Residential
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January 09, 2025
Fla. Condos Tied To Sanctioned Russians Transferred To Feds
The U.S. government has taken ownership of two Florida luxury condominiums allegedly tied to Russians sanctioned for their roles in the annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014 and for their involvement in the properties being used to launder rental proceeds.
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January 09, 2025
Calif. Reinsurance Plan Spurs Mixed Feelings As Fires Spread
One week before the Los Angeles wildfires began, California's insurance regulator said insurers would soon be required to increase coverage in areas deemed high-risk for wildfires, leaving experts split over whether the regulation is an overdue update or an opportunity to pass costs onto policyholders.
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January 09, 2025
Top Climate Stories For Insurance Attys To Watch In 2025
Climate change is fueling a national insurance crisis that is threatening housing markets, municipal tax revenues and the ability to adapt to extreme weather events. Here, Law360 examines the top climate stories attorneys should watch in 2025.
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January 09, 2025
DOJ Wants Time At 9th Circ. In Zillow, NAR Antitrust Case
The U.S. Department of Justice has asked the Ninth Circuit for permission to appear at oral arguments in an appeal looking to revive antitrust claims from a defunct brokerage platform against Zillow and the National Association of Realtors.
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January 09, 2025
Ind. Senate Bill Would End Annual Assessment Adjustments
Indiana would eliminate annual adjustments to the assessed value of some real property to reflect changing values under legislation introduced in the state Senate.
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January 09, 2025
Indiana House Bill Would Abolish Property Taxes
Indiana would disallow the assessment of tangible property beginning in 2026 and end the imposition of property taxes beginning in 2027 under a bill introduced Thursday in the state House of Representatives.
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January 09, 2025
Calif. Insurance Chief Blocks Policy Cancellation In Fire Zones
Insurance companies can't cancel or refuse to renew homeowners coverage for policyholders in the immediate vicinity of the Los Angeles wildfires for one year, the California Department of Insurance announced as fires continue to ravage Southern California.
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January 09, 2025
McGuireWoods Adds Commercial Litigator Amid Hiring Spree
A commercial litigator specializing in complex construction disputes has moved his practice to McGuireWoods LLP's Washington, D.C., office after more than 19 years at Jones Day, amid a flurry of new partner hires at the firm, it announced Jan. 9.
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January 09, 2025
Hochul Floats Curbing Tax Breaks For PE Home Investments
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday that she is seeking to curtail certain tax breaks for private equity firms that invest in certain residential properties, saying the policy would make more of the state's housing stock available to individual homebuyers.
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January 08, 2025
Whistleblower Attys Get $8.7M In Academy Mortgage FCA Suit
Counsel representing a whistleblower will receive $8.7 million in fees and expenses — less than requested — for their role in reaching a $38.5 million deal with Academy Mortgage in a suit accusing the company of submitting false claims, according to a newly public order.
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January 08, 2025
Mortgage Firm Reaches $1.8M Redlining Settlement With Feds
A Florida-based mortgage company has agreed to pay $1.75 million to resolve U.S. Department of Justice lending discrimination allegations, making it the third nondepository institution to strike such a deal, the government has announced.
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January 08, 2025
Convicted Ex-Nomura Trader To Settle SEC's RMBS Action
Ex-Nomura Securities International Inc. trader Michael Gramins, who was convicted in 2017 of scheming to trick mortgage bond buyers, has reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle follow-on civil claims, according to an agency filing on Wednesday.
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January 08, 2025
Bronx Multifamily Project Cashes In $218M Freddie Mac Loan
Affiliates of The Domain Cos. have secured a $218 million loan for a mixed-use, mixed-income multifamily project in the Bronx borough of New York City, with financing provided by Freddie Mac via JLL Real Estate Capital.
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January 08, 2025
HUD Announces $12B In Disaster Assistance Grants
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said it will provide $12 billion in grants to help communities in two dozen states and territories recover from hurricanes Helene and Milton last year and wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui in 2023.
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January 08, 2025
3 Firms Lead Brookfield's $321M Harlem Apartment Complex Sale
Brookfield Properties sold a West Harlem, New York, apartment complex for $321 million in a deal guided by Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, Sidley Austin LLP and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP.
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January 08, 2025
Madigan Denies Extorting Developers For Law Firm Business
Ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan testified Wednesday that he never wanted a Chicago alderman to leverage his chairmanship of a powerful city council committee to steer business to Madigan's law firm, saying he merely asked for introductions to developers and felt "surprise and concern" when the alderman referenced a quid pro quo deal.
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January 08, 2025
AmeriFirst Heads Back To Ch. 11 Mediation With Creditors
Bankrupt mortgage service provider AmeriFirst Financial Inc. is heading back into mediation with unsecured creditors after a Delaware judge said Wednesday that a resolution is needed in the stagnant Chapter 11 proceedings.
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January 08, 2025
Landlords Liable For Brokers' Bias, NY Court Confirms
A New York appellate court confirmed that landlords are on the hook if their broker violates source of income discrimination law, finding that any other interpretation would allow property owners to skirt the city's Human Rights Law.
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January 08, 2025
Calif. Woman Can't Reduce Tax From Property Sale, OTA Says
A Californian failed to prove she was eligible for a reduction in the tax liability assessed on capital gains that resulted from a property sale, the state Office of Tax Appeals ruled.
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January 08, 2025
REITs Should Expect More Shareholder Activism In '25
Public real estate companies should expect more shareholder activist campaigns in 2025, with investors targeting real estate investment trusts with poor corporate governance practices and placing a greater focus on mergers and acquisitions, according to an Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP attorney.
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January 08, 2025
Mortgage Cos. Fined $20M Over Cybersecurity Breach
Bayview Asset Management LLC and three affiliates on Wednesday agreed to pay a $20 million fine and improve their cybersecurity programs to settle allegations from 53 state financial regulators that the mortgage companies had deficient cybersecurity practices and didn't fully cooperate with regulators after a 2021 data breach.
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January 08, 2025
Divisive Mass. Housing Law Can Stand With Administrative Fix
Massachusetts' top appellate court on Wednesday upheld a controversial law requiring towns in Greater Boston to add housing density near mass transit facilities, but found that the state must take additional procedural steps before the law can go into effect.
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January 08, 2025
Florida Real Estate Projects To Watch In 2025
Florida real estate has weathered the economic headwinds of the past few years and has no shortage of notable projects in the pipeline across multiple markets.
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January 08, 2025
NYC Development Projects To Watch In 2025
New York City real estate development is still squeezed by interest rates and office vacancies, but attorneys for developers are hopeful that public policy and pricing discovery will continue to spur deals.
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January 08, 2025
The Enviro Policies Real Estate Attys Are Eyeing In 2025
On the precipice of four years of expected deregulation, agency challenge, and a weakening of incentives and credits, real estate attorneys and their clients are in a wait-and-see phase to determine how environmental policy shifts will — or should — alter their work.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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Understanding The IRC's Excessive Refund Claim Penalty
Taxpayers considering protective refund claims pending resolution of major questions in tax cases like Moore v. U.S., which is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, should understand how doing so may also leave them vulnerable to an excessive refund claim penalty under Internal Revenue Code Section 6676, say attorneys at McDermott.
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Bankruptcy Ruling Shifts Lease Rejection Claim Calculation
A New York federal court’s recent ruling in In re: Cortlandt provides guidance on how to calculate a landlord's damages claim when a bankruptcy debtor rejects a lease, changing from an approach that considers the remaining rent due under the lease to one that considers the remaining time, say Bethany Simmons and Noah Weingarten at Loeb & Loeb.
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Do Not Overstate Fla. Condo Termination Ruling's Impact
A close look at the unique language at issue in Avila v. Biscayne, in which a Florida appellate court deemed a condo termination to be invalid, shows that the case is unlikely to significantly affect other potential terminations, say Barry Lapides and Edward Baker at Berger Singerman.
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Takeaways From FDIC's Spring Supervisory Highlights
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s spring 2024 consumer compliance supervisory report found that relatively few institutions had significant consumer compliance issues last year, but the common thread among those that did were inadequacies or failures in disclosures to consumers, says Matthew Hanaghan at Nutter.
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What Calif. Eviction Ruling Means For Defaulting Borrowers
A California appellate court's recent decision in Homeward Opportunities v. Taptelis found that a defaulting borrower could not delay foreclosure with an improperly served notice of pendency of action, but leaves open a possibility for borrowers to delay eviction proceedings merely by filing lawsuits, say Anne Beehler and Krystal Anderson at Holland & Knight.
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How 3D Printing And Prefab Are Changing Construction
The growing popularity of trends like 3D printing technology and prefabrication in the construction industry have positive ramifications ranging from reducing risks at project sites to streamlining construction schedules, say Josephine Bahn and Jeffery Mullen at Cozen O'Connor.
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Wave Of Final Rules Reflects Race Against CRA Deadline
The flurry of final rules now leaping off the Federal Register press — some of which will affect entire industries and millions of Americans — shows President Joe Biden's determination to protect his regulatory legacy from reversal by the next Congress, given the impending statutory look-back period under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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A Deep Dive Into High Court's Permit Fee Ruling
David Robinson and Daniel Golub at Holland & Knight explore the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling that a local traffic impact fee charged to a California property owner may be a Fifth Amendment taking — and where it leaves localities and real estate developers.
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The Case For Overturning Florida Foreclosure Ruling
A Florida appellate court's recent decision in Desbrunes v. U.S. Bank National Association will potentially put foreclosure cases across the state in jeopardy, and unless it is reconsidered, foreclosing plaintiffs will need to choose between frustrating and uncertain options in the new legal landscape, say Sara Accardi and Paige Knight at Bradley.