Residential

  • July 29, 2025

    Prosecutors Sue Wis. Landlord For Tenant Sexual Harassment

    Federal prosecutors accused a Green Bay, Wisconsin, landlord of violating the Fair Housing Act by sexually harassing a tenant, entering her home without permission and evicting her without explanation, based on a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development probe.

  • July 28, 2025

    Rocket Cos. Investor Ends Fraud Suit After Class Cert. Denial

    A pension fund that had previously attempted to lead a suit in Michigan federal court against Rocket Companies Inc. has agreed to drop all its claims in the shareholder litigation accusing the mortgage business of concealing a downturn in loan volume.

  • July 28, 2025

    Redfin Settles Patent Claims After Being Cleared At Trial

    Real estate brokerage firm Redfin and its supplier Matterport Inc. each have reached a settlement with Surefield — the new company of Redfin's former CEO — to end a patent infringement case in which Redfin was cleared of a $66 million damages request by a Texas federal jury and to resolve Matterport's declaratory judgment action in Washington.

  • July 28, 2025

    Dorm Operator Says There's No Need To Move Ch. 11 To Ga.

    The company that runs dormitory facilities at campuses in Georgia's public university system Monday told a Delaware bankruptcy judge to reject a motion to move its Chapter 11 case to Georgia, saying there's no need to change venue.

  • July 28, 2025

    Co-Owner Of Georgia Aparments Files Ch. 11 With $25M Debt

    MMRE Management-Patriot Place LLC — the minority owner of an apartment complex in Georgia — has sought Chapter 11 protection in a New York bankruptcy court, saying it purchased the property at an inflated price and the apartments have faced mismanagement and foreclosure.

  • July 28, 2025

    NYC Mayor Unveils Queens Airport-To-Housing Plan

    A former Queens airport will be converted into a development with 3,000 homes and 60 public acres under a proposal that's expected to create $3.2 billion worth of business over the next three decades, the New York City Mayor's Office announced Monday.

  • July 28, 2025

    NYC Real Estate Week In Review

    Goodwin and Perkins Coie are among various law firms that landed work on the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, a period that saw a trio of nine-figure deals become public.

  • July 28, 2025

    Homeowners, Chubb Settle Water Damage Suit Ahead Of Trial

    Illinois homeowners and a Chubb unit agreed to end their dispute over coverage for damage caused by a burst water pipe during an extreme temperature drop, weeks after an Illinois federal court cleared the case for trial, according to a court filing.

  • July 28, 2025

    Goodwin Guides $243M NYC Apartment Building Buy

    A Barings entity has sold off a luxury apartment building in New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood to a JP Morgan Investment Management Inc. entity for $243.5 million, in a deal advised by Goodwin Procter LLP, according to official property records.

  • July 28, 2025

    Texas Resolution Seeks Vote On Lower Property Value Limits

    Texas would ask voters if the state should amend its constitution to authorize lower limits on the maximum appraised value of residence homesteads and of real property other than homesteads for tax purposes under a joint resolution filed in the state House of Representatives during a special session.

  • July 28, 2025

    Fair Housing Groups Win Thaw Of HUD Grant Program Freeze

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Monday ordered the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to unlock a grant program meant to help nonprofits enforce housing laws after two groups in a purported class complained that the Trump administration abruptly froze the funding.

  • July 25, 2025

    Pullman & Comley Didn't Flag 'Falsified' $16M Loan, Suit Says

    Pullman & Comley LLC didn't discover that the executive director of a Connecticut municipal housing authority had allegedly forged a connected company's $16.2 million loan application before penning a letter claiming the deal appeared solid, the lender, who was not a client, has alleged in a lawsuit.

  • July 25, 2025

    NY Court Sides With Junior Investors In RMBS Trust Dispute

    A New York state court resolved a dispute between bondholders in 34 residential mortgage-backed securities trusts about how to handle repayment of principal amounts deferred during the 2008 financial crisis, siding with junior bondholders after a 17-day bench trial.

  • July 25, 2025

    3 Firms Guide Canadian REIT's $410M IPO

    Go Residential Real Estate Investment Trust began trading Friday after the newly created Canadian REIT priced a $410 million initial public offering at $15 per trust unit.

  • July 25, 2025

    Property Owner Claims Partner Failed To Develop SC Land

    A South Carolina property owner sued its business partner in North Carolina federal court, accusing the company of failing to carry out its promise to develop about 75 acres of land after the county designated the area as historic.

  • July 25, 2025

    Towns Repeat Claims In Affordable Housing Suit, NJ Says

    New Jersey urged a federal court to toss a suit brought by a coalition of nearly two dozen Garden State municipalities challenging a provision of the state's affordable housing framework, saying their claims are barred because the coalition previously brought the same claims in state court.

  • July 25, 2025

    Calif. County Denied Rehearing Over Timeshare Fee

    A California county will not get a rehearing over a judgment that an annual fee the county charges to timeshare resort owners to give them each a value of their own properties for property tax purposes was excessive and, in fact, acted as a tax, an appellate panel ruled.

  • July 25, 2025

    Florida Court Blasts NY Judge's 'Shell Game' To Revive Suit

    A Florida federal judge rejected a New York federal judge's two-paragraph request to revive his defamation suit against former members of a condominium board in a feud over renovations, finding that the New York judge's move to submit the brief himself while having legal counsel makes it look as if the two are "playing a kind of shell game." 

  • July 25, 2025

    Calif. Landlord Files Ch. 11 With Over $50M In Debt

    A company that owns an apartment building in California's Central Coast region has launched a Chapter 11 case with between $50 million and $100 million each in assets and liabilities. 

  • July 25, 2025

    Feds Sell Fugitive Trader's $7M Mansion Decade After Charges

    Massachusetts federal prosecutors said Friday that they have sold a $7.5 million mansion that belonged to a fugitive trader who was charged in 2015 with funneling $67 million in assets from his employer to himself.

  • July 25, 2025

    NAR Adds Trademark, Brand Protection Pro As Associate GC

    The National Association of Realtors announced Friday that a trademark and brand protection expert will be joining the firm from AARP as associate general counsel.

  • July 24, 2025

    Nonprofits Secure TRO In Challenge To New HUD Grant Rules

    A Rhode Island federal judge Thursday granted a temporary restraining order to a coalition of nonprofit groups challenging new conditions for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants that target diversity, equity and inclusion programs; abortion access; and transgender individuals.

  • July 24, 2025

    Commission Inflation Suit Spurs COVID Tolling Query In Conn.

    A Connecticut judge on Thursday questioned a real estate firm's argument that two antitrust suit plaintiffs misused a COVID-era executive order to enter the case after the statute of limitations would have expired, indicating she was concerned about the broad impact her ruling might have if she found the pandemic-era tolling unconstitutional.

  • July 24, 2025

    Magistrate Says DR Horton Refused To Hear Accessibility Ask

    A magistrate judge in Texas federal court endorsed claims that homebuilder D.R. Horton refused to consider adding accessibility features to single-family houses under construction, while finding another claim brought by three plaintiffs and a fair housing group is reserved only for multifamily properties.

  • July 24, 2025

    Va. County Board OKs Luxury, Mixed-Use Towers Project

    A three-tower, 970,000-square-foot luxury, mixed-use development project in Rosslyn, Virginia, recently received entitlement approval from the Arlington County Board, the project's developer Penzance announced Thursday.

Expert Analysis

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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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.

  • How 3D Printing And Prefab Are Changing Construction

    Author Photo

    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.

  • Wave Of Final Rules Reflects Race Against CRA Deadline

    Author Photo

    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.

  • A Deep Dive Into High Court's Permit Fee Ruling

    Author Photo

    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.

  • The Case For Overturning Florida Foreclosure Ruling

    Author Photo

    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.

  • Bracing For The CFPB's War On Mortgage Fees

    Author Photo

    As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau homes in on the legality of certain residential mortgage fees, the industry should consult the bureau's steady stream of consumer lending guidance for hints on its priorities, say Nanci Weissgold and Melissa Malpass at Alston & Bird.

  • DOJ Consent Orders Chart Road Map For Lending Compliance

    Author Photo

    Two recent consent orders issued by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of its efforts to fight mortgage lending discrimination highlight issues that pose fair lending compliance risks, and should be carefully studied by banks to avoid enforcement actions, says Memrie Fortenberry at Jones Walker.