By Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio Kramer v. W10Z/515 Real Estate Ltd. Partnership, 1 a recent decision of the Appellate Division, First Department, is a case of great importance to purchasers of new condominium and cooperative apartment units. In a sweeping opinion, the court completely overhauled, if not expressly overruled, a line of Full Article…
Search the Library
Why Do I Have to Buy Title Insurance When Purchasing Property? Ask Super Lawyers
By Adam Leitman Bailey Q. Why do I have to buy title insurance when purchasing a property? A. Although attorneys will insist you purchase title insurance, and lenders won’t issue a mortgage without it, such a purchase is not required by law. Title insurance has the primary function of insuring owners in the event of Full Article…
Growing Fraud– Self Help Measures can Head Off Problems, New York State Land Title Association Bulletin
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Carly Greenberg Today’s bank robbers rarely use a mask and gun. The crimes are usually completed at a real estate transaction’s closing table. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, lenders incurred more than $1 billion in mortgage losses in 2005 as a result of fraud.1 During this same time Full Article…
Split Between Departments Muddies Subrogation Doctrine, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman In an era when this nation’s economic stability depends, in part, on stable and unfettered real estate transfers, equitable subrogation provides a solution to some of the cracks in the system. However, as evidenced by a split between two departments of the Appellate Division, these cracks need some Full Article…
HETPA Contains Land Mines For Unwary Attorneys, Buyers, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman In February of 2007 the Home Equity Theft Prevention Act (HETPA) passed the New York State Legislature, attempting to stop scam artists from stealing or tapping the equity of victims’ homes. HETPA had two principal areas of concern: the substance of transactions involving persons in distressed circumstances selling Full Article…
Title Insurance Complexities in Tax Foreclosure Purchases, Mortgage Banking Magazine
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman For the past four years, nearly every title company providing title insurance in the United States of America has been scrambling to interpret federal and state court decisions setting the rules for determining when a tax foreclosure sale will be safe from judicial knockouts. When the U.S. Supreme Full Article…
The Warrant of Habitability: An Unexpected Hazard in Home Mortgage Foreclosure, Real Estate Law and Industry Report
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman Most attorneys and nearly all educated tenants in this State are aware of the existence of the warranty of habitability. Few may know that it is statutory in basis, fewer care that it contradicts the common law, but most would be surprised by the types of occupancy to Full Article…
The Warranty of Habitability, an Unexpected Hazard in Foreclosure, New York Housing Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman Most owners and nearly all educated tenants in this state are aware of the existence of the warranty of habitability. Few may know that it is statutory in basis, fewer care that it contradicts he common law, but most would be surprised by the types of occupancy to Full Article…