Real Estate Disputes

Co-owning real estate seems simple, whether you bought the property with a friend, relative, spouse or inherited it. You share ownership, responsibilities and, of course, the potential value of the property. But even if you completely trust your co-owner, you should never rely only on a verbal agreement. Because when misunderstandings and disputes arise, words ...

Sometimes partition actions are necessary when parties jointly own real estate. Partition actions are disputes between co-owners of properties who cannot decide on the course of action for the land. The situation might arise from the inherited property, business interests or couples that purchase property together and split up without marrying. If you jointly own ...

Most people acquire property through a straightforward purchase or an inheritance. However, some real estate owners have more complex backstories. In a tiny percentage of cases, they assumed adverse possession over the property. Some people refer to adverse possession laws as squatter’s rights laws. They allow someone other than the owner to lay legal claim ...

Title: How to handle a cloud on the title of an investment property When ownership of a piece of property in New York is unclear, any transactions can become complicated, leading to derailed projects and long-term disputes. Titles, deeds, right of way and a broad range of other issues can result in lengthy negotiations. According ...

Recently we discussed ways that real estate professionals can avoid housing discrimination lawsuits. Now, in the state of New York, the stakes are even higher for real estate agents and brokers who violate laws against housing discrimination. Early this month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law that allows the state to revoke real ...

Anyone involved in any phase of a residential real estate transaction – especially any professional – should be familiar with the Fair Housing Act. This is the federal law that prohibits discrimination against potential buyers on the basis of race, religion, sex, national origin, disability or other legally protected class. In New York, age is ...

Amnesty Program The New York City Council has passed into law an amnesty program for ECB penalties which result in judgments or liens on real estate. This program is aimed towards collecting a portion of their outstanding billions of dollars in debt. Because of this program, fines on about 700,000 ECB violations that are docketed ...