleans property owner has again urged a Louisiana federal judge to overturn his order forcing it to arbitrate a $7 million Hurricane Ida damage claim with 11 insurers for a block of luxury apartments and retail shops, pointing to a recent ruling by the state's top court.
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November 26, 2024
Nonprofit Wins Right To Buy In LIHTC Verdict Against Investor
A California federal jury allowed an affordable housing nonprofit to take possession of a 320-unit Long Beach complex built with low-income housing tax credits over arguments from an investor challenging the transfer after buying into a partnership for the development.
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November 26, 2024
NY Authorizes County, City To Raise Tax Rates On Hotel Stays
New York authorized Dutchess County and the city of Hudson to increase taxes on hotel and motel stays under legislation signed by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
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November 26, 2024
7th Circ. Says Insurer Must Defend $3.4M Faulty Work Row
An architectural design firm's commercial general liability insurer must defend it and its owner against faulty work claims seeking more than $3.4 million in damages, the Seventh Circuit ruled, after the Illinois Supreme Court overturned prior appellate precedent siding with insurers in such disputes.
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November 25, 2024
Gov't Defends EB-5 Rule That Hikes Up Petition Fees
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency pushed for an early win in Texas federal court against a suit challenging increases for filing fees for petitions related to USCIS' EB-5 immigrant investor program.
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November 25, 2024
NY State Court Strikes Rent Stabilization In Poughkeepsie
A New York state court judge vacated the city of Poughkeepsie's recent adoption of rent stabilization, finding that an underlying housing vacancy survey too broadly interpreted a state law that raised the stakes for landlords that failed to cooperate with such surveys.
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November 25, 2024
Feds Want Ex-FBI Agent's Bribery Appeal Tossed
Federal prosecutors have told the D.C. Circuit to reject an ex-Federal Bureau of Investigation agent's appeal of his bribery convictions in a property buying scheme, arguing there was "sufficient evidence" against him.
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November 25, 2024
US Bank Loses Bid To Block Fla. Case Over Condo Ponzi Debt
A federal judge denied a motion from U.S. Bank in abstaining from a Florida condo association's state court moves to free itself from a bond debt tied to a development district that was established nearly two decades ago by the architects of a Ponzi scheme.
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November 25, 2024
NJ Judge Allows Nonprofit To Join Affordable Housing Fight
A New Jersey nonprofit is aligned with the state's government in a challenge to a new affordable housing obligation framework it adopted, but that alignment of goals does not mean the nonprofit should not also be allowed to intervene on the case, a Garden State judge said in an order.
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November 25, 2024
Tenant's Death Excluded From Coverage, Kansas Judge Says
A Kansas federal judge granted an insurer an early win in a coverage dispute with an apartment complex over an underlying lawsuit in which a tenant's son says his father died of hypothermia because of a faulty furnace, finding that a "habitability exclusion" barred coverage for the suit.
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November 25, 2024
Mortgage Co. Unfairly Inflated Borrowers' Balances, Suit Says
Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing was hit Friday with a proposed class action alleging the company and its predecessor in interest, Specialized Loan Servicing LLC, inflated borrowers' balances on long-dormant second mortgages through "unfair, deceptive and unconscionable means."
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November 25, 2024
4th Circ. Stands By HELOC 'Offset' Ruling Against PNC
The full Fourth Circuit has declined to reconsider a panel decision that extended protections under the Truth In Lending Act by barring banks from dipping into a cardholder's deposit account to cover outstanding payments on a home equity line of credit without the borrower's consent.
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November 25, 2024
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Goldgrub Law and Mandelbaum Barrett are among the law firms that steered the largest New York City real estate deals to hit public records last week, a period that saw several large residential transactions across Manhattan and Queens.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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A Deep Dive Into High Court's Permit Fee Ruling
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.
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The Case For Overturning Florida Foreclosure Ruling
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.