Residential

  • January 02, 2026

    NJ Panel Tosses Newark Property Claims, Cites 'Unclean Hands'

    A New Jersey state appeals court backed the permanent dismissal of claims, crossclaims and counterclaims involving business agreements over a Newark residential property, ruling Friday that a lower court rightfully determined that sham filings and unscrupulous behavior meant the case had been invalidated under the "unclean hands" doctrine.

  • January 02, 2026

    Top Property Insurance Trends To Watch In 2026

    Homeowners insurance investigations, a novel climate suit accusing oil majors of contributing to high premiums, and a California action accusing carriers of collusion are some of the top property insurance matters attorneys will be watching this year.

  • January 02, 2026

    Mass. Home Rightly Valued As Completed, Board Says

    A Massachusetts home cannot have its property value lowered despite the homeowner's assertion that the home was not fully built at the time of the assessment, the state tax board ruled. 

  • January 02, 2026

    Hawaii Property Tax Appeal Is Untimely, State Justices Affirm

    A Hawaii vacation homeowner failed to appeal his property's tax assessment through the correct channels and is now time-barred from doing so, the Hawaii Supreme Court said. 

  • January 02, 2026

    Silicon Valley City Planners, Landowners Settle Antitrust Suit

    A company associated with a group of wealthy Silicon Valley business owners who are working on building a minicity has settled its antitrust suit against the last few local landowners that were facing the company's claims in California federal court.

  • January 02, 2026

    Ind. House Bill Would Allow Municipal Tax On Shorter Rentals

    Indiana would authorize municipalities to impose an innkeeper's tax on the rental of rooms and other accommodations in hotels and motels for less than 30 days under a bill filed in the state House of Representatives.

  • January 02, 2026

    Outgoing NYC Mayor Vetoes Nonprofit Resi Purchase Bill

    Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams vetoed a bill in his final hours as mayor that would have granted some nonprofit housing companies the first shot at purchasing specific residential buildings or land zoned for residential use.

  • December 23, 2025

    Blackstone's LivCor Latest To Settle Rent Price-Fixing Claims

    LivCor LLC, a subsidiary of Blackstone, has agreed to a proposed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice that would resolve allegations the landlord used RealPage's revenue management software to fix rent prices, according to a proposed consent decree filed in North Carolina federal court Tuesday.

  • December 23, 2025

    OCC Wants To Preempt State Mortgage Escrow Interest Laws

    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has unveiled a pair of proposals aiming to, among other things, preempt state laws requiring banks it regulates to make interest payments for escrow accounts connected to certain types of residential mortgage loans, calling it a "critical tool for reducing unnecessary burden."

  • December 23, 2025

    CFPB Shifts Focus To Debanking, Intentional Discrimination

    To align with objections set by the Trump administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is turning its attention to "debanking" moving forward and has closed all open investigations that were based on disparate impact liability or unintentional discrimination.

  • December 23, 2025

    JLL Closes $142M Wash. Luxury Apartment Community Sale

    JLL Capital Markets announced that it has wrapped up a $142 million sale of a 383-unit Lynnwood, Washington, luxury apartment community, along with a related $83.177 million acquisition financing deal.

  • December 23, 2025

    20 Years Later: How A Pink House Reshaped Takings Law

    The U.S. Supreme Court's 2005 holding in the controversial eminent domain case Kelo v. New London remains intact despite multiple challenges to urban development projects, but its unpopularity has spurred most states to spend the past 20 years reshaping their land-taking laws.

  • December 23, 2025

    Paul Hastings Guides Mavik's $685M Real Estate Fundraise

    Credit-focused investment firm Mavik, advised by Paul Hastings LLP, said Tuesday it has closed its second real estate fund focused on special situations and overlooked assets at $685 million, surpassing the vehicle's target.

  • December 22, 2025

    DOJ Targets Trade Groups, Again, In Real Estate Amicus

    Trump administration antitrust enforcers put up their latest marker against trade associations Friday in a Justice Department statement of interest telling a Pennsylvania federal court that the country's largest privately held real estate brokerage is raising defenses against an antitrust lawsuit that would make such suits "unjustifiably harder."

  • December 22, 2025

    4 Real Estate Sectors To Watch In 2026

    Real estate attorneys are expecting trends that surfaced this year to continue and strengthen in 2026, and are keeping a close eye on a few sectors, including data centers and sports real estate development.

  • December 22, 2025

    Sallie Mae Investor Sues Over Late Student Loan Payments

    Sallie Mae is facing a possible class action in New Jersey that accuses the company and its top executives of committing securities fraud by underselling an increase in student loan delinquencies.

  • December 22, 2025

    Jury Deadlocks In Ex-NY Gov. Aide's Foreign Agent Case

    A Brooklyn federal judge on Monday declared a mistrial in a case alleging a former top aide to two New York governors did the bidding of the People's Republic of China at the highest levels of state government in exchange for millions of dollars, after the jury deadlocked on all charges.

  • December 22, 2025

    Downtown NYC Office-To-Resi Project Lands $867M Financing

    A 30-story, office-to-residential conversion project in Lower Manhattan's Financial District, the largest of its kind, has secured an $867 million financing package from an array of lenders, borrower-side broker Walker & Dunlop announced Monday.

  • December 22, 2025

    Calif. Judge Moves Insurance Compliance Co.'s Antitrust Suit

    A California federal judge has transferred an artificial intelligence-driven insurance compliance company's antitrust suit against a property management software company to a different California federal court.

  • December 22, 2025

    Abrams Fensterman Leader Takes Practice To Tarter Krinsky

    Tarter Krinsky & Drogin has hired a former Abrams Fensterman LLP partner who helped lead that firm's practice focused on cooperative and condominium work, as chair of its own cooperatives and condominiums practice, the firm recently announced.

  • December 19, 2025

    PHH's $29.5M Kickback Deal Gets Final OK After 17 Years

    After 17 years of litigation, a certified class of homeowners got the final stamp of approval in California federal court for a $29.5 million settlement with PHH Mortgage and its captive reinsurer, both of which homeowners alleged received unlawful kickbacks from premiums paid for mortgage insurance.

  • December 19, 2025

    Calif. Appeals Court Upholds Los Angeles' Mansion Tax

    A property transfer tax that adds 4% to 5.5% to the cost of Los Angeles real estate deals of more than $5 million is legal under the U.S. and California constitutions, a state appeals panel ruled, upholding a trial court.

  • December 19, 2025

    Insurer Says No Coverage For Fla. Condo Evacuation Suits

    An insurer said it owes no coverage to a condo complex in 23 suits brought by unit owners who say they were forced to evacuate because the complex failed to maintain safe structural conditions, telling a Florida federal court the property damage began prior to the policy.

  • December 19, 2025

    Bill Shields Public Housing Tenants Using Legal Pot

    A pair of Democratic lawmakers from the House and Senate have introduced a bill that would prohibit landlords who take federal funding from evicting tenants or denying applicants just because they use or possess marijuana in a state where it is legal.

  • December 19, 2025

    Dems Push For Scrutiny Of Compass' $1.6B Anywhere Buy

    Democratic senators urged the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to scrutinize Compass Inc.'s $1.6 billion buy of rival broker Anywhere Real Estate Inc., saying further consolidation could drive commissions higher and squeeze out remaining competitors.

Expert Analysis

  • NC Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

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    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.

  • Looking Beyond Property Damages For Wildfire Survivors

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    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.

  • Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

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    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.

  • A Mortgage Lender's Guide To State Licensing Overhaul

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    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.

  • Montana Federal Ruling Takes Broad View Of 'Related Claims'

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    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.

  • Expect DOJ To Repeat 4 Themes From 2024's FCPA Trials

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    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.

  • As Student Loan Outlook Dims, What Happens To The Banks?

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    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.

  • 5 Real Estate Takeaways From Trump's Sweeping Tax Law

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    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.

  • How Prohibiting Trigger Leads May Affect Mortgage Marketing

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    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.

  • Considerations For Cos. Amid Wave Of CFPB Vacatur Bids

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    As some entities look to vacate prior voluntary agreements with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, there are several considerations companies should take into account before seeking to vacate their settlements in the current legal and regulatory environment, says Jasmine Jean-Louis at Goodwin.

  • Rebutting Price Impact In Securities Class Actions

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    Defendants litigating securities cases historically faced long odds in defeating class certification, but that paradigm has recently begun to shift, with recent cases ushering in a more searching analysis of price impact and changing the evidence courts can consider at the class certification stage, say attorneys at Katten.

  • NY Laundering Ruling Leans On Jurisdictional Fundamentals

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    A New York appeals court’s recent dismissal of Zhakiyanov v. Ogai, a civil money laundering dispute between Kazakh citizens involving New York real estate, points toward limitations on the jurisdictional reach of state courts and suggests that similar claims will be subject to a searching forum analysis, say attorneys at Curtis Mallet-Prevost.

  • The Consequences Of OCC's Pivot On Disparate Impact

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    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's recent move to stop scrutinizing facially neutral lending policies that disproportionately affect a protected group reflects the administration's ongoing shift in assessing discrimination, though this change may not be enough to dissuade claims by states or private plaintiffs, says Travis Nelson at Polsinelli.