Residential
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April 19, 2024
Student Housing Co. Founder Claims She Was Pushed Out
A co-founder of a global company formed to provide booking for student housing sued her former colleague in Delaware's Court of Chancery on Friday, alleging a scheme by insiders to push her out of the business and then line up a sale to avoid a judgment after the move's reversal.
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April 19, 2024
Fla. Can't Wage Real Estate War On Foreigners, 11th Circ. Told
A group of Chinese citizens and a brokerage firm urged the Eleventh Circuit on Friday to block Florida from enforcing a law prohibiting certain foreign nationals from owning land while they challenge the statute's constitutionality, saying it's discriminatory and preempted by federal authority.
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April 19, 2024
CORRECTED: Fla. Jury Says AIG Mishandled Claim For Irma Damage
A Florida federal jury on Friday found that AIG mishandled part of the claims process for damage from Hurricane Irma to a $95 million oceanfront mansion near Miami but declined to award punitive damages against the insurer.
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April 19, 2024
Polsinelli Adds Shareholder To Tax Credit Practice In Dallas
An attorney who spent more than a decade developing a niche practice specializing in tax credit financing has moved her practice to Polsinelli PC's Dallas office after five years at Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr PC.
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April 19, 2024
Colo. Panel Nixes Short-Term Rental Tax Boost Plan
A Colorado measure to reclassify properties used for short-term rentals so they would be taxed at a higher rate was rejected by a Senate panel.
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April 19, 2024
Landlord Says Willkie Partner Can't Dodge Arbitration
A Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP partner's former landlord asked a Connecticut state judge to force the attorney and his wife back to arbitration in their lease dispute, arguing that they cannot dodge their binding agreement just because the parties' first-choice mediator walked away.
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April 18, 2024
DLA Piper Reps Fallon Co. On $147M Nashville Area Plan
Nashville, Tennessee, officials have signed off on an agreement with The Fallon Company to redevelop a 30-acre downtown-adjacent site into a neighborhood with 1,500 housing units, surrounding a planned stadium for the Tennessee Titans NFL team.
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April 18, 2024
What 4 Real Estate Leaders Said At NYU's REIT Symposium
The public real estate investment trust sector will bounce back from its current troubles "at some point," said Jon Gray, Blackstone's president. He was not the only company executive who sounded hopeful about the industry's future at New York University's 28th annual REIT symposium.
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April 18, 2024
SL Green Slashes Yet Another NYC Office Loan
SL Green Realty Corp. executives announced yet another deal extinguishing tens of millions of dollars of debt tied to a Manhattan office building, leaving analysts scratching their heads at an earnings call for the second quarter in a row.
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April 18, 2024
Ga. Corp., Personal Income Tax Rates Dropping To 5.39%
Domestic and foreign companies doing business in Georgia will continue to pay the same tax rate as individuals, but both corporate and personal rates will fall, according to a tax package signed Thursday by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
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April 18, 2024
Blackstone, Expecting CRE Rebound, Leans Into Deal-Making
Executives at Blackstone, the world's largest landlord and alternative asset manager, said they see signs that commercial real estate is beginning to bounce back, despite macroeconomic challenges and a shift in how people use offices.
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April 18, 2024
Maui County Sued Over Wildfire Landfill Debris Storage
Maui County has been slapped with a lawsuit in Hawaii federal court alleging it relied on a deficient, 28-year-old environmental impact statement when taking over a nearly 20-acre parcel of land to house debris from last year's massive wildfires, in violation of the Hawaii Environmental Protection Act.
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April 18, 2024
Judge Backs Keller Williams' Exit From 'Shotgun' Claim
A federal magistrate judge recommended releasing Keller Williams Realty from a proposed class action, calling the lawsuit a "shotgun pleading" claiming the broker sought to generate commissions with harassing phone calls to pressure homeowners into selling.
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April 18, 2024
Mich. Treasury Dept. Clarifies Homestead Property Tax Credit
Michigan's Treasury Department clarified when a homestead property tax credit applies to property that is contiguous to a property owner's home.
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April 17, 2024
Hawaii AG Releases Timeline Of Deadly Lahaina Wildfire
Hawaii's attorney general on Wednesday released findings from the first report of a three-part investigation into how state and county governments responded to the wildfires that ignited on the island of Maui last year, decimating the historic town of Lahaina and leaving more than 100 people dead.
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April 17, 2024
Fannie Mae Gets Partial Early Win In $12M Loan Default Row
A Texas federal judge mostly sided with Fannie Mae in its suit over a defaulted $23.26 million multifamily loan, of which the government enterprise claims it's still owed $12.56 million.
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April 17, 2024
States, Biz Groups Back Fight Over DOE Furnace Rules
Eighteen states and several business associations are backing gas utility groups' challenge to the U.S. Department of Energy's tighter energy efficiency standards for furnaces and water heaters, telling the D.C. Circuit that the agency is unlawfully forcing a switch to new appliances.
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April 17, 2024
Okla. Lawmakers OK Use Of Images For Property Inspections
Oklahoma would allow county assessors to inspect property remotely using aerial images taken from airplanes after an initial in-person inspection under a bill passed by the state House of Representatives and headed to the governor.
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April 17, 2024
NJ Appeals Court Backs Exemption For Adult Support Home
A New Jersey Tax Court judge was correct in finding that a residential property owned by a charity and used to house a person with intellectual and developmental disabilities was entitled to a tax exemption, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.
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April 17, 2024
Survey Tees Up Another NY City For Rent Stabilization
A survey of rental stock in Poughkeepsie, New York, revealed a low vacancy rate qualifying the Hudson Valley city to opt in to rent stabilization should its representatives move to declare a housing emergency.
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April 17, 2024
Proptech Profile: Jurny Builds AI Base For Short-Term Rentals
Technology is an essential part of successfully running and scaling up a short-term rental portfolio, given the decentralized nature of the business with properties spread across different locations. But to date, operators have faced a fragmented landscape of tech solutions, which can greatly frustrate their efforts.
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April 17, 2024
4th Circ. Affirms No Shield From IRS For Home In Bankruptcy
A North Carolina man who filed for bankruptcy protection and owes federal tax debt cannot shield the house he owns with his wife from the Internal Revenue Service, which is pursuing the asset as a creditor in the proceedings, the Fourth Circuit affirmed Wednesday.
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April 17, 2024
Ore. City And Homeless Class Stake Spots Over Camping Ban
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday in a case weighing whether an Oregon city's anti-camping laws violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Here, Law360 previews the stances carved out by the city and a certified class of homeless residents.
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April 17, 2024
BH Group, Kolter Partner On $102.6M Fla. Beachfront Site
BH Group and Kolter Group said April 17 they purchased one of the few remaining ultra-luxury beachfront development sites in Florida with a $102.6 million land buy in Naples.
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April 17, 2024
An Architect's Guide To Lunar Housing
While some architects are challenging local zoning codes and designing innovative facades, the team at Bjarke Ingels Group is figuring out how to construct housing to withstand frequent meteorite attacks and one-sixth of the Earth's gravity.
Expert Analysis
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DOJ's RealPage Notice Signals Focus On Pricing Algorithms
The U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division recently filed a statement of interest in the Realpage multidistrict litigation to stake out its position that price-fixing algorithms pose a great anti-competitive threat, which suggests that the DOJ and private parties may continue to bring similar actions in the future, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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4 Key Types Of Coming FHLBank Reforms To Watch
Though the Federal Housing Finance Agency's recent report on the Federal Home Loan Bank System has received relatively little attention, the regulatory and legislative changes it proposes in four categories herald the start of a significant effort by the agency to reform the system’s structure and operations and overhaul requirements for member banks, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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Property Owner Considerations Around Electric Vehicle Bans
In light of a property management company's recent ban on electric vehicles in Canada, it's worth considering how similar bans might fare in Florida and other U.S. states, and the legal ramifications that could potentially arise, say Gerardo Ortega and Gary Kaleita at Lowndes.
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Trump NY Fraud Trial Shows Civil, Criminal Case Differences
Former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial currently unfolding in New York provides a reminder that civil bench trials can be just as damaging, if not more so, than criminal prosecutions, due to several key elements of civil litigation procedure, says retired attorney David Moskowitz.
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Why NYC Building Owners Shouldn't Ignore Emissions Rule
New rules from the New York City Department of Buildings clarify the previously vague good faith efforts that building owners may make to mitigate penalties for not complying with a major carbon emission law that takes effect in January, and should discourage owners from simply paying the fines instead of decarbonizing, says William McCracken at Moritt Hock.
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What NJ's Green Remediation Guidance Means For Cleanups
Recent guidance from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection promoting greener approaches to restoring contaminated sites demonstrates the state's commitment to sustainability and environmental justice — but could also entail more complexity, higher costs and longer remediation timelines, say J. Michael Showalter and Bradley Rochlen at ArentFox Schiff.
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A New Path Forward For Surplus Land Owners In Calif.
A new California law signed last month enables some religious institutions and nonprofit colleges to build affordable housing on surplus land, and its requirements — which are more manageable than they may appear — will support long-term benefits including good housing and the survival of worthy institutions, says Stephen Wilson at Withers.
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Inside Bank Regulators' Community Lending Law Overhaul
The federal banking agencies' recently finalized changes to the Community Reinvestment Act not only account for the gradual shift to an environment where lending and deposit-taking are primarily conducted online, but also implement other updates such as diversity initiatives and a new series of lending tests, say attorneys at Norton Rose.
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A Bird's Eye View Of NYC's New Parapet Inspection Law
Building owners in New York City should be ready for the city's new parapet inspection requirements going into effect in January, which will likely necessitate additional construction work for countless buildings not previously subject to formal inspections, says Benjamin Fox Tracy at Braverman Greenspun.
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AI Isn't The Wild West, So Prepare Now For Bias Risks
In addition to President Joe Biden's recent historic executive order on safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence, there are existing federal and state laws prohibiting fraud, defamation and even discrimination, so companies considering using or developing AI should take steps to minimize legal and business risks, says civil rights attorney Farhana Khera.
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AI's Baked-In Bias: What To Watch Out For
The federal AI executive order is a direct acknowledgment of the perils of inherent bias in artificial intelligence systems, and highlights the need for legal professionals to thoroughly vet AI systems, including data and sources, algorithms and AI training methods, and more, say Jonathan Hummel and Jonathan Talcott at Ballard Spahr.
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Calif. Ruling May Open Bankruptcy Trustees To Tort Liability
In Martin v. Gladstone, a recent California appellate court decision, the application of tort concepts to bankruptcy trustees could pose a new concern for trustees and federal receivers when controlling and maintaining commercial property, says Jarrett Osborne-Revis at Buchalter.
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5th Circ. Ruling May Beget Fraud Jury Instruction Appeals
The Fifth Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Greenlaw decision, disapproving disjunctive fraudulent-intent jury instructions, will likely spawn appeals in mail, wire and securities fraud cases, but defendants must show that their deception furthered ends other than taking the victim's property, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.