Residential
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January 06, 2025
Property Owner Says Insurers Owe $4.2M For Burglary Losses
A property owner said its insurers must cover $4.2 million in property damage caused by a burglary, telling an Oregon federal court that the carriers relied on a number of policy exclusions to deny coverage but failed to properly investigate the claim.
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January 03, 2025
Ohio AG Urges State Justices To Limit Local Tax Appeals
Ohio's attorney general backed property owners in the state Supreme Court who are arguing that school boards can't appeal valuation decisions of properties they don't lease or own to county courts, saying the boards don't have a sufficient interest in the properties to pursue litigation.
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January 03, 2025
Pa. Homebuyers Say Broker Misled Them On Chicken Ban
A pair of Pennsylvania homebuyers told a state court on Jan. 2 they have buyer's remorse after being misled by broker Coldwell Banker Real Estate Services LLC about a homeowners association's ban on chickens living on their property.
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January 03, 2025
FHLB San Francisco CLO Exits Amid Proposed Restructuring
The chief legal officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco has resigned after her position was set to be restructured, according to a public filing.
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January 02, 2025
DC Allowed To Resubmit AvalonBay Rent-Fixing Claims
The District of Columbia will get another chance to tweak its claims against landlord AvalonBay Communities and see if the changes are enough to prop up allegations that it has been using the property management platform RealPage to fix the price of rentals.
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January 02, 2025
New Jersey Judge Won't Block Affordable-Housing Law
A New Jersey state judge has refused to block a state law that aims to determine how much affordable housing must be developed, ruling that the municipalities challenging the law are obligated under the state's constitution "to provide realistic opportunities for low- and moderate-income housing."
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January 02, 2025
Poughkeepsie To Appeal NY Judge's Rent Stabilization Ruling
The city of Poughkeepsie is appealing a New York state court decision that vacated a housing emergency declaration, which triggered the city's adoption of rent stabilization under state law.
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January 02, 2025
Feds Ask High Court To Unpause Corporate Transparency Law
The federal government is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a Texas judge's injunction against the Corporate Transparency Act, telling the justices in a new application that the 2021 anti-money laundering law's compliance deadlines should take effect while the Fifth Circuit hears the full case.
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January 02, 2025
Real Estate Investor Gets 2 Years For Mortgage Fraud Scheme
A New Jersey real estate investor was sentenced to two years in federal prison on Thursday for his role in a multiyear conspiracy to defraud Fannie Mae by getting the company to purchase or fund millions in mortgage loans.
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January 02, 2025
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
BakerHostetler and Seyfarth Shaw are among the law firms that steered the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, with a nine-figure Brooklyn transaction topping the list.
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January 02, 2025
Cox Castle Elects 3 New Partners In New Year
Cox Castle & Nicholson LLP elected three new partners effective at the start of the year, including attorneys whose practices span the real estate, land use, environmental and renewable energy industries, the real estate firm announced Jan. 2.
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January 02, 2025
7th Circ. Won't Review $3.4M Faulty Work Coverage Ruling
The Seventh Circuit declined to review a ruling requiring an insurer to defend an architectural design firm and its owner against faulty work claims seeking more than $3.4 million in damages.
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January 02, 2025
Mortgage Co. Says Loan Officers Aren't Eligible For OT
A mortgage company urged a California federal court to throw out a suit by loan officers alleging they were misclassified as overtime-exempt, arguing the workers fall under an exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act and are too dissimilar to proceed as a collective.
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January 01, 2025
Federal Real Estate Policy To Watch In 2025
The potential for new tariffs and the Corporate Transparency Act are among the areas of federal policy that real estate lawyers will be watching in 2025.
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January 02, 2025
The Top Property Insurance Decisions Of 2024
A novel climate change coverage suit in Hawaii, three state high court pandemic coverage rulings and a Colorado ruling on a late claim-filing rule are among the top property insurance decisions of 2024. Here, Law360 breaks down the cases that drew the most attention among practitioners in the property insurance space.
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January 01, 2025
A Prelude To 2025 Residential Real Estate
As we leave 2024 behind, Law360 Real Estate Authority's editor-at-large Andrew McIntyre reflects on the multifamily sector's focus on the Sunbelt leading into 2025.
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January 01, 2025
Residential Real Estate Cases To Watch In 2025
Attorneys who advise real estate firms are keeping a close eye on how antitrust law is applied to the real estate market as the use of revenue-management tools and pricing algorithms becomes widespread among their clients.
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December 30, 2024
Energy Demand Key Driver In 2025 Infrastructure Roadmap
With growing energy demand increasingly being met by renewable power, an overhaul of U.S. infrastructure is expected to gain steam in 2025, advancing a push to adapt roadways, ports and other infrastructure for a changing climate and new technologies.
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December 30, 2024
Big Year Of Real Estate Deals Ahead As PE Sees Opportunities
The market is out of the doldrums, and private equity deal practitioners are looking forward to an active year for real estate, particularly with transactions involving data centers, refinancings and — believe it not — office buildings.
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December 26, 2024
Proptech's Central Storyline In Real Estate Still Unwritten
After making a dynamic entrance that seemed to spark the real estate industry to finally embrace innovation, the property technology sector has struggled to develop its role as operators have focused on managing challenging economic conditions. Proptech enters 2025 uncertain about its next chapter, but experts remain confident it will prove to be essential to real estate's future.
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December 23, 2024
NY Businessman To Plead Guilty In Eric Adams' Fraud Case
A Brooklyn construction company operator intends to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge related to the bribery and corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, according to a notice filed by prosecutors in New York federal court Monday.
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December 23, 2024
CFPB Sues Rocket Homes Over Alleged Realtor Kickbacks
Rocket Homes Real Estate has been giving brokers and agents incentives to steer homebuyers toward obtaining loans through Rocket Mortgage, while pressuring agents to withhold information that could save their clients thousands of dollars on a down payment, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Monday.
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December 23, 2024
McElroy Deutsch Beats Former Exec's Malicious Claim
McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP got a claim for malicious prosecution against it dismissed without prejudice in litigation against its former business development director, who the firm accused of embezzling millions from it.
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December 23, 2024
Top Residential Real Estate Q&As From 2024's Second Half
Check out the top residential real estate Q&As that ran during the second half of 2024, with real estate attorneys and experts reflecting on the evolution of New York City real estate, new construction rules and the state of the multifamily sector.
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December 20, 2024
RealPage Can't Transfer Enforcers' Rent-Fix Case Out Of NC
RealPage cannot get the government's antitrust case against it moved either to the Tennessee court overseeing similar civil litigation or to Texas, where the rental software maker is headquartered, a North Carolina federal judge ruled Friday.
Expert Analysis
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What's Next For Federal Preemption In Financial Services
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's review of its preemption interpretations and growing pressure from state regulators signal potential changes ahead for preemption in U.S. financial services, and the path forward will likely involve a reevaluation of the entire framework, say attorneys at Clark Hill.
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Increased Scrutiny Raises Int'l Real Estate Transaction Risks
Recently proposed regulations expanding the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' oversight, a White House divestment order and state-level legislative efforts signal increasing scrutiny of real estate transactions that may trigger national security concerns, say Luciano Racco and Aleksis Fernández Caballero at Foley Hoag.
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Financial Incentives May Alleviate Affordable Housing Crisis
There is a wide array of financial incentives and assistance that the government can provide to both real estate developers and individuals to chip away at the housing affordability problem from multiple angles, say Eric DeBear and Madeline Williams at Cozen.
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Portland's Gross Receipts Tax Oversteps City's Authority
Recent measures by Portland, Oregon, that expand the voter-approved scope of the Clean Energy Surcharge on certain retail sales eviscerate the common meaning of the word "retail" and exceed the city's chartered authority to levy tax, say Nikki Dobay at Greenberg Traurig and Jeff Newgard at Peak Policy.
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The Bank Preemption Ripple Effects After Cantero, Flagstar
The importance of federal preemption for financial institutions will only increase as technology-driven innovations evolve, which is why the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Cantero v. Bank of America and vacatur of Kivett v. Flagstar Bank have real modern-day significance for national banks, say attorneys at WilmerHale.
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Assessing The Practicality Of Harris' Affordable Housing Plan
Vice President Kamala Harris' proposed "Build the American Dream" plan to tackle housing affordability issues takes solid recommendations into account and may fare better than California's unsuccessful attempt at a similar program, but the scope of the problem is beyond what a three-point plan can solve, says Brooke Miller at Sheppard Mullin.
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RealPage Suit Shows Growing Algorithm, AI Pricing Scrutiny
The U.S. Department of Justice's suit against RealPage for helping fix rental rates, filed last week, demonstrates how the use of algorithmic and artificial intelligence tools to assist with pricing decisions is drawing increasing scrutiny and action across government agencies, and specifically at the Federal Trade Commission and the DOJ, say Andre Geverola and Leah Harrell at Arnold & Porter.
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What To Expect From Evolving Wash. Development Plans
The current round of periodic updates to Washington counties' growth and development plans will need to address new requirements from recent legislation, and will also likely bring changes that should please property owners and developers, says Jami Balint at Seyfarth.
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Brownfield Questions Surround IRS Tax Credit Bonus
Though the IRS has published guidance regarding the Inflation Reduction Act's 10% adder for tax credits generated by renewable energy projects constructed on brownfield sites, considerable guesswork remains as potential implications seem contrary to IRS intentions, say Megan Caldwell and Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.
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Bank M&A Continues To Lag Amid Regulatory Ambiguity
Bank M&A activity in the first half of 2024 continued to be lower than in prior years, as the industry is recovering from the 2023 bank failures, and regulatory and macroeconomic conditions have not otherwise been prime for deals, say Robert Azarow and Amber Hay at Arnold & Porter.
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How High Court Ruling Is Shaping Homelessness Policies
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson to allow enforcement of local ordinances against overnight camping is already spurring new policies to manage homelessness, but the court's ruling does not grant jurisdictions unfettered power, say Kathryn Kafka and Alex Merritt at Sheppard Mullin.
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Maryland 'Rain Tax' Ruling May Offer Hope For Tax Credits
A Maryland state appellate court's recent decision in Ben Porto v. Montgomery County echoes earlier case law upholding controversial stormwater charges as a valid excise tax, but it also suggests that potential credits to reduce property owners' liability could get broader in scope, says Alyssa Domzal at Ballard Spahr.
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Decoding CFPB Priorities Amid Ramp-Up In Nonbank Actions
Based on recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enforcement actions and press releases about its supervisory activities, the agency appears poised to continue increasing its scrutiny over nonbank entities — particularly with respect to emerging financial products and services — into next year, say attorneys at Wiley.