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Residential

  • August 08, 2025

    South Korea Probes 49 Foreign Luxury Apartment Buyers

    South Korea's National Tax Service said it has launched a tax evasion probe into 49 owners of high-priced apartments who are from foreign countries such as the U.S. and China.

  • August 08, 2025

    Brokerage Urges 10th Circ. To Revive NAR Antitrust Suit

    A residential brokerage startup is heading to the Tenth Circuit to appeal the toss of its antitrust suit against the National Association of Realtors and several major brokerages, which were accused in Utah federal court of conspiring to block the startup from accessing NAR multiple listing services because it offered lower buyer-broker commissions.

  • August 07, 2025

    Fire Victims See Positive Step In Calif.'s FAIR Plan Action 

    California regulators gave fire victims a boost last week when the state's insurance department launched a legal action seeking penalties against the state's last-resort insurer for its handling of smoke damage claims, but the market effects of the move are still not fully clear. 

  • August 07, 2025

    Insurers Say Property Co.'s $7M Ida Claim Must Be Arbitrated

    A lower court order forcing a New Orleans property owner to arbitrate its $7 million Hurricane Ida damage claim against its domestic insurers should be reinstated, a group of carriers told the Fifth Circuit on Thursday, saying the New York Convention mandates the enforcement of the policy's arbitration provision.

  • August 07, 2025

    9th Circ. Revives Homeowners' 'Reverse Mortgage Loan' Suit

    A Ninth Circuit panel has revived a proposed class action against a company offering homeowners cash in exchange for a slice of their home equity, finding a Washington couple has shown their arrangement amounted to a reverse mortgage loan subject to special statutory requirements.

  • August 07, 2025

    9th Circ. Backs Seattle's Win In Housing Ordinance Suit

    The Ninth Circuit affirmed Seattle's lower court victory against a suit filed by landlords challenging a 2017 city housing law that, among other restrictions, prevents landlords from requiring prospective tenants to disclose whether or not they have criminal records.

  • August 07, 2025

    Housing Authority Can't Slip Ex-Worker's Retaliation Lawsuit

    A North Carolina federal judge has refused to end a discrimination suit against Charlotte's public housing authority Inlivian, finding that several material disputes remain about whether an ex-worker faced retaliation after whistleblowing.

  • August 07, 2025

    Judge Says Wis. Tribal Roads Must Stay Open

    Four Wisconsin tribal roads at the crux of a yearslong dispute over trespassing allegations must permanently remain open to the public, a federal court judge has ordered, saying there is no doubt that the town of Lac du Flambeau provided maintenance to them for decades despite an expired 50-year easement.

  • August 07, 2025

    Loan Servicer Inks $2M Deal With Mass. AG Over Foreclosures

    A mortgage servicing firm will pay $2 million to settle allegations that it violated Massachusetts consumer protection, debt collection and foreclosure prevention laws while previously operating as a direct loan servicer, the state attorney general's office announced on Thursday.

  • August 07, 2025

    Texas Senate OKs Lower Voter-Approval Property Tax Rate

    Texas would reduce its voter-approval property tax rate, the maximum rate a local government may adopt without voter approval, for large taxing units under a bill passed by the state Senate.

  • August 07, 2025

    Smoke Taint Evidence Complicates Recovery For Wineries

    Recent widespread fires in and around California's wine-producing regions, which produce a vast majority of the nation's wine, have spurred concern from policyholders and public officials over how wineries can seek coverage for smoke tainting their products. Victor Jacobellis, an insurance recovery attorney at Merlin Law Group, spoke to Law360 about the implications of smoke taint as well as a Senate bill that could provide a baseline standard for measuring it.

  • August 07, 2025

    Trump Greenlights Private Equity, Crypto 401(k) Investing

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that aims to make it easier for retirement plans to invest in a wider range of assets, including cryptocurrency, private equity and real estate.

  • August 07, 2025

    Housing Advocates Say Opponents Stole Name For PAC

    A housing advocacy nonprofit in the Boston suburb of Newton say that opponents of a zoning measure appropriated its name, "Newton for Everyone," for a political action committee to fund candidates opposing the plan, violating its trademark rights and other laws.

  • August 07, 2025

    Texas Bill Seeks Two-Thirds Vote To Exceed Max Tax Rate

    Texas would require two-thirds approval from voters to allow local taxing entities to increase property taxes beyond a maximum rate permitted by law without a vote under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.

  • August 07, 2025

    NY AG Says Landlord Overcharged City Subsidized Tenants

    The New York Attorney General's Office has filed a lawsuit in state court against a New York City landlord who it says overcharged rent-stabilized tenants receiving subsidies and then sued some of the tenants for nonpayment.

  • August 07, 2025

    Former LVMH Atty Joins Realtors Association's Legal Team

    The National Association of Realtors announced Aug. 7 it has appointed as its vice president of litigation and associate general counsel the former vice president of legal affairs and head of litigation at LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc.

  • August 07, 2025

    NC Biz Court Bulletin: Divorce Dust-Ups And Judicial Rebukes

    Litigation in the North Carolina Business Court is heating up this summer with new complaints centered on fears a former state politician's divorce proceedings will impede his companies' operations and accusations that a climate technology company has failed to pay out a former engineer's ownership interest.

  • August 06, 2025

    Under Pressure, Higher Ed Leans On Real Estate

    As institutions of higher education contend with declining enrollment and federal funding cuts, some are finding creative ways to monetize their real estate, which comes with important legal considerations, according to attorneys.

  • August 06, 2025

    Aimco Agrees To $740M New England Portfolio Sale

    Real estate investment trust Apartment Investment and Management Co. will get paid $740 million for selling off a 2,719-unit portfolio of five New England apartment properties to an affiliate of real estate investor and manager Harbor Group International LLC, Aimco announced Wednesday.

  • August 06, 2025

    Ex-Homeowners Seek OK On Tax Foreclosure Suit Deal

    A proposed class of former property owners asked a Michigan federal judge Tuesday to give initial support to a settlement with several counties that would allow the ex-homeowners to receive the surplus profits they allege the county treasurers made selling their tax-delinquent properties.

  • August 06, 2025

    Wells Fargo Beats Cert. Bid In Mortgage Racial Bias Suit

    Mortgage applicants accusing Wells Fargo of discriminating against borrowers from racial minorities by charging them higher interest rates have been denied class certification, with a California federal court ruling they have failed to show sufficient commonality among their claims.

  • August 06, 2025

    Colo. Justices Asked To Rule On Pro Se Appeal Authority

    A plumbing company and two Colorado homeowners asked the state's Supreme Court on Tuesday to clarify that the Colorado Court of Appeals has jurisdiction to prevent litigants from making "frivolous" pro se filings, contrary to a prior ruling from the court.

  • August 06, 2025

    Big CRE Brokers Report Stubborn Optimism In Q2 Results

    With most of commercial real estate's major brokers posting leasing gains and capital markets closings, executives said recently in announcing second-quarter earnings that they expect activity to continue as clients grow jaded to drama from recent trade disputes.

  • August 06, 2025

    AmeriFirst Financial Floats Global Deal In Ch. 11 Case

    Bankrupt mortgage service provider AmeriFirst Financial Inc. proposed a global settlement of disputes in its Chapter 11 case that will break a months-long roadblock to resolution of its bankruptcy proceedings.

  • August 06, 2025

    NYC Council Approves Manhattan Mixed-Use Rezoning Plan

    A rezoning plan that aims to build more than 9,500 homes in midtown Manhattan was approved Wednesday by the New York City Council's Committee on Land Use and a related subcommittee.

Expert Analysis

  • Wiretap Use In Cartel Probes Likely To Remain An Exception

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    Although the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division has recently signaled interest in wiretaps, the use of this technology to capture evidence of antitrust conspiracies and pursue monopolization as a criminal matter has been rare historically, and is likely to remain so, say Carsten Reichel and Will Conway at DLA Piper.

  • Debate Over ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Definition Of Credit Is Just Beginning

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has recently worked to expand the meaning of credit, so anyone operating on the edges of the credit markets, or even those who assumed they were safely outside the scope of this regulatory perimeter, should pay close attention as legal challenges to broad interpretations of the definition unfold, says John Coleman at Orrick.

  • A Closer Look At Feds' Proposed Banker Compensation Rule

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    A recently proposed rule to limit financial institutions' ability to award incentive-based compensation for risk-taking may progress through the rulemaking process slowly due to the sheer number of regulators collaborating on the rule and the number of issues under consideration, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • The FTC And DOJ Should Backtrack On RealPage

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    The antitrust agencies ought to reverse course on their enforcement actions against RealPage, which are based on a faulty legal premise, risk further property shortages and threaten the use of algorithms that are central to the U.S. economy, says Thomas Stratmann at George Mason University.

  • Ohio Tax Talk: The Legislative Push For Property Tax Relief

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    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.

  • In The ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Playbook: Regulatory Aims Get High Court Assist

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    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.

  • What's New In Kentucky's Financial Services Overhaul

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    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.

  • A Comparison Of FDIC, OCC Proposed Merger Approaches

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    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.

  • Tax Assessment: Recapping Georgia's Legislative Session

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    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.

  • 11th Circ. Ruling May Foreshadow Ch. 15 Clashes

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    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.

  • A Look At New IRS Rules For Domestically Controlled REITs

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    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.

  • 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.