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Can a Home Builder Disclaim Implied Warranties of Workmanship and Habitability?

In a recent Arizona Court of Appeals case, Zambrano v. M & RC II LLC, 2021 WL 3204491 (7/29/2021), the Court of Appeals addressed the question whether a home builder’s attempt to disclaim implied warranties of workmanship and...more

Married Couple’s Acquisition of Title as Joint Tenants Does Not Rebut the Presumption of Community Property

In re Brace, 470 P.3d 15 (Cal. 2020), a California married couple acquired real property with community funds, and took title as “husband and wife as joint tenants.” When the husband filed a chapter 7 petition in bankruptcy,...more

Does a Landlord’s Violation of the Arizona Residential Landlord-Tenant Act Constitute Negligence Per Se?

In a recent Arizona Court of Appeals case, Ibarra v. Gastelum, 2020 WL 4218020 (7/23/20), the Court of Appeals addressed the question whether – in a tenant’s personal injury claim against the landlord – a landlord’s violation...more

Does a Broker Forfeit His or Her Commission for Technical Non-Compliance with Department of Real Estate Statutory Requirements?

In a recent Arizona Court of Appeals case, CK Revocable Trust v. My Home Group Real Estate LLC, 2020 WL 4306183 (7/28/2020), the Court of Appeals addressed the distinction between “substantive” and “technical” statutory...more

Foreclosure Deficiency: Construction Loan vs. Home Improvement Loan

In a recent Arizona Court of Appeals case, Helvetica Servicing, Inc., v. Pasquan, 2019 WL 3820015, (8/15/19), the Court of Appeals addressed the distinction between (1) a construction loan (or refinance of same) and (2) a...more

Vacation Rentals: Liability of the Owner for Injury Suffered by the Renter

With the explosion of the “private” rental business wherein residential property owners rent their house or condo on a short-term basis to third-parties, certain legal issues have arisen with regard to the duties owed by the...more

Court Addresses HOA Attempt to Restrict Short Term Rentals

In a recent case, the Texas Supreme Court addressed an attempt by a homeowners’ association (“HOA”) to restrict short-term rentals based upon recorded Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (“CC&Rs”) applicable to a...more

Arizona Court Determines Statute of Limitations Applicable to a Claim for Reformation of a Deed of Trust (and a Related Claim for...

In a recent Arizona Court of Appeals case, Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. v. Pheasant Grove LLC, 798 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 15 (August 23, 2018), the Court of Appeals addressed the question of what statute of limitations was...more

Property Owner Entitled to Rely on Zoning Administrator Advice

In the recent case of In Re Langlois/Novicki Variance Denial, 175 A.3d 1222, 2017 VT 76 (2017), the Vermont court addressed the question of whether a property owner could enforce – by equitable estoppel principles – a...more

The “Ugly” Property Next Door is Ruining My Property Value

Traditional bases for private nuisance claims include circumstances where noise, light, vibration, or odor emanating from a neighboring property harm the value of your property. Such bases can be objectively verified and...more

Landlords Beware: Subordination Agreements

In the recent Arizona Court of Appeals case Earle Investments, LLC v. Southern Desert Medical Center Partners, 762 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 12 (2017), the Court of Appeals addressed the question of the scope of a subordination...more

Equitable Subrogation Part Deux: Mechanic’s Lien vs. Later Bank Deed of Trust

This post follows, almost two years to the day, Rick Erickson’s post of August 29, 2014. As noted by Rick Erickson in his August 29, 2014 post, the Arizona Supreme Court in the Weitz case (2014) had determined that equitable...more

Special Rules for Eviction Actions

In a recent case, the Arizona Court of Appeals addressed the special rules of procedure for eviction actions. The eviction rules became effective January 1, 2009. In Sotomayor v. Sotomayor-Munoz, 735 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 28...more

Statute of Frauds: (1) Email as “Writing” and (2) Email Signature as “Signature”

Arizona, like most states, has a Statute of Frauds that essentially requires real estate related contracts to be both (1) in writing and (2) signed by the party to be charged. A.R.S. § 44-101. Questions often arise as to...more

Arizona Court Clarifies Premise Liability

In a recent Arizona Court of Appeals case, the court clarified the rules for liability of a property owner to a person injured on the premises. In Lee v. M & H Enterprises, Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (filed April 21,...more

More Cases Alleging Illegal Coordination Efforts Could be on the Horizon

In light of the first federal “coordination” case guilty plea, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has announced its intent to aggressively pursue convictions for coordination violations. This apparently new focus comes as the...more

Injunctive Relief for Building Encroachment. Do I Have to Move the House?

When a land owner mistakenly builds a house or other building or structure that encroaches on a neighbor’s property, what is the remedy? Does the offending land owner have to physically remove the structure from the...more

Homestead Exemption Cannot be Denied on Equitable Grounds

Arizona’s homestead exemption allows a person to protect from certain creditors up to $150,000 of their equity in their residence (dwelling house, condominium, or mobile home). A.R.S. § 33-1101 et seq. This homestead equity...more

Seller Liability for Disclosures (or Non-Disclosures), Part 2

In our blog post dated April 29, 2013, Matthew Fischer discussed the case Lerner v. DMB Realty, LLC (Arizona Court of Appeals, November 27, 2012). In that case, the Arizona Court of Appeals addressed, among other things, the...more

Commercial Real Estate Broker Liens

Arizona, by statute, allows a commercial real estate broker in certain limited circumstances to record a lien against the owner’s real property which is the subject of the commission agreement, in order to protect the...more

Partition Disputes

Partition is a statutory procedure whereby co-tenants (for example joint tenancy, tenancy-in-common, community property) can file a court action to physically divide or sell the property. See A.R.S. § 12-1211 et seq. Unless...more

Protecting Your Project From Litigation: Limited Liability Company vs. Partnership

If you have multiple investors/owners, one of the benefits of using a Limited Liability Company (LLC) to own real property rather than using a partnership is that the LLC offers better protection of the real property from...more

Purchase Options: Strict Compliance Required

In a rising real estate market, we tend to see more disputes relating to purchase options. Given the increase in value, the property owner would rather avoid the option and sell at a higher price. The option holder can make...more

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