Residential
-
March 27, 2025
DOJ's Antitrust Unit Targeting Anticompetitive Regulations
The U.S. Department of Justice launched a task force on Thursday aimed at eliminating state and federal laws and regulations that are hindering competition, with an initial focus on key sectors including housing, food and transportation.
-
March 26, 2025
NY Court Of Appeals Ices Free Rent Cases, Redefines Fraud
A unanimous decision this month by New York's highest court scrambled landlord attorneys' strategy in pending rent overcharge cases, but also handed their clients a win on whether rent concessions expose landlords to overcharge claims.
-
March 26, 2025
Sotomayor Urges Caution On Nondelegation Doctrine Revamp
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor cautioned her colleagues during oral arguments Wednesday against using a challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's administration of a broadband subsidy program as a way to resurrect the long-dormant nondelegation doctrine. Several conservative justices, however, seemed willing to disregard that admonition.
-
March 26, 2025
NYC Property Cos. Hit With Security Deposits Class Action
A proposed class of residential tenants accused a property manager and a property owner in New York federal court on Wednesday of violating state law by not placing their security deposits in accounts that would accrue interest and paying security deposits without accrued interest after the tenants moved out.
-
March 26, 2025
JP Morgan REIT Buys Sunbelt Housing Projects For $67M
J.P. Morgan Real Estate Income Trust Inc. has bought two residential communities in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Atlanta for a combined $67 million as part of a larger strategy of investing in workforce housing, the company said Wednesday.
-
March 26, 2025
Student Housing Dispositions Declined In 2024, Colliers Says
Dispositions of student housing properties mostly decreased among varying types of funds in 2024, according to a Colliers report.
-
March 26, 2025
New FinCEN Rule Is 'Game Changer' For Real Estate Investors
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's stopgap rule removing beneficial ownership reporting requirements for U.S. companies significantly lightens the regulatory burden for investors, especially those in the real estate sector, attorneys told Law360 Real Estate Authority.
-
March 26, 2025
Greystar Scores Partial Win In Eviction Fee Lawsuit
A Massachusetts federal judge has trimmed some claims from a proposed class action accusing a Greystar entity and a Boston residential building owner of unlawfully charging tenants legal fees related to eviction proceedings.
-
March 26, 2025
Resi Buildings Next Up In $500M New Jersey Office Revamp
The Connell Co. unveiled plans on Wednesday for a luxury residential component of a 185-acre, mixed-use campus in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, the latest phase in the owner's $500 million overhaul of an outdated office park.
-
March 25, 2025
Home Sellers Oppose DOJ Statement In Mass. Listing Deal
Home sellers that agreed to a $3.95 million settlement with a multiple listing service over its broker commission rules are defending the deal from the U.S. Department of Justice's attacks, telling the Massachusetts federal judge weighing approval that the government has yet to suggest terms it would find acceptable.
-
March 25, 2025
Insurers Must Face Heating Oil Buyers' $35M Coverage Suit
Customers who allege they suffered $35 million in damage after purchasing substandard heating oil can continue to seek coverage of underlying litigation, with a Massachusetts federal judge saying Tuesday their case contained enough controversy to deny insurers summary judgment.
-
March 25, 2025
Hamilton Lane Buys Major Stake In $74M Multifamily Portfolio
Hamilton Lane Partners purchased an 85% stake in a $74 million portfolio of multifamily properties located in New York City's SoHo and West Village neighborhoods, the investment manager announced Tuesday.
-
March 25, 2025
State Farm Beats Suit Alleging Property Loss Undervaluation
A Pennsylvania federal judge on Tuesday tossed a proposed class action brought by homeowners accusing State Farm of limiting compensation by improperly employing a "new construction" setting in software when calculating property damage, finding their policy did not require the insurer to use a specific computation method for loss calculations.
-
March 25, 2025
NJ Judge Upholds Mansion Tax On Sale Of Doomed House
A New Jersey company that bought a property for $4.7 million after obtaining approval to demolish an uninhabitable farmhouse on the land and use the property for industrial purposes owes the state's so-called mansion tax on the purchase, the state Tax Court ruled Tuesday.
-
March 25, 2025
Judge Orders HUD To Reinstate $30M In Housing Grants
A Massachusetts federal judge temporarily revived $30 million in housing anti-discrimination grants slashed by the Trump administration, explaining that his hands are essentially tied by a First Circuit ruling in a separate case reinstating teacher training grants.
-
March 25, 2025
Colo. Atty Gave $2M Mineral Rights To Other Client, Suit Says
The special district for a Colorado residential community has sued its former lawyer and firms White Bear Ankele Tanaka & Waldron PC and Spencer Fane LLP for malpractice, claiming the attorney failed to secure its mineral rights, instead executing a deal that favored one of Spencer Fane's other clients.
-
March 25, 2025
Miami Realtors Urge Creativity In Help For Condo Owners
With talk of a Florida condo crisis garnering national headlines and commanding significant attention during the state legislature's annual session, leaders at the Miami Association of Realtors said they hope lawmakers will take a creative approach and look to initiatives Miami-Dade County has pursued to help owners navigate these rough waters.
-
March 24, 2025
NC Urges Court To Rule Fla. Realty Co. Duped Homeowners
The North Carolina Attorney General's Office has urged a state business court to find that a Florida real estate company targeted homeowners and tricked them into signing long-term predatory agreements in exchange for small cash advances, saying it is undisputed that the law was broken.
-
March 24, 2025
PPR Capital Buys $87M Tenn. Build-To-Rent Community
Private equity real estate investment firm PPR Capital Management and real estate investment firm and developer Center Creek Capital Group collaborated on an $87 million acquisition of a Knoxville, Tennessee, build-to-rent community, PPR announced Monday.
-
March 24, 2025
Colo. Tenants Accuse Centerspace Of Neglect, Junk Fees
Tenants at an apartment building in Denver, Colorado, have accused landlord Centerspace LP of neglecting the property, allowing refuse and safety violations to pile up even as it charged residents surprise junk fees, per a suit the landlord removed to Colorado federal court.
-
March 24, 2025
NM House Requests Study Of Short-Term Rental Tax Policy
New Mexico's House of Representatives unanimously approved legislation requesting a study on how the state's tax policies and regulatory framework affect short-term rentals.
-
March 24, 2025
Texas High Court Revives Developer's Floodplain Takings Suit
The Texas Supreme Court has said a developer can again argue at trial court that Houston's new floodplain system thwarted its planned community and amounted to a regulatory taking, even though the ordinance was a valid exercise of police power.
-
March 24, 2025
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Hogan Lovells and Sidley Austin are among the law firms that landed work on the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, a group of transactions that included a pair of nine-figure Manhattan deals.
-
March 24, 2025
Comparable Homes Don't Lower Mass. Property's $430K Value
A Massachusetts home will remain valued at $429,500, a state tax panel said in a decision released Monday, rejecting the owner's arguments that the home valuation grew at a higher rate than that of comparable properties.
-
March 24, 2025
No Evidence To Lower Home Value, Mass. Panel Says
A Massachusetts panel declined to drop a condominium unit's valuation in a decision released Monday, rejecting the owner's argument that local assessors had increased home valuations in that particular area more than for other homes in the town.
Expert Analysis
-
NJ Foreclosure Law Will Have Multifaceted Impact On Lenders
New Jersey's A.B. 5664 introduces significant reforms to foreclosure proceedings in the state, potentially lessening the burden on lenders and servicers to maintain foreclosed properties, but also brings new limitations and time frames, say Christina Livorsi and Wael Amer at Day Pitney.
-
11 Noteworthy ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Developments From 2023
Under Rohit Chopra’s leadership, 2023 was an industrious year for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with developments including the release of the proposed personal financial data rights rule, publication of proposed rules involving public registries for nonbanks and the bureau's continuous battle against junk fees, all of which are sure to further progress in 2024, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
-
Insured Takeaways From 10th Circ. Interrelated Claims Ruling
The Tenth Circuit's recent ruling in American Southwest Mortgage v. Continental Casualty that multiple claims arising from consecutive audit years were interrelated — and thus subject to a per claim limit — creates a concerning precedent for policyholders, so companies should negotiate relevant policy language, says Michael Stockalper at Saxe Doernberger.
-
NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4
New York's banking and financial sector saw a number of notable regulatory and legislative changes in the final quarter of 2023, including guidance on climate risks and heightened cybersecurity protocols issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services, as well as final revisions to virtual currency listings in the state, say attorneys at WilmerHale.
-
Ill. Justices Set New Standard For Analyzing Defect Claims
The Illinois Supreme Court's recent ruling in Acuity v. M/I Homes of Chicago has effectively changed the landscape for how insurers may respond to construction defect claims in the state, so insurers should carefully focus their coverage analysis on whether the business risk exclusions are applicable, say Bevin Carroll and Julie Klein at Kennedys.
-
A Look At Consumer Reporting In 2023, And What's To Come
The legal landscape of consumer reporting is evolving as courts, federal regulators and state legislatures continue to weigh in — and while last year may have seen a slight downtick in the overall volume of Fair Credit Reporting Act litigation, 2024 is set to be a watershed year for this area of the law, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
-
How New Fla. Condo Law Will Affect Owners' Finances
As this December is the deadline for condominiums in Florida to be in compliance with legislation passed after the Champlain Towers collapse, condo owners will need to prepare for both the immediate and long-term financial implications, says Greg Main-Baillie at Colliers.
-
The Year Ahead In Foreign Investment And National Security
In 2024, expect the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, already at the forefront of addressing national security threats, to increase monitoring and enforcement related to outbound investment, focus on supply chain resilience in nondefense sectors, and heighten oversight of agricultural transactions, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
-
A Challenging CRE Environment Holds Opportunities In 2024
As the commercial real estate market faces reduced occupancy levels and rising financing costs, the new landscape will be favorable to those who can leverage capital, strategic vision and expertise to meet challenges like taking on distressed properties and converting office space to residential use, say Nesa Amamoo and Vered Rabia at Skadden.
-
A Former Bankruptcy Judge Talks 2023 High Court Rulings
In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued four bankruptcy law opinions — an extraordinary number — and a close look at these cases signals that changes to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code will have to come from Congress, not the courts, says Phillip Shefferly at the University of Michigan Law School.
-
DOJ Comments Reveal Road Ahead For Mortgage Redlining
Comments from two U.S. Department of Justice representatives at a recent fair lending conference show that the DOJ is prioritizing investigations and enforcement against redlining risks, and highlight important compliance steps for lenders, say Lori Sommerfield and Chris Willis at Troutman Pepper.
-
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.
-
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.