Washington County, Pennsylvania recently concluded its first county-wide reassessment in over thirty-five years, with reassessment values effective for the 2017 tax year. Property owners will receive two separate notices regarding the new values. The first notice will be a Notice of Informal Review which will be mailed to property owners starting March 1, 2016. These notices … Continue Reading
In a Law360.com article published on August 18th titled “4 Tips For Advising Tech Companies On Real Estate Deals,” Simon Adams of the San Francisco office of Reed Smith offered his thoughts on the property challenges facing technology firms. Andrew McIntyre of Law360 identifies the following tips: Need for expansion drives many deals Simon states … Continue Reading
When multiple people inherit an interest in real property, each is responsible for their share of the ad valorem taxes of the property. What happens if one party fails to meet its tax obligations? What recourse is available to a party that pays more than its share of the tax obligations? In Texas, a co-owner … 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
In many cases nonprofit organizations do not have large endowments or reserves in place from which they draw upon to readily accomplish and sustain a real estate acquisition. In today’s market, buyers are typically expected to contribute between 10-20% cash equity upfront as well as meet reoccurring payments of debt service, operating expenses and real … Continue Reading
Selecting a title company for a transaction is influenced by a number of factors, including the level of customer service, responsiveness and sophistication (particularly when dealing with complex commercial transactions). Knowledgeable and responsive escrow officers and underwriters can facilitate closings tremendously. However, underwriting guidelines may adversely affect an underwriter’s ability to deliver an acceptable title … Continue Reading
Property owners, lien-holders and community development organizations in Pennsylvania, take note. Governor Corbett recently signed House Bill No. 1363 amending the act of November 26, 2008 (P.L.1672, No.135), also known as the Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act. Depending on your viewpoint, the amendment gives much needed teeth to a tool for combating blight, or … Continue Reading
This post was written by Katherine Campbell and Siobhan Hayes. We have just had a reminder that a landlord’s obligation to pay rates can arise when it has the legal right to take possession even though it is careful not to do so. The case in question is Schroder Exempt Property Unit Trust v Birmingham … Continue Reading
This post was written by Dusty Elias Kirk and Peter Schnore Pennsylvania real property tax appeal “season” is upon us once again. It’s important that a property owner not take an assessment at face value. For 66 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, the 2015 real property tax appeal deadlines fall between August 1 and the first Monday of … Continue Reading
Landlords and secured lenders (i.e., lenders with a security interest in tenant’s personal property as collateral for a large loan) should remember to consider underlying applicable state law governing removal of a defaulted tenant’s property when negotiating landlord waivers or collateral access agreements. Competing interests are at play between landlords and secured lenders when it … Continue Reading
Considered boilerplate, lease provisions addressing estoppel certificates are often glossed over during negotiations (or ignored entirely). However, estoppel certificates are important documents in the event a Landlord wants to sell or finance its property. With a bit of consideration during lease negotiations, estoppel clauses can meet a landlord’s needs without being an undue burden to its … Continue Reading
Where Can Risk Be Reallocated by the Contract? As the business cycle grinds forward in a low-growth environment, it is clear that considerably more time is being made available to long-term commitments such as real estate lease contracts. Several areas present opportunities for both Landlord and Tenant representatives to utilize the Lease negotiation to reduce … Continue Reading
The City of Chicago has prevailed in the latest round of a "no holds barred" battle with local property owners over the constitutionality of The Chicago Landmarks Ordinance. In a decision dated May 2, 2012 by the Circuit Court of Cook County, the property owners' claims that the Landmarks Ordinance was unconstitutionally vague and violated due process were rejected, and the court upheld the Ordinance. Hanna and Mrowka v. City of Chicago. No. 06 CH 19422. The landowners had previously won a highly favorable ruling at the appellate court level (in 2009), which raised the prospect of the invalidation of the Ordinance (as reported in a previous Reed Smith Client Alert) - a result that would have sent shockwaves through the historic preservation community nationwide. With the case remanded to it for decision, the trial court considered the due process vagueness issue in detail, including as to the clarity of the Ordinance's criteria for landmark status; but it was not persuaded by the property owners' arguments, and found that they did not meet their burden of rebutting the presumption of the constitutionality of the legislation, thus upholding the Ordinance.… Continue Reading
This is a hot topic in that a number of developments are currently being delayed/called into question by claims that the site is common land or is a town or village green. Developers need to take care when they plan to develop land that has been used by the public for their recreation. Why? That … Continue Reading
