Residential
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June 21, 2024
Financial Advice Guru Says Timeshare Suit Must Be Arbitrated
A famous financial advice guru and his company have urged a Washington federal court to pause a proposed timeshare exit fraud class action and send it into arbitration, arguing that several of the named plaintiffs signed related agreements that include arbitration clauses.
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June 21, 2024
Dissent Is Symbolic Win For NY Garden Fighting Housing Plan
Despite a loss at New York's top court, counsel for a Manhattan neighborhood garden challenging a senior housing development plan said one judge's 24-page dissent is one "for the history books."
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June 21, 2024
Property Plays: The Mark Hotel, Oak Row, Bain Capital
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.
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June 21, 2024
Vt. Lawmakers Override Veto Of Short-Term Rental Surcharge
Vermont legislators overrode the governor's veto of legislation that imposes a 3% surcharge on short-term rentals.
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June 21, 2024
DOJ Backs Antitrust Case Against Zillow, Realtors At 9th Circ.
The U.S. Department of Justice has urged the Ninth Circuit to revive antitrust claims from a defunct brokerage platform against Zillow and the National Association of Realtors based on design changes Zillow made to comply with association rules.
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June 21, 2024
King & Spalding Guides $320M Brooklyn Construction Loan
King & Spalding advised a $321 million construction loan from Texas-based Bank OZK for a three-tower residential complex developer Naftali Group is building at a site on the East River in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
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June 21, 2024
Recovery Home Co. Sues Over Denial By Town's Zoning Panel
A New Jersey township's zoning board has been accused in New Jersey federal court of discriminating against recovering drug addicts and alcoholics by refusing to allow a recovery home to continue to operate in a residential area.
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June 21, 2024
Ohio House Bill Would Tax Car Condos As Residential Parcels
Ohio would classify car condominiums as residential property for property tax purposes under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.
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June 21, 2024
Multifamily Strength In Q1 Contrasts Cooling CRE Valuations
The first quarter of 2024 saw a significant jump in the performance of apartment properties, a divergence from the slumping valuations broadly seen in commercial real estate during this challenging period for the industry, according to investment firm Gray Capital.
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June 21, 2024
Housing Starts, Completions, Permits See Decline In May
Housing starts, building permits and housing completions all fell in May, according to monthly figures from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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June 20, 2024
Wash. Justices Renew AG's Suit Over Police Eviction Claims
Washington's highest court said the state attorney general could sue a city for allegedly letting police illegally evict vulnerable residents under the guise of a crime prevention program, ruling Thursday the case involved issues of public concern such as protecting residents' civil rights and preventing police misconduct.
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June 20, 2024
NY High Court Nixes Waiver of Rent Regs Appeal Rights
New York's highest court on July 20 invalidated a deal reached in 2000 between landlord Lew Realty LLC and a former tenant that governed a Manhattan apartment's exit from rent stabilization, after finding that the agreement improperly required the resident to waive a key protection.
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June 20, 2024
Ohio Landlord Settles DOJ's Sexual Harassment Suit
A Youngstown, Ohio, landlord and a property management company settled a sexual harassment suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, which had claimed the landlord repeatedly sexually harassed his female tenants while working for the management company.
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June 20, 2024
JP Morgan Borrows $165M To Refinance Chelsea Tower
An entity connected to JP Morgan Investment Management Inc. borrowed $165 million from The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. in order to refinance a 39-story, 387-unit residential tower in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, according to official property records.
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June 20, 2024
Housing Crisis Needs 'Silver Buckshot' Policies, Panel Says
It will take more than a silver bullet to confront a chronic undersupply of housing in the U.S. that's only made shelter less affordable since the pandemic, a panel of experts said June 20.
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June 20, 2024
Fla. Property Owner, Insurer Settle $1.2M Ian Coverage Fight
A QBE Insurance unit and a property owner settled their coverage dispute over the owner's claims it suffered roughly $1.2 million in losses due to Hurricane Ian, the parties told a Florida federal court.
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June 20, 2024
Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Asks To Pull 5th Amend. Assertions
McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLC's former chief financial officer, who pled guilty to embezzling over $1.5 million from the firm in May, moved Wednesday to withdraw Fifth Amendment assertions he made in the firm's civil case against him.
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June 20, 2024
Landlord Group Vows To Challenge NY Town's Rent Regs Vote
The common council of Poughkeepsie, New York, has unanimously voted to declare a housing emergency and adopt rent stabilization citywide, prompting the Hudson Valley Property Owners Association's immediate promise to file suit.
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June 20, 2024
Cadwalader Guides $450M Refi Deal For NYC Properties
Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP advised a $450 million refinancing transaction for multiple apartment buildings located in New York City's Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, according to official property records.
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June 20, 2024
Tenn. Tenants Agree To End Wrongful Eviction Class Action
A proposed class of Crossville, Tennessee, tenants permanently dropped their claims accusing the city and several of its officials in Tennessee federal court of wrongfully evicting them from their apartments without notifying them or issuing court orders.
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June 19, 2024
CBRE Economist Sees 'Extend And Pretend' Through 2025
Despite a real estate environment heavy with affordability issues, high interest rates and sluggish movement, CBRE global chief economist Richard Barkham at this week's National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Austin forecasted a relatively soft landing.
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June 18, 2024
Judge Skeptical Of Houston Developer's $2M DIP Bid In Ch. 11
The insolvent developer of an almost-finished apartment building in Houston hit a hiccup Tuesday during its first-day hearing in a Texas bankruptcy court, where a judge indicated the company did not present enough evidence to support a nearly $2 million debtor-in-possession package from an affiliate of its subordinate lender.
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June 18, 2024
With New Tax Break, NYC Developers Eye Office Conversions
Converting empty New York City office buildings into housing, in practice, is more than a little complicated, but a city-run "concierge" program for would-be developers, as well as new tax exemptions at the state level, aim to make such conversions more feasible.
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June 18, 2024
Condo's Historic Location Doesn't Bar Bombing Coverage
The insurer for a Nashville, Tennessee, condominium owners association cannot use a historic structures exclusion to dodge covering the repair costs associated with damage caused by a bombing on Christmas Day 2020, a federal court ruled Tuesday.
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June 18, 2024
CFPB Tags Reverse-Mortgage Servicers With Permanent Bans
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced on Tuesday it had permanently banned Sutherland Global and NOVAD Management Consultant from reverse-mortgage servicing activities and hit Sutherland with $16.5 million in fines.
Expert Analysis
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Ohio Tax Talk: Building On Federal Affordable Housing Credit
Ohio's soon-to-be-implemented low-income housing tax credit could significantly affect the state's affordable housing landscape and influence tax-credit deal financing for these projects, though Senate changes may have dampened the new credit's immense potential, say Raghav Agnihotri and Rachael Chamberlain at Frost Brown.
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Appellate Funding Disclosure: No Mandate Is Right Choice
The Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules' recent decision, forgoing a mandatory disclosure rule for litigation funding in federal appeals, is prudent, as third-party funding is only involved in a minuscule number of federal cases, and courts have ample authority to obtain funding information if necessary, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.
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LA's High-Value Real Estate Transfer Tax Should Be Scrapped
Los Angeles’ recently implemented high-value property transfer tax has chilled the real estate market, is failing to meet revenue expectations and raises significant constitutional concerns, making it a flawed piece of legislation that should be invalidated, says attorney Paul Weinberg.
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How Attys Can Avoid Exposing Their Firms To Cyberattacks
Attorneys are the weakest link in their firms' cyberdefenses because hackers often exploit the gap between individuals’ work and personal cybersecurity habits, but there are some steps lawyers can take to reduce the risks they create for their employers, say Mark Hurley and Carmine Cicalese at Digital Privacy & Protection.
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Foreign Investment In Real Estate Is Getting More Complicated
Increasing federal scrutiny and a proliferation of new state laws targeting foreign investment in real estate may complicate or prevent transactions even by U.S. companies or funds that have shareholders or limited partners from China and other countries of concern, say attorneys at Akin.
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Virginia 'Rocket Docket' Slowdown Is Likely A Blip
After being the fastest or second-fastest federal civil trial court for 14 straight years, the Eastern District of Virginia has slid to 18th place, but the rocket docket’s statistical tumble doesn't mean the district no longer maintains a speedy civil docket, says Robert Tata at Hunton.
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Home Equity Option Contracts Appear Ripe For Rating
Given that home equity option contracts share similarities with evolving asset types like litigation funding, and that courts continue to characterize them as real estate option contracts, it seems they are poised to be rated in the near future, say Darius Horton and Holly Spencer Bunting at Mayer Brown.
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5 Management Tips To Keep Law Firm Merger Talks Moving
Many law firm mergers that make solid business sense still fall apart due to the costs and frustrations of inefficient negotiations, but firm managers can increase the chance of success by effectively planning and executing merger discussions, say Lisa Smith and Kristin Stark at Fairfax Associates.
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2 Critical Shortfalls In Fla. Condo Safety Amendments
New amendments to Florida's Building Safety Act provide condominium associations with more flexibility to comply with inspection deadlines, but vaguely defined extension criteria and unambiguous lines of responsibility warrant further legislative action, say Jordan Isrow and Andrew Ingber at Government Law Group.
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Rethinking In-Office Attendance For Associate Retention
The hybrid office attendance model doesn't work for all employees, but it does for many — and balancing these two groups is important for associate retention and maintaining a BigLaw firm culture that supports all attorneys, says Summer Eberhard at Major Lindsey.
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Justices' Minn. Takings Ruling May Have Broad Impact
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County that a Minnesota tax foreclosure violated the U.S. Constitution's takings clause may, beyond resolving a circuit split, influence well-established foreclosure laws across the U.S., say Emily Ladd and Gregory Nowak at Miller Canfield.
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Murdaugh Trials Offer Law Firms Fraud Prevention Reminders
As the fraud case against Alex Murdaugh continues to play out, the evidence and narrative presented at his murder trial earlier this year may provide lessons for law firms on implementing robust internal controls that can detect and prevent similar kinds of fraud, say Travis Casner and Helga Zauner at Weaver and Tidwell.
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Challenging Standing In Antitrust Class Actions: Rule 23
A recent Sixth Circuit decision in Fox v. Saginaw County that rejected the common attempt to use Rule 23 to sidestep Article III's standing limitations shows antitrust defendants' success in challenging standing will rest on happenstance without more clarity from the Supreme Court — which no litigant should be comfortable with, say Michael Hamburger and Holly Tao at White & Case.