Features
Key Legal Considerations of Structuring Real Estate Deals As Ground Lease or Sale
When it comes to structuring a real estate deal, one of the most fundamental questions is whether the land should be leased under a long-term ground lease or sold outright. At first glance, the distinction may seem simple: a ground lease allows a landowner to retain ownership, and the tenant is permitted to use and improve the land, while a sale conveys fee title to the purchaser. But the legal, financial, and practical consequences of this choice are significant and can shape the future of a property for decades.
Features
Florida’s Elimination of Sales Tax On Commercial Real Estate Leases Changes Landscape
Florida House Bill 7031, eliminating the state’s sales tax on commercial real estate leases beginning Oct. 1, 2025. This long-awaited and sweeping reform ends Florida’s reign as the only state in the nation to impose such a tax and marks a sea change in the state’s commercial leasing landscape.
Features
Protecting Against Generic Indemnity Provisions
Real estate businesses and lawyers encounter indemnity provisions in virtually every type of commercial contract. While indemnitees often insist on broad indemnity protection, business owners should be aware of, and try to avoid being bound by, generic indemnity provisions which can be contextually overbroad and result in unanticipated enforcement results.
Features
Is Article 9 Compliance Enough to Preserve a Creditor’s Rights In Its Collateral?
When it comes to foreclosing on collateral, secured creditors must be cognizant of the statutory requirements of Article 9 of the UCC. Article 9 has very specific rules governing the foreclosure process and the exercise of remedies. But is compliance with those rules enough to preserve a creditor’s rights in its collateral? It seems there is disagreement among courts as to the correct answer.
Features
Construing Separate Contractual Instruments As One
At times, disputes arise among parties in commercial transactions as to whether multiple contracts involving a common matter should be read as a single, integrated contract, or as separate and distinct agreements. This issue often surfaces where one or more such agreements contain arbitration clauses, but other related contracts do not.
Features
U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Empowers Developers and Property Owners to Challenge Excessive or Unjustified Impact Fees
The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Sheetz v. County of El Dorado will cause many local governments to revisit the defensibility of their impact fee regimes.
Features
Mediation of Commercial Lease Disputes: A Collaborative Approach to Resolving Disputes
In the view of many experienced practitioners, arbitration has morphed into a time-consuming process, often as expensive as litigation and has other shortcomings such as the non-appealability of the arbitrator's decision. Not so mediation which may be a materially better form of ADR.
Features
Applying Merger By Deed Doctrine to Real Estate Transactions
Since a deed is a subsequent writing between the parties, there is some logic to the terms of the deed taking precedence over the terms of the prior contract of sale, at least as to the subject matter of the deed.
Features
Approving Attorney Opinion Letters In Lieu of Title Insurance Is Trending, But Use With Caution
Despite being more affordable than title insurance, attorney opinion letters should be used with caution when replacing title insurance. The costs savings associated with this practice might not justify the additional risk associated with it.
Features
The Top Rated Bull and Bear CRE Markets
Trepp named its top choices for bull and bear CRE metro markets and did the same for the single most property type and metro combination, during July 2024. The firm is trying to identify what drives positive and negative investor sentiment.
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