Family Owned Real Estate: Legal Challenges & Opportunities
Once Removed Episode 21: Passing Down the “Family Cottage” or Other Legacy Property
War of the Rosas
The American housing market is grappling with escalating interest rates and limited inventory, pricing many Americans out of home ownership. Massachusetts’s senior Senator Elizabeth Warren seeks to address this issue in the...more
"We're ready, willing and able to close. Are you?" These are familiar words to those who buy and sell real estate. They embody the notion that, on the time appointed for the closing of the transaction, a party is ready to...more
Title fraud in Florida has increased significantly in recent years. This type of fraud typically involves a person forging a deed to transfer someone else’s real property to a shell company formed by the fraudster. The...more
FinCEN Issues Proposed Rule Requiring Real Estate Professionals to Report - Transfers of U.S. Residential Real Property The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has issued a proposed rule...more
KEY FACTS OF REAL ESTATE ACQUISITIONS UNDER PORTUGUESE LAW - I. INTRODUCTION - Portugal is an Iberian Peninsula country, bordered by the Atlantic to the west and south and Spain to the north and east. In addition to...more
Investing in off-plan properties in Dubai is an exciting opportunity, offering advantages such as acquiring properties at the project's lowest cost, high return on investment (ROI), and a favourable payment plan. However, it...more
Zum 1. Januar 2024 wird das Gesetz zur Modernisierung des Personengesellschaftsrechts (MoPeG) die rechtliche Behandlung von Personengesellschaften grundlegend reformieren. Als Reaktion auf potentielle Folgen bei der...more
As of January 1, 2024, German Act to Modernize the Law on Partnerships (MoPeG) will fundamentally reform the legal treatment of partnerships . In response to potential consequences to German real estate transfer tax, the...more
D.C.’s recordation and transfer tax rates on commercial or mixed-use properties are on track to decrease to a combined rate of 2.9% for transactions closing after September 30, 2023. ...more
The City of London Law Society (“CLLS”) Certificate of Title is a standard form document that is used in real estate financings to provide lenders with an overview and certain certifications of the properties they are lending...more
In addition to navigating through the uncertainty of current economic forecasts, real estate professionals should also be aware of a growing trend in the Golden State: real property transfer tax hikes. Recently, many...more
Scammers are taking advantage of the active real estate market. Recently, I was contacted by a client who received a call from a lawyer in another state to verify a signature on a deed for the client’s lot being sold;...more
CASES OF NOTE - CONVEYANCE OF PROPERTY RESULT OF MUTUAL MISTAKE - Thomas v. Medeiros, 100 Mass. App. Ct. 1106 (2021) - The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently affirmed a determination by the Land Court that a...more
On April 7, 2021, the New York State Legislature passed the New York Budget Bill for fiscal year 2022 which was signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo on April 19, 2021 (the “Budget Bill”). S.B. S2509C, 2021 Leg., 2021 Reg. Sess....more
On 20 October 2020, amendments to the Act of 21 August 1997 on Real Estate Management entered into force, significantly limiting the possibility of restitution of real properties expropriated on the basis of the “Bierut...more
The general limitations on reassessment of real property without a “change of ownership” under the 1978 voter initiative known as “Proposition 13” deserve renewed attention after the failed effort to enact Proposition 15 in...more
California Proposition 19, which appeared on the November 3, 2020, ballot, appears likely to pass. The measure currently has a 51.1% “Yes” vote, although all votes have not been counted and the results of the election have...more
Two major environmental bills have come forward on the Senate side. One, proposing changes to the Transfer Act, is largely what might have been expected from the working group created by PA 19-175 to study further...more
The cost of a real estate transaction in the District of Columbia is set to increase significantly after the DC Council unanimously approved a substantial increase in the transfer and recordation taxes charged in connection...more
As anticipated, on Tuesday May 28, 2019, the DC Council unanimously approved increasing transfer and recordation taxes from 2.9% to 5% on transactions of over $2 million effective October 1, 2019 (assuming Congress does not...more
The first “official” draft bill on the contemplated German real estate transfer tax (RETT) reform was published by the German Ministry of Finance last week. It picks up the proposals by the German Federal States from last...more
2019-20 NYS BUDGET ENACTED, INCLUDING REAL ESTATE TRANSFER TAX INCREASES - On April 12, 2019, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed into law the New York State Budget Bill for the State’s 2019-20 fiscal year, which began on April...more
As part of the 2020 budget, the New York State Senate and Assembly enacted new revenue legislation, which included an increase to New York State’s transfer tax and mansion tax on transfers of real property. ...more
HM Land Registry is currently looking into the potential use of blockchain technology as part of its Digital Street project. This supports HM Land Registry’s aim to “become the world’s leading land registry for speed,...more