Residential

  • May 07, 2025

    'Preposterous' SEC Rule For Real Estate Could Be Dropped

    A proposed rule to make the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's custodial requirements for investment advisers apply to all assets, including real estate, could die under current Republican leadership. Some attorneys say the proposal lacked sense to begin with.

  • May 07, 2025

    Venable Adds Construction Pro As Partner In Chicago

    Venable LLP hired veteran construction attorney Charles "Cully" H. Wahtola III as a partner for the firm's construction law group in its Chicago office, the firm announced.

  • May 07, 2025

    NYC Developer Conned Investors Out Of $10M, Feds Say

    A real estate developer involved in several projects in New York City was charged by federal prosecutors with misappropriating about $10 million in investor funds and using the money to finance a lavish lifestyle and cover gambling losses.

  • May 07, 2025

    Wells Fargo Forced Short Sales Despite CARES Act, Suit Says

    Wells Fargo forced the short sale of a North Carolina woman's home by denying her forbearance on her mortgage as mandated under federal law at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she alleged in a proposed class action filed in California federal court.

  • May 07, 2025

    3 Firms Guide $135M Loan Deal For Brooklyn Condo Project

    Charney Cos. announced Tuesday that it secured a $135 million construction loan for the development of a 45-story, 182-unit Brooklyn condominium building.

  • May 07, 2025

    Big Brokers Say Tariff Effects Mostly Missed CRE In Q1

    Commercial real estate executives largely shrugged off the effects of trade disputes this spring in reporting first-quarter results, even as they acknowledged more murkiness ahead for the rest of 2025.

  • May 07, 2025

    MoFo Real Estate Leader Eyes Surge In New Debt Funds

    As some banks have pulled back or hit the pause button on commercial real estate lending, nonbank debt funds have been jumping in with full force to fill that lacuna, one of MoFo's real estate leaders told Law360 in a recent interview.

  • May 07, 2025

    Developer Fights NJ Power Broker's Bid To Nix Civil RICO Suit

    A Camden, New Jersey, real estate developer is fighting to keep alive his civil racketeering suit against South Jersey power broker George Norcross, arguing in New Jersey state court the recent dismissal of a related indictment against Norcross "changes nothing" in the civil litigation.

  • May 07, 2025

    NJ Justices Deem Town Liable For Frivolous Lawsuits

    Frivolous litigation by local government officials is not constitutionally protected and carries financial consequences, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a 5-0 decision reining in baseless legal battles.

  • May 07, 2025

    Contractor Skanska Promotes Two Civil Division GCs

    Construction and development firm Skanska has said it promoted two employees to vice president and assistant general counsel, with both advising separate civil engineering divisions.

  • May 07, 2025

    DLA Piper Adds Morgan Lewis Commercial Real Estate Pro

    DLA Piper hired a partner for the firm's real estate practice group, a commercial real estate attorney who joins the firm from Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.

  • May 07, 2025

    Conn. Town, State End Feud Over Affordable Housing Credits

    The Connecticut town of New Canaan has agreed to drop its suit against the state's Department of Housing, which was accused in state court of wrongfully rejecting the town's bid for affordable housing credits and a development moratorium.

  • May 07, 2025

    Vornado Signals Residential Foray Into NYC's Penn District

    Vornado Realty Trust executives hinted on a first-quarter earnings call at an embrace of residential development in Manhattan's Penn District, where the real estate investment trust owns a 10 million-square-foot portfolio.

  • May 06, 2025

    HUD Says Suit To Block Fund Cuts Belongs In Claims Court

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development urged a Washington federal judge on Tuesday to reject emergency relief sought by San Francisco, Boston, New York and King County, Washington, to block the Trump administration from slashing millions of dollars of homelessness assistance grants, saying federal court lacks jurisdiction. 

  • May 06, 2025

    PennyMac Wins Quick 9th Circ. Appeal Of Libor-Rate Ruling

    A California federal judge on Monday allowed PennyMac entities to pursue their quick appeal in a proposed class action alleging they illegally imposed a lower fixed interest rate instead of a variable rate on preferred-stock dividends, asking the Ninth Circuit to clarify whether the Libor Act bars such fixed rates.

  • May 06, 2025

    DR Horton Sued In Del. Over Property Deal Conflict Claims

    Stockholders of residential land developer Forestar Group Inc. sued national homebuilding giant and Forestar controller D.R. Horton derivatively late Monday for hundreds of millions in potential damages tied to billions' worth of allegedly conflicted, below-market sales to Horton of Forestar-prepared lots.

  • May 06, 2025

    Fair Housing Org. Fights Landlord's Counterattack In Bias Suit

    An Ohio fair housing organization urged a federal court to toss a landlord's counterclaims in the group's disability bias suit, arguing that the counterclaims "are a transparent attempt" to avoid complying with federal law.

  • May 06, 2025

    Irish Developer To Settle With Ex Amid $942M Conn. Ch. 7

    The Chapter 7 trustee overseeing the $942 million estate of Irish real estate developer Sean Dunne will settle claims of more than €3.6 million ($4 million) from a woman who alleges to be Dunne's first wife, the parties told a Connecticut bankruptcy judge Tuesday.

  • May 06, 2025

    Tax Court Erred In Slashing $23M Easement, 11th Circ. Told

    A partnership told the Eleventh Circuit that the U.S. Tax Court erred in substantially reducing its claim to a $23 million conservation easement tax deduction, arguing the decision was tainted by error-riddled criteria used by the IRS to value the property.

  • May 06, 2025

    Atty's Derisive Comments Warrant New Trial, NJ Panel Says

    A New Jersey appellate panel on Monday said that an attorney's comments during her opening and closing arguments in a trial over a real estate transaction gone wrong went way too far, vacating a jury's $420,000 verdict in favor of her clients.

  • May 05, 2025

    NC AG Vies To Force MV Realty CEO To Cooperate With Probe

    North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson urged a state court to force Antony Mitchell, the CEO of real estate brokerage MV Realty, to cooperate with his office's investigative demand order relating to a home-selling agreement offered by another one of Mitchell's companies, the state's Department of Justice announced Monday.

  • May 05, 2025

    Ex-NY Gov. Aide Can't Ax Foreign Agent Charges

    A Brooklyn federal judge said Monday that a former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul can't ditch charges of money laundering and acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government, saying prosecutors sufficiently alleged she knowingly used her position to advance that nation's interests.

  • May 05, 2025

    Ky. Property Owner Sues Liberty Mutual For Arson Coverage

    The owner of an apartment building in the Louisville, Kentucky, metro area accused a Liberty Mutual unit of denying property coverage in bad faith for a May 2023 arson incident that rendered the building a total loss, telling a federal court Monday the insurer wrongly invoked a raft of exclusions.

  • May 05, 2025

    Single-Family Housing Co. Sees Q1 Market 'Resilience'

    Invitation Homes saw "solid" first quarter results that showcased "the resilience of the single-family rental market and the strength of our operating platform," the CEO of the single-family homes company said in an earnings call.

  • May 05, 2025

    5 Firms Pilot Pershing Square's $900M Howard Hughes Deal

    Hedge fund Pershing Square will grow its ownership stake in Howard Hughes Holdings and expand the company's business lines beyond real estate development in a $900 million deal put together by five law firms, the companies said Monday.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • 2nd Circ. Eminent Domain Ruling Empowers Municipalities

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    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.

  • SEC Should Be Allowed To Equip Investors With Climate Info

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    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.

  • 8 Fla. Statutes That Construction Cos. Should Prepare For

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    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.

  • Time To Fix NYC's Broken Property Assessment System

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    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.

  • Understanding The IRC's Excessive Refund Claim Penalty

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    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.

  • Bankruptcy Ruling Shifts Lease Rejection Claim Calculation

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    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.

  • Do Not Overstate Fla. Condo Termination Ruling's Impact

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    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.

  • Takeaways From FDIC's Spring Supervisory Highlights

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    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.

  • What Calif. Eviction Ruling Means For Defaulting Borrowers

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    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.