The right to access another’s property codified in RPAPL §881, once described, as recently as 2002, as a “little-used law” (as quoted in Rosma Development, LLC v. South, 5 Misc.3d 1014(A), 798 NYS2d 713 (Sup. Ct., King. Co., 2004) (Schmidt, J.), is now used for lawsuits that arise on a frequent basis, amidst the constantly evolving Full Article…
What Happens When a Party Wall Spoils the Party?
Many reasons occasioned by the Housing Stability and Tenant Prevention Act disincentivized property owners from improving existing buildings because either (a) they could not greatly increase rents after a rent-regulated tenant vacated a unit, or (b) they could not obtain approved rent increases by improving the major components of a building. The only way to Full Article…
A Lender’s Guide To Hiking Through the Retroactive Trails of the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act
Lenders in New York are battling backwards to foreclose on loans that are indisputably due and owing. On Dec. 30, 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the controversial Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act (FAPA) in direct response to the New York State Court of Appeals’ decision in Freedom Mtge. Corp. v. Engel, 37 N.Y.3d 1 (2021), Full Article…
Rules on Partitioning Ownership Property Rights
Whether a property owned by two or more tenants-in-common can be partitioned “in kind,” i.e., by physically dividing the real estate or other property interest, or by subjecting it to a judicial sale, or even whether the property may be subject to partition at all, are issues that courts must decide when the property’s majority and Full Article…
Whether Co-op Boards Can Reject a Sale Because the Purchase Price Is ‘Too Low’
“Courts have mostly rejected anti-free market tactics of the board of directors but other cases have given boards discretion to allow such rejections.” Adam Leitman Bailey and John Desiderio discuss these cases and offer that “New York needs the Appellate Division to settle this quarrel.” Financially qualified cooperative buyer’s applications are being rejected by boards Full Article…
When Is Part Performance ‘Part Performance in Real Estate Cases’?
Adam Leitman Bailey and John Desiderio discuss the issue of “part performance,” the doctrine of which can overcome the Statute of Frauds in circumstances when parties enter into unwritten deals and don’t contemplate all the possible circumstances that might arise in the course of their dealings. In my 27 years as a real estate litigator, until recently, I Full Article…