Residential
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November 17, 2025
Fed's Cook Slams 'Pretextual' Mortgage Fraud Accusations
Federal Reserve Board Gov. Lisa Cook on Monday hit back at federal officials' allegations she committed mortgage fraud, criticizing the "baseless" accusations as "pretextual justifications" for President Donald Trump and his allies "to investigate anyone whom they view as an obstacle to the administration's political and economic agenda."
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November 17, 2025
Colo. HOA, Insurer Settle Remaining Hail Damage Claims
A homeowners association and its insurer reached a settlement in Colorado federal court Friday in the homeowners association's breach of contract lawsuit where it claimed the insurer incorrectly issued roughly $1,600 for hail damage despite the association's $3.5 million damage estimate.
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November 17, 2025
Ky. Fights To Keep Its RealPage Battle In Play
Kentucky pushed back against several landlords' bid to escape an antitrust suit naming them alongside property management software company RealPage Inc., arguing in federal court that it provided direct evidence supporting its allegation of a conspiracy between the parties.
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November 17, 2025
11th Circ. Says Nonprofit Must Obey Affordable Housing Deal
The Eleventh Circuit ruled Monday that the nonprofit owner of a 192-unit multifamily apartment complex must keep obeying a 31-year-old federal agreement that required it to rent the units to lower-income tenants.
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November 17, 2025
EPA, Army Corps Float Trimming Clean Water Act Powers
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers on Monday proposed new limits on their ability to enforce the Clean Water Act, saying prior understandings of the federal government's authority were too broad.
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November 17, 2025
Senior Home Referral Site Must Face False Ad Claims
A senior living placement site must face a false advertising suit filed by a Georgia assisted living home alleging the platform runs on a pay-to-play model, as a federal judge said he wasn't buying Caring.com's defense that its advertising was innocuous "puffery."
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November 17, 2025
11th Circ. Says Fla. County Owes For Closing Private Beaches
The Eleventh Circuit ruled on Monday that a Florida county enforcing its COVID-19 restrictions for accessing private beaches counted as taking private properties without just compensation under the Fifth Amendment.
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November 17, 2025
Texas AG Seeks Pause On Foreign Land Ownership Ban Suit
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urged a federal judge to pause a lawsuit from three Chinese nationals over a policy preventing citizens of the country from buying land in Texas, arguing the case hinges on an expected Fifth Circuit decision in another challenge to the law.
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November 17, 2025
Del. Pushes County Property Tax Payment Deadline To Dec. 31
Delaware extended a tax payment deadline for New Castle County property owners until the end of the year under a bill signed by the governor.
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November 17, 2025
Cortland Lands $192M Refi On 1,100-Unit Apartment Portfolio
Real estate investment trust Cortland Partners has landed a $192 million refinancing from Freddie Mac on a multifamily portfolio with a combined 1,137 units in Miami, Denver and Dallas, broker Walker & Dunlop said Monday.
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November 14, 2025
Platt Richmond Guides Co.'s Texas Multifamily Buy
Clover Capital Partners has acquired a 232-unit Plano, Texas, multifamily property in a deal guided by Platt Richmond PLLC, the real estate firm announced Friday.
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November 14, 2025
7th Circ. Wary Of Takings Challenge To Chicago Tenant Law
A Seventh Circuit judge on Friday pressed counsel for a building owner, which opposes a Chicago law requiring owners of foreclosed rental properties to pay tenants a relocation fee or offer a new lease, to address the limits of its argument that those fees are an unconstitutional taking of its property.
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November 14, 2025
NC Coastal Erosion Spurs Call For Proactive Flood Coverage
North Carolina's governor and the state insurance commissioner are calling on Congress to pass a bill that would cover homes on the brink of collapsing into the ocean under the National Flood Insurance Program — a problem currently plaguing the state's shoreline, where coastal erosion has claimed 27 homes along the Outer Banks since 2020.
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November 14, 2025
Del. Lawmakers OK Pushing County's Property Tax Deadline
Delaware would extend a tax payment deadline for New Castle County property owners until the end of the year under a bill unanimously approved by state lawmakers and headed to the governor.
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November 14, 2025
Smith Anderson Adds Fox Rothschild Land Use Duo
Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan LLP has welcomed land use duo Robin Tatum as partner and Catherine Hill as counsel, expanding the firm's land use practice in its office in Raleigh, North Carolina, where it is based. The lawyers, who are joined by paralegal Amanda Ball, arrive from Fox Rothschild LLP.
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November 14, 2025
Non-Attys Could Help Close Georgia's Civil Justice Gap
Low-income Georgians and rural Georgians face several barriers to accessing legal services, including living in a legal desert, according to a Georgia Supreme Court committee’s report. The panel's proposal allowing "limited licensed legal practitioners" to assist with civil housing and consumer debt matters could improve access to justice across the state.
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November 14, 2025
6 Firms Guide Warburg Pincus-Led $1.4B ECN Capital Buyout
Toronto-based ECN Capital Corp. announced that it has agreed to be taken private by an investor group led by Warburg Pincus, in an all-cash transaction valuing the specialty finance company at roughly 1.9 billion Canadian dollars ($1.4 billion).
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November 14, 2025
Geosam, Group RMC Unveil Ind. Office Redevelopment Project
Investment firm Geosam Capital and investment manager Group RMC will redevelop a 44-acre Carmel, Indiana, office building into a mixed-use property that will include a hotel, as well as residential, office and retail areas.
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November 14, 2025
2 Firms Guide Canadian REIT's $2.6B Asset Sale
H&R Real Estate Investment Trust announced that it is negotiating the sale of $2.6 billion in assets, guided by Blake Cassels and Fasken Martineau, after a special committee rejected wholesale acquisition offers.
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November 13, 2025
NC Biz Court Bulletin: Rulings Spotlight Coverage Clashes
The North Carolina Business Court plowed into the fourth quarter with two big decisions in insurance disputes that involved $50 million in COVID-19-related losses at a chain of outlet malls, and an industrial accident at a Nucor Corp. iron plant in Louisiana.
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November 13, 2025
Wash. Court Backs Tax Dept. In $500K Tax Refund Dispute
A Washington property management company did not merit an exclusion from state gross income for payments to onsite employees, a state appeals court panel ruled, upholding a trial court decision and denying a nearly $500,000 refund bid.
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November 13, 2025
Wells Fargo Must Face Mortgage Borrowers' Fee Claims
Wells Fargo can't shed a proposed class action alleging it improperly charged mortgage borrowers certain fees and failed to properly remediate the issue, according to a ruling by a San Francisco federal judge, which also trimmed some claims.
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November 13, 2025
Housing Authority Pans 'Confusing' Bid To Revive Bias Claims
The public housing authority in Charlotte, North Carolina, has called a former coordinator's attempt to revive long-dismissed claims in her hostile work environment case that already went to trial "confusing" and "frivolous," saying the court should dismiss her request outright.
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November 13, 2025
Mass. Board Won't Limit Condo Value For Co-Op Member
A Boston condominium owned by a cooperative was correctly assessed, a Massachusetts panel ruled in a decision released Thursday, declining to reduce the tax valuation to the amount the co-op's remaining shareholder said she could receive for her shares.
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November 13, 2025
Shutts & Bowen Brings Back Real Estate Ace In Orlando, Fla.
Shutts & Bowen LLP announced on Nov. 13 that a real estate attorney has returned to the firm as a partner in Orlando, Florida, after having stepped away from legal work to run a family-owned candle business with her brother.
Expert Analysis
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A Primer For Lenders On NY's New Mortgage Disclosure Regs
A recent New York regulation requiring licensed lenders and mortgage bankers to distribute a significant new disclosure pamphlet, essentially a borrower bill of rights, to applicants serves as a reminder to the industry to follow existing best practices, says Scott Samlin at Blank Rome.
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Trump Tax Law Has Mixed Impacts On Commercial Real Estate
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act brings sweeping changes to the real estate industry — and while the permanency of opportunity zones and bonus depreciation creates predictability for some taxpayers, sunsetting incentives for renewable energy projects will leave others with hard choices, says Jordan Metzger at Cole Schotz.
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DOJ Settlement Offers Guide To Avoiding Key Antitrust Risks
The U.S. Justice Department's settlement with Greystar Management shows why parties looking to acquire companies that use pricing recommendation software should carefully examine whether the software algorithm and how it is used in the market create antitrust dangers, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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Contractor Considerations As Construction Costs Rebound
The U.S. construction industry is navigating rising costs driven by energy and trade policy, which should prompt contractors to review contract structuring, supply chain management and market diversification, among other factors, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.
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NC Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3
There were several impactful changes to the financial services landscape in North Carolina in the third quarter of the year, including statutory updates, enforcement developments from Office of the Commissioner of Banks, and notable mergers, acquisitions and branch expansions, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.
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Looking Beyond Property Damages For Wildfire Survivors
Personal injury attorneys seeking compensation for victims of wildfires like those in Los Angeles County must carefully apply a multidisciplinary approach that looks beyond obvious property loss to the full spectrum of damages, considering factors like emotional distress, disruption of community and the psychological toll of displacement, says Farid Yaghoubtil at Downtown L.A. Law Group.
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Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3
The third quarter of 2025 brought legislative changes to state money transmission certification requirements and securities law obligations, as well as high-profile accounting and anti-money laundering compliance enforcement actions by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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A Mortgage Lender's Guide To State Licensing Overhaul
Recent changes to the Conference of State Bank Supervisors' Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System require careful attention and planning from mortgage lenders, including tweaks to remote work designations and individual disclosure questions, says Allison Schilz at Mitchell Sandler.
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Montana Federal Ruling Takes Broad View Of 'Related Claims'
A Montana federal court recently took a broad view of related claims, ruling that claims brought by different plaintiffs in different states alleging different legal theories were nevertheless under a directors and officers insurance policy, illustrating the range of interpretations courts may give these clauses, say attorneys at Hunton.
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Expect DOJ To Repeat 4 Themes From 2024's FCPA Trials
As two upcoming Foreign Corrupt Practice Act trials approach, defense counsel should anticipate the U.S. Department of Justice to revive several of the same themes prosecutors leaned on in trials last year to motivate jurors to convict, and build counternarratives to neutralize these arguments, says James Koukios at MoFo.
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As Student Loan Outlook Dims, What Happens To The Banks?
While much of the news around the student loan crisis focuses on the direct impact on young Americans' decreasing credit scores, the fate of the banks themselves — and the effect on banking policy — has been largely left out of the narrative, says Madeline Thieschafer at Fredrikson & Byron.
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5 Real Estate Takeaways From Trump's Sweeping Tax Law
Changes to the Internal Revenue Code included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will have a range of effects on real estate sponsors, investors and real estate investment trusts — from more compliance flexibility around taxable REIT subsidiary limits to new considerations raised by a key retaliatory tax provision that was left out, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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How Prohibiting Trigger Leads May Affect Mortgage Marketing
Recent amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act prohibiting the sale of trigger leads mark a significant shift in the regulatory landscape for mortgage lenders, third-party lead generators and their legal counsel, who should reevaluate lead generation strategies and compliance protocols, say Joel Herberman, Rob Robilliard and Leah Dempsey at Brownstein Hyatt.