A new year is a time for resolutions to open new businesses or to change the structure of the business you have for asset protection, tax benefits, privacy, retirement and/or estate planning purposes. But before you figure out the changes you want to make, you...
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Fall 2011 PROA Report
The quarterly PROA board meeting was held on the first Thursday of September. Our lobbyists from Pugliese Associates in Harrisburg reported on the status of almost a hundred different bills of interest to landlords and real estate investors which bills are...
Living Trusts: Truth and Fiction
By Charles C. Bell, Esquire and Bradley S. Dornish, Esquire A number of individuals are considering the use of a Living Trust to “ensure privacy” of their affairs after death, and the belief that this effectuates a substantial savings in probate costs after death....
Bankruptcy Issues for Landlords, Contractors, and Real Estate Buyers – Part 2: Claims and Claimants
As real estate lawyers, we run into questions involving bankruptcy of our landlord clients’ tenants, of our contractor clients’ customers, and of the owners of real estate our clients want to buy. In this series of articles, we will attempt to address some of...
Bankruptcy Issues for Landlords, Contractors, and Real Estate Buyers – Part 1: The Automatic Stay
As real estate lawyers, we run into questions involving bankruptcy of our landlord clients’ tenants, of our contractor clients’ customers, and of the owners of real estate our clients want to buy. In this series of articles, we will attempt to address some of...
Actions to Quiet Title in Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania there existed a long history of various different actions in equity, such as a “bill quia timet”, which were designed to clear different types of clouds on the title to particular parcels of real estate within the Commonwealth. As part of an...
Service Animals for Tenants with Disabilities: When Landlords and Condominium Associations Must Waive “No Pets” Rules
The American Veterinary Medical Association estimates that substantially more than half of all households in America own either a dog or a cat. Many of those who own pets consider them to be members of the family, and dogs didn’t get the name “man’s best...
Three Years of the Western PA Mortgage Fraud Task Force
Just when I started thinking the Western Pennsylvania Mortgage Fraud Task Force was slowing down, since I hadn’t seen any press releases in a while, the Department of Justice announced that the task force was going strong on its third anniversary. The U.S....
Cutting the Pie — Real Estate Partition Actions in Pennsylvania
When more than one person owns an interest in Pennsylvania real estate, and the owners can’t agree on the management or sale of the property, a special type of equity proceeding called Partition Action is the way to resolve the issues in court. In my practice,...
2010 Year End Update on Rental Registration Cases
As we approach the end of the year and look back on our progress on Western Pennsylvania rental registration cases, it has been both a busy and a productive year. In Pittsburgh, City Council is considering the revised draft ordinance which PROA, ACRE, WPREIA,...