Residential
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July 18, 2025
San Francisco Firm Advises Plan For Tallest West Coast Tower
Developer Hines has rolled out plans to build a 76-story tower that would stand as the tallest on the West Coast when complete, in a project guided by land use and real estate firm Reuben Junius & Rose LLP.
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July 18, 2025
Mass. Advocates Pitch Doubling Real Estate Transfer Fee
Massachusetts would double its real estate transfer fee to raise an estimated $300 million annually for affordable housing and climate mitigation efforts under legislation pitched to a state legislative panel by housing and environmental advocates.
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July 18, 2025
Zillow Says Compass Can't Get Block On 'Zillow Ban'
Zillow sought to flip the script Thursday on Compass's antitrust allegations targeting new standards limiting home listing eligibility for pre-marketed properties, telling a New York federal judge not to preliminarily block the rules because they're just an effort to use "transparency" to "mitigate the damaging effects of hidden listings."
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July 18, 2025
Snake Spotting Voids OK Of Sprawling Calif. Housing Plan
A federal judge has halted a 314-acre master-planned development in Chico, California, after finding federal officials wrongly concluded in 2020 that the endangered giant garter snake had not been observed on the site despite a sighting of the animal in the area a dozen years prior.
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July 18, 2025
Oregon To Issue Report On Property Tax System
The Oregon legislative revenue officer will issue a report on the state's property tax system and options to modernize it under legislation signed into law by the governor.
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July 18, 2025
Invesco, Bozzuto Launch $330M East Coast Multifamily JV
Real estate investment manager Invesco and developer Bozzuto unveiled a $330 million investment joint venture that will focus on East Coast multifamily properties, the companies announced.
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July 18, 2025
Ohio Board OKs $1M Value Cut For Apartment Complex
The Ohio Board of Tax Appeals on Friday granted an affordable housing apartment complex's request for its value to be reduced by nearly $1 million based on rents charged by comparable properties, saying the state Supreme Court previously had upheld the valuation method.
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July 18, 2025
Student Housing Investor Says Partner Flouted LLC Contract
A Tennessee-based company with a stake in a property manager for a Colorado student housing property has lodged a breach of contract suit against its Denver-based business partner, alleging the partner failed to provide more than $3.6 million to improve and repair the property and wrongfully refused to sell its membership interest after not putting up the funds.
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July 17, 2025
Top Legal Developments That Could Impact LA Fire Aftermath
While the full consequences of a series of devastating wildfires that struck Los Angeles in January are still becoming clear, insurance experts and attorneys have pointed to a series of lawsuits and decisions as having important implications for the city's recovery.
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July 17, 2025
Insurer Says No Coverage For $1.7M Apartment Damage
A property insurer for an apartment complex owner told a Washington federal court it owes no coverage for a "wind-driven rain" claim that the owner said totals more than $1.7 million in repair costs, alleging that the owner's prior insurer already denied coverage for the same claim.
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July 17, 2025
Calif. Accuses Airbnb Of Price-Gouging During Wildfires
California accused Airbnb in a state court lawsuit of price-gouging residents of Los Angeles and Ventura counties as the Palisades and Eaton fires raged and in the weeks that followed, despite warnings from the state's attorney general.
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July 17, 2025
Tarter Krinsky Adds Real Estate Atty To New Texas Office
Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP has added a commercial real estate attorney who joined the firm from private practice following several stints of working with the firm on a contractual basis.
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July 17, 2025
Mass Deportations Could Raise Insurance Costs, Profs Say
The Trump administration's mass deportation program could increase costs for insurance carriers and homeowners by reducing the number of undocumented immigrants so critical to the construction industry, business and insurance professors say.
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July 17, 2025
Mortgage Co. Says Military Service Rule Bars Interest Lawsuit
A mortgage loan servicer accused of charging military members interest rates that exceeded a federal statutory cap says the leader of a proposed class action didn't perform qualifying service under the statute he invoked and his Connecticut federal case should probably be dismissed.
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July 17, 2025
Firm Named Lead Counsel For REIT Securities Fraud Class
The Rosen Law Firm PA will serve as lead counsel for a proposed class of Sun Communities investors who claim the real estate investment trust failed to disclose that its CEO received a loan from a board member's relatives.
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July 16, 2025
Wells Fargo Sued Over 'Flippant' Mortgage Fee Refunds
A Wells Fargo mortgage borrower has filed a proposed class action against the bank, alleging the bank made an "inadequate" effort to resolve purported mortgage origination fee errors it has vaguely alerted certain borrowers to.
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July 16, 2025
4th Circ. Upends Gated Community's Win In Fair Housing Row
The owner of several assisted-living group homes for seniors won a second chance Tuesday to press claims that his Maryland gated community is illegally refusing to let him open a new home there, with the Fourth Circuit ruling that a reasonable jury could find violations of the federal Fair Housing Act.
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July 16, 2025
AvalonBay Looks To Exit DC's RealPage Case Again
Real estate investment trust AvalonBay has asked to end the claims against it in the D.C. attorney general's case accusing RealPage of helping more than a dozen building owners inflate rental prices by using its software, after enforcers renewed their claims against the landlord earlier this year.
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July 16, 2025
Senior Placement Co. Wants Out Of False Ad Suit
A company that places senior citizens in retirement homes has asked a Georgia federal judge to toss a proposed class action alleging it falsely advertised free services and steered business away from communities that declined to participate in its "pay-to-play" business model, arguing the claims were just "speculation and conjecture."
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July 16, 2025
Attys Tout 3 Real Estate Investment Wins In Federal Budget
Real estate investors can breathe a collective sigh of relief seeing the final version of the "One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act" that President Donald Trump signed into law this month, as it is largely favorable to the industry and keeps several much-admired tax breaks alive.
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July 16, 2025
Related Nets $46M Loan For NY Residential Development
Related Companies obtained a $46.2 million senior secured loan for its 1,200-acre residential community project in Tuxedo, New York, the lender announced Wednesday.
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July 16, 2025
K&L Gates Hires CRE Finance Atty From Dechert
K&L Gates LLP has brought on an ex-Dechert LLP attorney who specializes in commercial real estate finance as a partner in its Charlotte, North Carolina, office, the firm announced Tuesday.
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July 16, 2025
Wells Fargo Says JPMorgan No Victim In $481M CMBS Suit
Wells Fargo has told a New York federal court that it need only prove that JPMorgan knew a seller falsified financial data underlying a $481 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan, not that it was aware of any fraud, in a suit seeking to hold the bank liable for the defaulted loan.
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July 16, 2025
Utah Judge Ends Startup's Antitrust Suit Against NAR, Brokerages
A Utah federal judge permanently tossed an antitrust suit lodged by a residential brokerage startup against the National Association of Realtors and multiple brokerages, ruling that the claims were time-barred.
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July 16, 2025
Nixon Peabody Adds Former HUD Managing Attorney
Nixon Peabody LLP bolstered its affordable housing and real estate practice by hiring an attorney who most recently served on the leadership team for the southwest regional office for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Expert Analysis
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Conducting A 'Reasonably Expected Market Area' Analysis
Regardless of whether the incoming administration scales back on redlining examinations and investigations, lenders should take steps to understand how regulators define "reasonably expected market areas," and how to conduct analyses of such areas, say attorneys at Mitchell Sandler.
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Adapting Force Majeure To A Predictably Unpredictable World
As the climate and political landscapes get more complicated, force majeure provisions will likely be triggered increasingly often, demanding an evolving understanding of when events and their impacts are truly unforeseeable, say attorneys at Nossaman.
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Impact Of Corporate Transparency Act Ambiguity On Banks
Even though banks generally needn't file beneficial ownership information reports, financial institutions must continue to monitor the status of the Corporate Transparency Act and understand its requirements in case the nationwide injunction that was issued against the CTA earlier this month is overturned, say attorneys at Armstrong Teasdale.
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Strategies For Home Equity Investment Providers In 2025
The home equity investment product market is thriving even amid consumer concerns, regulatory scrutiny and conflicting court decisions, setting the stage for a promising but challenging environment for providers in 2025, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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What Interest Rate Cuts Mean For Housing Markets
The Federal Reserve's recent reduction of interest rates may provide limited immediate relief for real estate sectors, but offers potential opportunities for commercial real estate investors and construction firms, which now face an environment ripe for new projects, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.
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California Supreme Court's Year In Review
Attorneys at Horvitz & Levy highlight notable decisions on major questions from the California Supreme Court's last term, including voter initiatives, hostile work environment and the economic loss rule.
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How CFIUS' Updated Framework Affects Global Investors
The recent change to the monitoring and enforcement regulations governing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States will broaden administrative practices around nonnotified transaction investigations, increase the scope of information demands from the committee and accelerate its ability to impose mitigation on parties, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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'Reverse Redlining' Suit Reveals Language Risks For Lenders
The Justice Department's case against consumer finance provider Colony Ridge highlights the government's focus on lending to consumers with limited English proficiency and the risks of generating marketing materials in other languages while conducting actual transactions in English, say attorneys at Goodwin.
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Hurricane Coverage Ruling Clarifies Appraisal Scope In Fla.
In a case involving property insurance for hurricane damage, a Florida federal court recently enforced policy limits despite an appraisal award exceeding those limits, underscoring the boundaries between valuation and coverage — a distinction that provides valuable guidance for insurers handling post-catastrophe claims, says Tiffany Bustamante at Cozen O’Connor.
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Feds May Have Overstepped In Suit Against Mortgage Lender
The U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit against Rocket Mortgage goes too far in attempting to combat racial bias and appears to fail on the fatal flaw that mortgage lenders should be at arm's length from appraisers, says Drew Ketterer at Ketterer & Ketterer.
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Foreclosing Lenders Still Floating In Murky Legal Waters In NY
The New York foreclosure landscape remains in disarray after the state's highest court last month declined to weigh in on whether legal changes from 2022 that severely curtailed lenders' ability to bring successive foreclosure cases were retroactive, says Brian Rich at Barclay Damon.
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Philly's Algorithmic Rent Ban Furthers Antitrust Policy Trends
A Philadelphia bill banning the use of algorithmic software to set rent prices and manage occupancy rates is indicative of growing scrutiny of this technology, and reflects broader policy trends of adapting traditional antitrust principles to respond to new technology, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
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How Property Insurance Coverage Shrank After The Pandemic
Insurers litigating property claims are leveraging rulings that provided relief in the COVID-19 context to reverse the former majority rule on physical loss or damage in all contexts, say attorneys at Reed Smith.