Residential
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October 20, 2025
NY Passes Rent Algorithm Ban In Housing Package
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed a package of bills designed to encourage homeownership and protect renters, including a statewide ban on the use of algorithmic rent-setting software and a partial tax exemption for home sales to low-income households.
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October 20, 2025
Justices Won't Review Optional NAR Rule In Zillow Case
The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to review claims that Zillow and the National Association of Realtors blocked competition through an optional association rule that relegated a defunct brokerage platform's listings to a secondary tab on Zillow's site.
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October 17, 2025
Texas Appeals Court Clears River Authority Of Flood Claim
A Texas appeals court found that the San Jacinto River Authority had governmental immunity when it decided to release water from its Lake Conroe reservoir during a hurricane, saying it took a good faith action even though the decision damaged some properties.
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October 17, 2025
Feds Say Housing Activist Used Homeless For Medicaid Fraud
Federal prosecutors in North Carolina have accused a Charlotte housing advocate of using the Medicaid beneficiary numbers of unhoused individuals to orchestrate a multimillion-dollar fraud on the government, court records show.
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October 17, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Latham, Kirkland, Wachtell
In this week's Taxation With Representation, the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership, MGX, and BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners acquire Aligned Data Centers from Macquarie Asset Management and co-investors; Rayonier Inc. and PotlatchDeltic Corp. merge to create a timber and wood products giant; and a Lone Star Funds affiliate acquires industrial processing equipment provider Hillenbrand Inc.
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October 16, 2025
Why Ethics Complaints Against Halligan Face 'Very High Bar'
Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan for the Eastern District of Virginia could face bar disciplinary action or court sanctions if the prosecutions she's pursuing at President Donald Trump's behest are found to be politically motivated or baseless, although proving ethics allegations will be an uphill battle, experts say.
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October 16, 2025
Ex-Va. Federal Prosecutor Joins NY AG James' Defense Team
The former deputy criminal chief for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Norfolk, Virginia, on Oct. 16 joined the team defending New York Attorney General Letitia James in the government's case accusing her of mortgage-related fraud, filed after the president encouraged prosecutors to take action against his "guilty as hell" political opponents.
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October 16, 2025
LA Developers Charged In Homeless Housing Fund Fraud
A pair of real estate developers have been charged in separate fraud cases alleging that they misused millions of dollars meant to build and operate affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness, the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Central District of California announced Oct. 16.
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October 16, 2025
Insurers Settle Bid To Arbitrate $7M La. Hurricane Ida Case
A group of domestic and foreign insurers including underwriters at Lloyd's of London have asked a Louisiana federal judge to dismiss their lawsuit seeking an order to arbitrate a $7 million Hurricane Ida damage claim, saying they have settled the dispute.
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October 16, 2025
Latham Guides $1.8B Deal For Spanish Senior Home Operator
The real estate arm of StepStone Group Inc. and European real estate investment firm Greykite have announced a €1.5 billion ($1.8 billion) deal to acquire and recapitalize Vitalia, Spain's second largest owner-operator of senior care homes.
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October 16, 2025
Mass. Board Upholds Tax Value Of Boston Home
A Boston property owner failed to prove that the city overassessed her four-bedroom, 2,900-square-foot home, the state's Appellate Tax Board said, finding the city's assessment of $724,000 for the 2022 tax year was reasonable.
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October 16, 2025
Justices Urged To Hear Mich. Tax Foreclosure Case
A property owner has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on her case alleging a Michigan county improperly kept the excess proceeds of her tax-foreclosed home sale, arguing the justices should settle a conflict among circuits and calling the state's process to claim such proceeds too restrictive.
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October 16, 2025
Mich. Tribunal Denies Religious Tax Break For Rental Property
A Michigan town correctly revoked a religious tax exemption for a property rented out through short-term rental platforms, the state Tax Tribunal ruled, adding that there was no evidence that Christian activities held on the property reflected the property owner's faith.
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October 16, 2025
Parker Poe Adds Onetime Stites & Harbison Office Leader
Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP has brought on the former leader of Stites & Harbison PLLC's Atlanta office to its own office in the city, bolstering its real estate and finance services with an attorney who brings four decades of legal experience.
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October 16, 2025
Justices Asked To Rethink Gellert Seitz Malpractice Ruling
Lawyers for a homebuilder are asking Delaware's Supreme Court to reconsider its decision affirming the dismissal of a legal malpractice suit against Gellert Seitz Busenkell & Brown LLC over damages the builder said it suffered due to the firm's negligence handling loan-restructuring disputes, arguing that key issues have been left unresolved.
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October 16, 2025
NY Enacts Property Tax Breaks For Some Developments
New York will create a property tax exemption for some residential property transferred to low-income households and expand a property tax exemption for redeveloped family homes under bills signed by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul on Oct. 16.
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October 16, 2025
Mass. Board Reduces Condo Value For Its Street Proximity
A Massachusetts condominium unit with a desirable view was overvalued by a local assessor, a state panel said, agreeing with the owner that its location close to a street was a detriment to its value.
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October 16, 2025
Mass. Tax Board Reduces Condo's Fair Cash Value
A Massachusetts condominium's value should be lowered because the trust that owns the property proved that the property was less updated and smaller compared with similar properties, the state tax board ruled.Â
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October 15, 2025
How Brownfield Legislation Can Spur More Housing In Calif.
The extension of a key legal tool in California for easing development on contaminated sites can relieve the state's housing shortage, though more work can be done to improve the legislation and make it work better with other environmental regulations, according to a partner at Cox Castle & Nicholson LLP.
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October 15, 2025
Pantzer Closes Real Estate Fund At Over $1B
Institutional fund manager Pantzer Properties said it has raised more than $1 billion for a real estate fund that aims to acquire and oversee "institutional-quality" U.S. multifamily properties located on the country's East Coast.
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October 15, 2025
Ga. Justices Stand By Holding That Runoff Fees Aren't Taxes
The Supreme Court of Georgia has for the second time ruled that a landowner can't use a constitutional challenge to get out of paying stormwater utility bills to its local government, declining Wednesday to overturn a decade-plus precedent that ruled the county was enforcing a fee rather than a tax.
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October 15, 2025
AGs Concerned About Landlord Settlements In RealPage Case
Attorneys general of the District of Columbia and three states told a Tennessee federal court Wednesday that they have concerns about a combined $141.8 million worth of class settlements for antitrust claims against several multifamily landlords that allegedly used property management software company RealPage Inc.'s technology for rent price-fixing.
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October 15, 2025
Crescent Heights Nets $238M Refi For Miami Apartment Tower
Real estate firm Crescent Heights obtained a $238 million loan to refinance a luxury residential building in Miami's Edgewater neighborhood, the parties announced Wednesday.
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October 15, 2025
NY Wins Suit Over Rent Hikes At Manufactured Homes Park
A state court judge sided with New York in its suit accusing the owners of a 324-lot manufactured homes park of illegally raising rents and violating state and local sanitary regulations by failing to maintain the property's water and septic systems.
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October 15, 2025
Loan Originator Gets 1½ Years For $10M Mortgage Fraud
An Illinois federal judge sentenced a loan originator to 1½ years in prison Wednesday for his role in a lengthy and complex mortgage fraud scheme that involved conning elderly victims out of an estimated $10 million in home equity.
Expert Analysis
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Rental Price-Fixing Suit Against RealPage Doesn't Add Up
Recent government antitrust litigation against RealPage, alleging that the software company's algorithm for setting rental prices amounts to price-fixing, has failed to allege an actual conspiracy, and is an example of regulatory overreach that should be reined in, says Andrew Ketterer at Ketterer & Ketterer.
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Navigating FEMA Grant Program For Slope Fixes After Storms
In the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, it is critical for governments, businesses and individuals to understand the legal requirements of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's grant programs to obtain funding for crucial repairs — including restoration of damaged infrastructure caused by landslides and slope failures, says Charles Schexnaildre at Baker Donelson.
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Colorful Lessons From NYC's Emotional Support Parrot Suit
A recently settled lawsuit in New York federal court concerning housing discrimination claims from a resident who had emotional support parrots highlights the importance of housing providers treating accomodation questions seriously even if they may appear unusual or questionable, say attorneys at Seyfarth.
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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 sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ 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 sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ 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.