Residential
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March 06, 2025
The Antitrust Litigation Surrounding NAR's Industry Rules
A year and a half after a Missouri federal jury found that the National Association of Realtors inflated fees for home sellers, the Eighth Circuit is evaluating a series of settlements in wake of the decision while the Justice Department pursues its own antitrust investigation with a court's blessing.
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March 06, 2025
La. Tax Break Doesn't Apply To Apartment's Affordable Units
The owner of a Louisiana apartment complex cannot claim a property tax exemption for the complex's affordable housing units because the units were not dedicated solely to a public purpose, a state appellate court ruled.
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March 05, 2025
Wash. Justices Won't Take Up Pemco's Fire Coverage Appeal
The Washington Supreme Court won't review a lower court's ruling that Pemco Mutual Insurance Co. must cover a woman's claim for fire damage to her former home after she was assaulted and set ablaze there by her ex-husband.
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March 05, 2025
Los Angeles County Sues SoCal Edison Over Eaton Fire
Los Angeles County joined the many dozens suing Southern California Edison over the devastating Eaton Fire on Wednesday, as the most populous county in the United States alleges in its lawsuit that the utility's faulty equipment caused the destructive blaze.
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March 05, 2025
Claimed Church Leader Ruled To Owe $1.3M In Taxes
A claimed church leader owes $1.3 million in tax debt after he was caught selling tax avoidance schemes, a Washington federal judge ruled Wednesday, rejecting his request for more time to mount a challenge and describing him as uncooperative.
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March 05, 2025
Black Colo. Homeowner Joins DOJ's Race Bias Refi Suit
A Denver homeowner joined the federal government in its suit accusing Rocket Mortgage LLC and other parties in Colorado federal court of deliberately undervaluing her home because she's a Black woman.
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March 05, 2025
Construction Co. Not Covered For $11M Verdict, Insurer Says
A construction company isn't entitled to coverage for an $11 million jury verdict against it in an underlying personal injury suit because the builder's policy excludes coverage for residential construction activities, an insurer told a Texas federal court.
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March 05, 2025
Lenders' Atty Reflects On FAPA's Foreclosure Fallout In NY
After state lawmakers in 2022 passed changes to New York's foreclosure rules, lenders left defending a spike in lawsuits challenging once-established mortgage rights faced another setback with a recent state appeals court ruling upholding the legislation.
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March 05, 2025
Willkie Farr Partner Gets $23K Fee In Suit Over Media Tip
A Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP partner has won the bulk of a $27,420 bid to recoup personal attorney fees after prevailing in a First Amendment feud with his former landlord's lawyer over a media leak, with a judge clipping just $3,550 for lack of a novel legal issue.
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March 05, 2025
Real Estate Lawyers On The Move
Greenberg Traurig and Rosenberg & Estis are among the law firms that have made recent real estate or construction hires.
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March 05, 2025
Newmark Lines Up $275M Refi For NYC Multifamily Complex
Newmark Group Inc. secured a $275 million loan that will refinance an 816-unit, two-tower multifamily complex in New York City's Financial District, the commercial real estate services company announced.
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March 05, 2025
Colorado's Last-Resort Insurer Partners With AI Analytics Co.
Colorado's last-resort insurer has partnered with risk modeling company ZestyAI in an effort to improve insurance access for homeowners through the use of artificial intelligence-powered models for heightened climate risks, the company said Wednesday.
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March 05, 2025
Montana Tasks Tax Agency With Review Of Exempt Property
Montana directed its Department of Revenue to establish a process to review property that is exempt from taxation under a bill signed by the governor.
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March 05, 2025
IRS Updates Foreign Housing Expense Limits For 2025
The Internal Revenue Service released adjustments to the limitation on foreign housing expense deductions and exclusions for 2025 on Wednesday.
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March 04, 2025
DC Opposes RealPage Bid For Sanctions In Antitrust Case
The District of Columbia and its attorneys at Cohen Milstein are opposing a bid for sanctions from RealPage in the district's rental pricing case, contending they have support for allegations about the company not wanting to work with landlords that reject its price recommendations.
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March 04, 2025
Attorneys Shift Gaze To Contracts As Trade Tensions Escalate
Construction experts are racing to keep up with rapid changes from the White House on tariffs amid what's now becoming a full-fledged trade war, and are working out how best to allocate cost-increase risk in their contracts. Lawyers shared several contract excerpts with Law360 Real Estate Authority.
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March 04, 2025
Insurer Can't Escape Fla. Condo's Hurricane Damage Dispute
An insurer can't escape a Florida condominium association's suit seeking coverage for property damage caused by a September 2020 hurricane, a New York federal court ruled, saying the association's update of a preexisting elevator replacement bid in light of storm damage was not clearly fraudulent conduct or misrepresentation.
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March 04, 2025
4th Circ. Finds No Harm In Facebook Ads For Young Renters
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a Maryland federal court's dismissal of a would-be renter's proposed class action alleging age discrimination by the D.C. area's largest real estate firms Tuesday, finding that the plaintiff failed to show that she was harmed by the company's targeting of younger renters in Facebook ads.
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March 04, 2025
NY Creates Framework For County Tax On Short-Term Rentals
New York established a framework for counties to impose tax on short-term rentals as part of a bill signed by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
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March 04, 2025
DeSantis Backs Canning Fla. Rent Tax, Cutting Property Taxes
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called on state legislators Tuesday to eliminate the state's business rent tax on commercial leases and reaffirmed his pledge to support an effort by lawmakers to draft a constitutional amendment that would cut property taxes.
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March 04, 2025
PE Firm Bascom Buys LA County Apartments For $127M
The Bascom Group, a private equity firm based in Irvine, California, has announced it acquired a 257-unit apartment complex in the Los Angeles area for $127 million.
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March 03, 2025
Real Estate Bills To Watch In Florida's Legislative Session
Florida's annual two-month legislative session officially kicks off Tuesday, but lawmakers have already been at work drafting and filing bills. With a total of 1,821 bills filed between the two chambers before last Friday's deadline, a considerable number have the potential to impact real estate, with several likely to feature prominently in upcoming debates.
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March 03, 2025
9th Circ. Rejects Redo Of Antitrust Case Against Zillow, NAR
The Ninth Circuit on Monday said it would not revive a defunct brokerage platform's case accusing Zillow and the National Association of Realtors of deception related to the online real estate company's website, saying there was no conspiracy in the way changes were made to how listings were displayed.
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March 03, 2025
Purlin Harnesses AI To Connect The Dots In Homebuying
Law360's Proptech Profile series looks at California-based software company Purlin Co., whose founder has striven to combine business and technology principles to deliver AI-powered homebuying tools that he says align with consumers' wants while delivering superior efficiency and results for real estate providers.
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March 03, 2025
Mich. Homeowners Denied Cert. In RICO Foreclosure Suit
A Michigan federal judge followed a recent string of decisions denying class certification to homeowners who allege local governments profited from the sales of their tax-foreclosed property, rejecting Wayne County residents' attempt to certify a class of people who say a racketeering scheme stripped them of their foreclosed homes' surplus equity.
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.