Residential
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May 20, 2025
Wash. Panel Affirms Toss Of Vrbo Host's Rental Coverage Row
Washington appellate judges refused to revive a Vrbo host's suit against a Liberty Mutual unit and a company that arranged a policyholder's temporary housing while her home was being repaired, saying the companies did not breach a nonexistent contract with the host by ceasing to pay the policyholder's rent.
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May 20, 2025
Jailed Investor Puts Portfolio In Ch. 11 Ahead Of NY Auction
A group of companies owned by a real estate investor jailed last month for his role in a scheme defrauding Fannie Mae has filed for bankruptcy protection in New Jersey on a portfolio carrying at least $100 million in both assets and debt, ahead of a sheriff's sale in New York set for Tuesday.
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May 20, 2025
King & Spalding Pushes To Exit Long-Running Fla. Condo Suit
A Florida state appellate court has granted a temporary stay to a long-running dispute over a Miami Beach condominium's amenities in order to review King & Spalding LLP's petition to leave the case after its attorneys cited irreconcilable differences with its client, condo owner Bath Club Entertainment LLC.
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May 20, 2025
State AGs Back NJ Judicial Privacy Law At 3rd Circ.
Most states' attorneys general, along with law enforcement organizations and a data privacy group, have encouraged the Third Circuit to uphold a New Jersey judicial privacy measure, saying states have sovereignty to enact such laws in a time of increased threats against judges.
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May 20, 2025
FTC Case Against Greystar Stayed For Settlement Talks
A Colorado federal judge has stayed a Federal Trade Commission suit alleging developer and property manager Greystar advertised deceptive rental prices after the parties notified the court that they are in "active settlement negotiations" that could resolve the entire case.
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May 20, 2025
Berkshire Hathaway RE Affiliate GC To Lead Pacific Sotheby's
Pacific Sotheby's International Realty, a luxury brokerage firm in the Southern California market, has found its new president in the former general counsel for San Diego-based Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties.
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May 19, 2025
Texas Voters To Decide On Barring Tax On Estate Transfers
Texas voters will decide if the state should create a constitutional amendment prohibiting taxes on a decedent's property or the transfer of an estate, inheritance, legacy, succession or gift under a joint resolution approved by state lawmakers.
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May 19, 2025
Irish Developer Inks $1.9M Deal With Ex Amid Conn. Ch. 7
The Chapter 7 trustee for Irish real estate developer Sean Dunne has agreed to settle for $1.9 million prepetition bankruptcy claims by Jennifer Coyle, a woman who said she was Dunne's first wife, capping what was originally a €3.6 million ($4.1 million) series of claims.
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May 19, 2025
NC Gov. Tacks On $891M To Hurricane Recovery Plan
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein on Monday recommended adding $891 million to the funds earmarked for Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in the western region of the state, the largest chunk of which would go toward rebuilding the economy with small business loans and tourism promotion.
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May 19, 2025
Paul Weiss Guides SC Home Builder Exploring Sale
South Carolina-based residential builder United Homes Group said Monday it has appointed new executives and a special board committee advised by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP to review strategies to maximize shareholder value that could include selling the company.
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May 19, 2025
Fried Frank, Kriss & Feuerstein Guide $720M Conversion Loan
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP and Kriss & Feuerstein LLP guided Madison Realty Capital's $720 million loan to a joint venture behind the residential conversion of Pfizer's former Manhattan headquarters.
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May 19, 2025
Polsinelli Lands Latham Real Estate Pro In Los Angeles
In response to growing client demand, Polsinelli PC has added a former Latham & Watkins LLP partner with decades of experience to its real estate practice in Los Angeles, the firm announced Monday.
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May 16, 2025
Fla. Rep. Stands By Condo Termination Proposals At Event
A Florida state representative on Thursday defended her recent effort to revise state law on condominium terminations that Gov. Ron DeSantis had attacked as favoring developers, saying she still thinks changes are needed to protect existing unit owners' property rights.
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May 16, 2025
Judge Orders Feds To Answer Navy Housing Suit Questions
A Court of Federal Claims judge ordered the U.S. government to answer requests for admissions it refused to respond to in litigation alleging that it reduced housing stipends and breached contracts with companies that agreed to provide housing to U.S. Navy service members.
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May 16, 2025
RI City Outlaws Rent-Fixing As Feds Consider Ban On AI Regs
Providence, Rhode Island, joined the growing list of cities nationwide that have banned landlords from using algorithmic price-fixing technology for setting residential rents, saying that software sold by RealPage and similar companies is exacerbating an affordability crisis.
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May 16, 2025
Susan Sarandon, Contractor End Dispute Over Vt. Home
Hollywood actress Susan Sarandon has resolved a dispute with a contractor that oversaw construction and maintenance for her $2 million sustainable Vermont retreat, which featured a geothermal heating system she claimed was less efficient due to missing insulation, according to a filing in Massachusetts federal court.
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May 15, 2025
Lennar Workers Should Arbitrate 401(k) Suit, Judge Says
Current and former Lennar Corp. employees should have to individually arbitrate a proposed class action claiming the construction company loaded its 401(k) plan with excessive fees and lackluster investment options, a Florida federal magistrate judge recommended, finding the plan's arbitration provision doesn't conflict with federal benefits law.
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May 15, 2025
Ohio Court Upholds Home's $450K Value Based On Sale
The Ohio tax appeals board didn't err in determining that a couple's home was correctly assessed at $450,000 based on its 2020 sale price, a state appeals court said in an opinion released Thursday.
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May 15, 2025
Fla. High Court Won't Rule On Condo Insurance Dispute
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday declined to wade into a dispute between a Miami condominium and its insurer over a claim for damage caused by Hurricane Irma, leaving in place an appellate ruling that the association provided sufficient notice to the insurer that it intended to add or reopen its damage claim.
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May 15, 2025
Insurer Wants Smokestack Demo Cos. To Pay For Damage
Erie Insurance is seeking to make the companies that demolished two smokestacks at a former Western Pennsylvania coal-fired power plant pay $375,000 for damage that flying dust, debris and shock waves did to a neighboring property, according to a lawsuit filed in state court.
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May 15, 2025
Florida's Haber Law Taps Duo To Lead Construction Practice
Florida law firm Haber Law has selected a pair of longtime construction law attorneys to lead its practice group in that field, bringing a mix of perspectives in representing owners and community associations as well as contractors and other industry professionals.
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May 15, 2025
Senior Living Co. Pleads For Proxy Fight Win After CEO Exit
Brookdale Senior Living, the largest U.S. senior living operator, urged shareholders Thursday to reject a proxy contest brought by an affiliate of activist investor Ortelius Advisors, claiming the fund hasn't offered a new strategy for the company despite its criticism.
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May 15, 2025
Hawaii Justices Won't Review Honolulu Property Class Case
The Hawaii Supreme Court declined to review an appellate court decision that found a special Honolulu property class did not violate the state and country's equal protection clause.
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May 15, 2025
Entrata Hits $4.3B Valuation After $200M Blackstone Plug
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC-advised Entrata, an operating system for multifamily housing communities, revealed on Thursday that it reached a $4.3 billion valuation after securing a $200 million minority investment from private equity giant Blackstone, led by Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.
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May 14, 2025
HUD Allocates $1.1B For Tribal Affordable Housing Initiatives
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will allocate more than $1.1 billion in Indian Housing Block Grant funding to support affordable housing efforts in Native American tribal communities, HUD announced Tuesday.
Expert Analysis
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Ohio Tax Talk: The Legislative Push For Property Tax Relief
As Ohio legislators attempt to alleviate the increasing property tax burden, four recent bills that could significantly affect homeowners propose to eliminate replacement property tax levies, freeze property taxes for longtime homeowners, adjust homestead exemptions annually for inflation, and temporarily expand the homestead exemption, say Raghav Agnihotri and Rachael Chamberlain at Frost Brown.
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In The CFPB Playbook: Regulatory Aims Get High Court Assist
Newly emboldened after the U.S. Supreme Court last month found that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding is constitutional, the bureau has likely experienced a psychic boost, allowing its already robust enforcement agenda to continue expanding, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
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What's New In Kentucky's Financial Services Overhaul
Kentucky's H.B. 726 will go into effect in July and brings with it some significant restructuring to the Kentucky Financial Services Code, including changes to mortgage loan license fees and repeals of provisions relating to installment term loans and savings associations, say attorneys at Frost Brown.
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A Comparison Of FDIC, OCC Proposed Merger Approaches
Max Bonici and Connor Webb at Venable take a closer look at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's respective bank merger proposals and highlight certain common themes and important differences, in light of regulators continually rethinking their approaches to bank mergers.
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Tax Assessment: Recapping Georgia's Legislative Session
Jonathan Feldman and Alla Raykin at Eversheds Sutherland examine tax-related changes from Georgia’s General Assembly — such as the governor’s successful push to accelerate income tax cuts — and suggest steps to take before certain tax incentives are challenged in the state's next legislative session.
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11th Circ. Ruling May Foreshadow Ch. 15 Clashes
The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in In re: Talal Qais Abdulmunem Al Zawawi has introduced a split from the Second Circuit regarding whether debtors in foreign proceedings must have a domicile, calling attention to the understudied nature of Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code, say attorneys at Cleary.
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A Look At New IRS Rules For Domestically Controlled REITs
The Internal Revenue Services' finalized Treasury Regulations addressing whether real estate investment trusts qualify as domestically controlled adopt the basic structure of previous proposals, but certain new and modified rules may mitigate the regulations' impact, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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What CRA Deadline Means For Biden Admin. Rulemaking
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.
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How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers
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.
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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.