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Negotiating and Exercising Rights of First Refusal
Troutman Sanders partners Sonia Bain and Daniel Anziska write that the ease of navigating through the myriad issues that may arise with a Right of First Refusal provision in a lease or other real estate contract will largely depend on the original negotiations of the right and the final terms that the seller and holder agreed to in advance. If the ROFR provision did not include specific terms or parameters when initially negotiated, the holder may have to consider an offer with terms that the holder finds unfavorable. In this case, the holder may have to decide between an imperfect offer and no transaction at all.
Profiting With Not-for-Profits
Craig Ingber, a partner at Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman, writes: New York City recognizes several limited exemptions from the payment of Real Property Transfer Tax, one of which applies when a not-for-profit corporation is either the transferor or transferee of an interest in real property. As a result, these types of corporations are attractive 'partners' when engaging in transfers of real property in New York City.
'Bloch v. Frischholz': A Novel Approach to the Mezuzah Case
Ruskin Moscou Faltischek partner Benjamin Weinstock discusses the circuit split on whether the Federal Housing Act provides a cause of action for discrimination occurring after the purchase or rental of a residence, various legislative actions regarding the display of Mezuzot despite facially neutral hallway clutter rules, and how the U.S. Supreme Court's 1948 holding in 'Shelley v. Kraemer,' a landmark case that dealt with racial discrimination, could apply to a condo board's ban on Mezuzot.
Protect Yourself From the 'Bad Boys'
David Djaha and Keith Wofford, partners at Ropes & Gray, and Chrystal LaRoche, an associate with the firm, write: Given some recent court decisions strictly enforcing bad boy guaranties and related legislative enactments and proposals, borrowers and their sponsors who assume personal liability under these guaranties are well advised to carefully scrutinize and to try to negotiate non-recourse carve-out provisions contained in their real estate transaction documents.
