While many Americans are struggling to achieve the dream of homeownership, there are criminals that abuse the housing market for financial gain. To avoid the scrutiny of financial institutions that have anti-money laundering...more
2/29/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banks ,
BSA/AML ,
Cash Transactions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Geographic Targeting Order ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Residential Real Estate Contracts ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
If you thought you could hide behind your LLC in this new year, think again. Governor Kathy Hochul signed the New York LLC Corporate Transparency Act (the “Act”), which will go into effect in late 2024....more
The New York Court of Appeals recently delivered an opinion in Skaneateles Country Club v. Cambs (unpublished at this time) that upheld an at-will termination of boat slip license. In 1999, Skaneateles Country Club (“SCC”)...more
Does a lender have the right to foreclose its mortgage if a payoff of such mortgage is made by wire transfer, but the payment does not make it to the lender’s account? A recent case, heard on appeal by the New York Supreme...more
10/27/2023
/ Borrowers ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreclosure ,
Money Transfer ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Mortgages ,
Ocwen ,
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) ,
US Bank National Association ,
Wire Transfers
Taken for granted, overlooked and generally not read very carefully are provisions ensconced with the moniker “miscellaneous.” I would argue that while they are viewed as the “second fiddle” of legal provisions contained in...more
A recent case addressed landlords’ refusal to accept Section 8 vouchers. The issue before the Court in People v. Commons W., 2023 N.Y. Slip Op. 23213, (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2023) was whether New York’s source of income...more
9/1/2023
/ Affordable Housing ,
Discrimination ,
Fourth Amendment ,
Housing Market ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Public Health ,
Public Housing Authorities ,
Rental Assistance Programs ,
Rental Property ,
Section 8 ,
Vouchers
Given the current state of the market and many prognosticators writing about impending distress and doom and gloom, I thought it would be appropriate to dust off the topic of forbearance agreements. Forbearance agreements are...more
In light of the current economic climate, real estate lenders and borrowers will certainly be communicating with one another frequently concerning potential loan modifications and accommodations. It is prudent for lenders to...more
New York Local Law 18, the so-called “Anti-Airbnb Law,” was enacted by the New York City Counsel on January 9, 2023. The new law – which took effect March 6, 2023 – is aimed at reducing undesirable short-term rentals in the...more
5/3/2023
/ AirBnB ,
City of New York ,
Local Ordinance ,
Municipalities ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rental Property ,
Sharing Economy ,
Short-Term Lease ,
Tourism ,
Vacation Rentals ,
VRBO.com
Volatility, prudence, cautious optimism, outright fear, stagnation, doldrums. These and many other terms are being bandied about concerning the current state of the real estate markets.
Needless to say, we are in a...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued its final rule (“Rule”) to implement reporting requirements for beneficial ownership information on September 30, 2022. The Rule will, among other things, require...more
2/28/2023
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
National Security ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Shell Corporations
On January 25, 2023, the White House Domestic Policy Council and National Economic Council published a Blueprint for a Renter Bill of Rights (the “Renter Bill of Rights”) on behalf of the Biden‑Harris Administration (the...more
2/15/2023
/ Affordable Housing ,
Biden Administration ,
Eviction ,
Housing Market ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Relief Measures ,
Rental Property ,
Residential Leases ,
State and Local Government ,
Tenants
Two recent decisions concerning title insurance illustrate that an insured’s negligence can result in an exclusion from coverage and that title insurers generally do not owe a fiduciary duty to their insureds....more
2/1/2023
/ Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
Denial of Insurance Coverage ,
Dissolution ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Foreclosure ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Loans ,
Membership Interest ,
Mortgages ,
Negligence ,
Policy Terms ,
Popular ,
Purchase Agreement ,
Washington Mutual
Can you play nice and share a piece of real estate? Sharing is hard enough, but imagine jointly owning an investment property with your brother when he decides that he would like to sell and then retire in Hawaii. While your...more
On July 6, 2022, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided In Re: Eileen Fogarty, holding that a mortgagee violated the automatic stay imposed when a tenant filed bankruptcy by proceeding with a foreclosure sale...more
In a decision rendered September 8, 2022, a three-judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the “Court”) vacated a February, 2021 decision by the United States District Court for the Southern...more
9/29/2022
/ Borrowers ,
Citibank ,
Clerical Errors ,
Conversion ,
Credit Agreements ,
Financial Institutions ,
Interest Payments ,
Lenders ,
Loan Agreements ,
Real Estate Financing ,
Restitution ,
Revlon ,
Syndicated Loans ,
Unjust Enrichment ,
Wire Transfers
On March 21, 2022, the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland (the “Court”) decided in Peterbilt of Baltimore LLC v. Capitol Gateway Properties, LLC that provisions of an option to purchase (the “Option”) pursuant to the...more
Compliance deadlines for Local Law 97 of 2019 are steadily approaching, with the first reporting date being May 1, 2025, at which time owners of buildings covered by the law will be required to report compliance with the...more
8/30/2022
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Cooperative Compliance Regime ,
Green New Deal ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Local Ordinance ,
New York ,
Real Estate Development ,
Real Estate Market ,
Reporting Requirements
A ground lease is both a conveyance and a contractual agreement between a landlord (the ground lessor) and a tenant (the ground tenant) pursuant to which the ground lessor, as the fee owner of the real property, conveys a...more
On March 30, 2022, the New York State Supreme Court, New York County (the “Court”) decided in Times Square JV LLC v. Walber Broadway LLC that a ground lease-tenant that is in default under the ground lease for failure to pay...more
6/30/2022
/ Breach of Contract ,
Commercial Leases ,
Contract Terms ,
Failure To Pay ,
Ground Leases ,
Landlords ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Rental Property ,
Right of First Refusal ,
Summary Judgment ,
Tenants
When the interest rate on a mortgage financing is not fixed, the amount that a borrower may be required to pay may fluctuate depending on changes in the underlying index to which the “margin” or “spread” is tied. While a...more
In real estate financing, most loan documents restrict a Borrower’s right to alter the collateralized real property. Alterations provisions in loan documents pertain to any alterations, improvements, or demolition of any...more
The New York State Supreme Court, New York County Commercial Division (the “Court”) decided in U.S. Bank, N.A. v. 342 Property LLC, on February 14, 2022, that a mezzanine lender that is not a party to loan documents that...more
4/27/2022
/ Article III ,
Borrowers ,
Breach of Contract ,
Contract Terms ,
Default ,
Foreclosure ,
Intercreditor Agreements ,
Lenders ,
Membership Interest ,
Mezzanine Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
NY Supreme Court ,
Real Estate Market ,
Standing ,
Summary Judgment ,
US Bank National Association
While some commercial real estate loans are fully funded at loan closing, others are funded in whole or in part through future advances. Some loans provide for future advances to fund tenant improvement work and leasing...more
It is difficult to celebrate economic success when every day on the news we are confronted with unimaginable horrors and human suffering. With this as a backdrop, we would like to offer our comments on the state of the real...more