Residential

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • June 18, 2024

    Home Builders Sued For Non-FHA-Compliant Apartments

    A group of home building and financing companies including the Toll Brothers were sued by Manhattan federal prosecutors Tuesday for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act by building residential units that weren't accessible to people with physical disabilities.

  • June 18, 2024

    Split Pa. High Court Finds Rental Registry Suit Moot

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed out landlords' appeal of Pittsburgh's 2015 ordinance requiring them to list their rental units in a public registry, because it had been replaced by a newer, narrower law, but two justices said they should have ruled on the case anyway to settle whether other governments could pass similar measures.

  • June 18, 2024

    Sterling Bank Ex-CEO Won't Face Charges Over Loan Program

    The founder and former CEO of Sterling Bank and Trust, who has been investigated in connection with a fraud-plagued loan program, will not face criminal charges from the U.S. Department of Justice, according to Michigan federal court documents filed Monday.

  • June 18, 2024

    Blue States And Enviro Groups Back DOE Furnace Rule

    Several blue states and environmental and consumer groups have thrown their support behind the U.S. Department of Energy's tighter energy efficiency standards for furnaces and water heaters, telling the D.C. Circuit that challenges to the new rules are meritless.

  • June 18, 2024

    Oak Row Pays $39M For Downtown Miami Site

    Oak Row Equities bought a site in downtown Miami for $38.5 million for its upcoming 70,000-square-foot luxury multifamily housing project, the real estate developer announced Tuesday.

  • June 18, 2024

    NY High Court Backs Manhattan Housing On Garden Site

    A proposed seven-story, mixed-use, 123-unit affordable housing project in Manhattan's Nolita neighborhood shouldn't be blocked from development after New York City's government "rationally determined" that it won't negatively impact the environment in a significant way, the New York Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

  • June 18, 2024

    DOJ Says DC Circ. Shouldn't Rethink Realtor Antitrust Probe

    The U.S. Department of Justice has told the D.C. Circuit that its April decision allowing it to reopen an investigation into the National Association of Realtors doesn't conflict with any U.S. Supreme Court or circuit court decisions and that the NAR's rehearing petition should be denied.

Expert Analysis

  • What CRA Deadline Means For Biden Admin. Rulemaking

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    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.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

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    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.

  • 2nd Circ. Eminent Domain Ruling Empowers Municipalities

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    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.

  • SEC Should Be Allowed To Equip Investors With Climate Info

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    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.

  • 8 Fla. Statutes That Construction Cos. Should Prepare For

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    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.

  • Time To Fix NYC's Broken Property Assessment System

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    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.

  • Understanding The IRC's Excessive Refund Claim Penalty

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    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.

  • Bankruptcy Ruling Shifts Lease Rejection Claim Calculation

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    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.

  • Do Not Overstate Fla. Condo Termination Ruling's Impact

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    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.

  • Takeaways From FDIC's Spring Supervisory Highlights

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    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.

  • Walking With My Dog Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Thanks to my dog Birdie, I've learned that carving out an activity different from the practice of law — like daily outdoor walks that allow you to interact with new people — can contribute to professional success by boosting creativity and mental acuity, as well as expanding your social network, says Sarah Petrie at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

  • What Calif. Eviction Ruling Means For Defaulting Borrowers

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    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.

  • How 3D Printing And Prefab Are Changing Construction

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    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.