It would be unfair (and likely bad faith) for a property owner to terminate a brokerage agreement prior to entering into a sales agreement or lease just to avoid paying a real estate commission. Yet, if a property owner is dissatisfied with the services of the broker, the owner should be able to terminate the … Continue Reading
Pennsylvania Act No. 129 of 2012 (effective September 4, 2012), amended the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 to provide for the disposition of personal property deemed abandoned by a tenant. The Pennsylvania legislature has returned to this subject with Pennsylvania Act No. 167 of 2014 (effective December 21, 2014). Under the prior law, there … Continue Reading
On July 9, 2014, Governor Corbett signed Act 117 of 2014, amending Pennsylvania’s Mechanics’ Lien Law of 1963 (Act of August 24, 1963, P.L. 1175, No. 497, 49 P.S. §1101, et seq.). One of the principal purposes of the amendments appears to be the overruling of the Pennsylvania Superior Court’s decision in Commerce Bank/Harrisburg, N.A. … Continue Reading
This post was also written by Peter Schnore. The Honorable R. Stanton Wettick, Jr., Senior Judge of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, spoke at the monthly meeting of the Real Estate Section of the Allegheny County Bar Association held on April 10, 2014. It is not surprising that Judge Wettick’s topic was real … Continue Reading
This posting was also written by Curt Heffler. Construction Ahead: In a recent Pennsylvania Superior Court case (Commerce Bank v. Kessler), the court held that an open-end mortgage recorded after commencement of construction on the mortgaged property does not have statutory priority over a subsequently recorded mechanic’s lien unless all of the proceeds of the loan … Continue Reading
