Residential
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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.
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January 08, 2025
Housing Policy To Watch In 2025
New approaches to corporate ownership of single-family homes, shifting priorities on public housing, possible solutions to continuing cost issues and emerging tax credit tweaks are among housing policies that attorneys say they have their eyes on heading into 2025.
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January 07, 2025
Dallas County Settles With Developer In Denied Permit Row
A Dallas developer and Dallas County buried the hatchet in a suit over the county's denial of a permit application for 11 residential lots in a subdivision, telling a Texas federal judge they had reached a settlement agreement in a Tuesday joint stipulation of voluntary dismissal.
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January 07, 2025
Mortgage Servicer Makes Borrowers To 'Pay-To-Pay,' Suit Says
Residential mortgage servicer Select Portfolio Servicing Inc. must face a customer's proposed class action alleging it breaks North Carolina state laws with $15 fees it charges borrowers who make monthly payments over the phone.
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January 07, 2025
Mont. Bill Floats Mine, Data Center Property Tax Changes
Montana would lower the property tax rate imposed on metal mines, certain agricultural land and railroads but raise the rate on data center property as part of a bill introduced in the state Senate.
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January 07, 2025
Mont. Bill Calls For Property Tax Appraisals Every 2 Years
Montana would require all real property to be reappraised every two years for tax purposes as part of a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.
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January 07, 2025
CMBS Deals, Distress Rates Saw 2024 Highs
Kroll Bond Ratings Agency reported Tuesday that $104.1 billion worth of commercial mortgage-backed securities were issued in 2024, more than doubling issuance rates seen in 2023, even as distress rates driven by office sector performance rose simultaneously.
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January 07, 2025
NC Homeowners Certified In HOA Debt Collection Class Action
A federal judge has certified two classes of North Carolina homeowners who allege that a debt collector charged excessive fees and sent misleading notices to scare people into ponying up the cash, but the judge excluded a third proposed class that she said was too ambiguous.
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January 07, 2025
ND Gov. Pitches Property Tax Reform In Annual Address
North Dakota would cap local property tax increases at 3% and double a major exemption under a plan pitched by the state's new governor that he said would eliminate the tax on many primary residences in the next decade.
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January 07, 2025
Mont. Bill Seeks Review Process For Tax-Exempt Property
Montana would require the state Department of Revenue to create a program to review property that is exempt from taxation under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.
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January 07, 2025
Akerman Advises Bronx Kingsbridge Armory Project
Akerman LLP is representing a joint venture that will redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx with the help of $215 million in public funds, a project that city and state officials unveiled Tuesday.
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January 07, 2025
2 Firms Advise Nonprofit's $124M Loan In Housing Site Buy
Nonprofit Westhab acquired a development site in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, from a Slate Property Group affiliate, borrowing $124 million along with the purchase in transactions advised by Nixon Peabody LLP and Chapman and Cutler LLP.
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January 07, 2025
NC Biz Court Limits MV Realty's Usable Trial Evidence
Embattled Florida real estate company MV Realty will not be allowed to introduce certain evidence at its upcoming fraud trial about its calls to consumers, as a punishment for providing the state inaccurate information during discovery, the North Carolina Business Court has ruled.
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January 07, 2025
DOJ Ropes Landlords Into RealPage Antitrust Case
The U.S. Department of Justice dramatically expanded its antitrust case against RealPage on Tuesday, accusing half a dozen residential landlords of using the software company's tools to coordinate rental rates while reaching a settlement with one of the property owners.
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January 07, 2025
No Problem With $217M Dam Repair Tax, Mich. Panel Says
A Michigan appellate panel on Monday said a $217 million special assessment levied on property owners for dam repairs and lake level restoration after devastating 2020 floods was established through a legally sound process, ruling the owners were never entitled to have a pseudo-judicial review of the tax.
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January 07, 2025
NYC Condo Owner Hits Ch. 11 With More Than $70M Debt
The owner of 105 unsold New York City waterfront condominium units has filed for Chapter 11 protection with more than $70 million in liabilities.
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January 07, 2025
Landowner Gets Pot Farm Transport Easement Nixed
A California state appeals court has vacated a conditional use permit that the County of Santa Barbara issued to a cannabis farm, finding that a nearby landowner can deny the use of an easement on its property to transport the federally illegal goods.
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January 07, 2025
Stoel Rives Adds San Diego Construction Atty As Partner
Stoel Rives LLP said construction and real estate attorney Kirsten Worley has joined the firm as a partner in its San Diego office.
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January 07, 2025
Ore. Tax Court Affirms Value Error's Fix Applies Only To 1 Year
The Oregon Department of Revenue correctly adjusted the maximum assessed value of a property for only one tax year based on the correction of an earlier error, the Oregon Tax Court ruled.
Expert Analysis
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Recent Securities Cases Highlight Risks In AI Disclosures
Increasing public disclosure about the use and risks of artificial intelligence, and related litigation asserting that such disclosures are false or misleading, suggest that issuers need to exercise great care with respect to how they describe the benefits of AI, say Richard Zelichov and Danny Tobey at DLA Piper.
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Consider Best Legal Practices For Commissioning Public Art
Commissioning public art for real estate projects can provide many benefits to real estate developers and the public, but it's important to understand the unique legal and contracting aspects of the process to ensure that projects are completed on time and on budget, says Sarah Conley Odenkirk at ArtConverge.
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Proposed Mortgage Assistance Rule: Tips For Servicers
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent proposal to alter Regulation X mortgage servicing procedures to broadly construe requests for assistance, and stay foreclosure proceedings during loss mitigation review, will, if finalized, require mortgage servicers to make notable procedural changes to comply, says Louis Manetti at Locke Lord.
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How Multifamily Property Owners Can Plan For The EV Future
As the electric vehicle market expands, and federal and state incentives and mandates intended to promote EV use come into effect, owners and operators of multifamily residential properties should be prepared to meet the growing demand for onsite EV charging infrastructure, say Sydney Tucker and Andreas Wokutch at Frost Brown.
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Fla. Insurer-Breach Cases Split On Unrepaired Property Issue
A Florida appellate court's recent decision in Universal v. Qureshi is directly at odds with a 2020 decision from another Florida appellate court, and raises important questions for policyholders and insurers about the proper measure of damages in breach claims involving unrepaired property, say Andrea DeField and Yaniel Abreu at Hunton.
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Colorado Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3
In the third quarter of 2024, Colorado's banking and financial services sector faced both regulatory updates and changes to state law due to recent federal court decisions — with consequences for local governments, mortgage lenders, state-chartered trust companies and federally chartered lenders serving Colorado consumers, says Sarah Auchterlonie at Brownstein Hyatt.
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In The CFPB Playbook: No Lazy, Hazy Days Of Summer
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is headed for a brisk fall season, on the heels of a heated summer, which included the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that the CFPB funding structure is constitutional, and in advance of the November election, says Eamonn Moran at Holland & Knight.
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Basel Endgame Rules: A Change Is Coming
The Federal Reserve Board's recently announced recalibration of the Basel endgame proposal begins a critical chapter in the evolution of not only the safety and soundness of U.S. banks, but also of banks' abilities to lend and support American businesses and consumers, say attorneys at Davis Wright.
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Reassessing Lease Provisions To Account For ESG Initiatives
As companies seek to build ESG considerations into their businesses, it's crucial to understand how such initiatives can quickly become significant enough to compel reassessment of lease agreement provisions, and how best to modify leases accordingly, say Julian Freeman and Gabe Pitassi at Cox Castle.
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Avoid Getting Burned By Agencies' Solar Financing Spotlight
Recently coordinated reports and advisories from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission maximize the spotlight on the consumer solar financing market and highlight pitfalls for lenders to avoid in this burgeoning field, says Mercedes Tunstall at Cadwalader.
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Assessing Algorithmic Versus Generative AI Pricing Tools
A comparison of traditional algorithmic pricing models and those powered by generative artificial intelligence can help regulators and practitioners weigh the pros and cons of relying on large language models to price products or services, say Maxime Cohen at McGill University, and Tim Spittle and Jimmy Royer at Analysis Group.
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Navigating A Potpourri Of Possible Transparency Act Pitfalls
Despite the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's continued release of guidance for complying with the Corporate Transparency Act, its interpretation remains in flux, making it important for companies to understand potentially problematic areas of ambiguity in the practical application of the law, say attorneys at Sidley.
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DOJ Must Overcome Hurdles In RealPage Antitrust Case
The U.S. Department of Justice's recent claims that RealPage's pricing software violates the Sherman Act mark a creative, and apparently contradictory, shift in the agency's approach to algorithmic price-fixing that will face several key challenges, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.