Robert Westendorf—Research Attorney
Ninety-four-year-old Geraldine Tyler lived in a condominium for more than a decade before moving to a senior community in 2010. Tyler v. Hennepin County, 143 S. Ct. 1369, 2023 U.S. LEXIS 2201, at *5-6 (May 25, 2023). Nobody paid the property taxes on the condo, and by
Property Law Legal Research Blog
Blog Authors
Latest from Property Law Legal Research Blog
Effect of Divorce on Judgment Lien for the Debt of One Spouse
Brad Pettit—Senior Attorney, National Legal Research Group
A recent decision by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals indicates that since a judgment for the debt of only one spouse does not attach to property held by the judgment debtor and his or her spouse as tenants-by-the-entireties, the nondebtor spouse takes the subject…
Short-Term Rentals, Such as VRBO and Airbnb, and Use Restrictions
Alistair Edwards—Senior Attorney, National Legal Research Group
It is not unusual for homes in a subdivision to be subject to restrictive covenants limiting the owners’ use of their property to residential purposes and/or prohibiting the use of the property for commercial, trade, or business purposes. This sort of restriction can also be found…
Reimbursement of Tenant for Improvements to Leased Premises
Brad Pettit—Senior Attorney, National Legal Research Group
Although the general rule is that in the absence of an express agreement between a landlord and a tenant to the contrary, the tenant cannot recover from his or her landlord the costs of improvements that he or she made to the leased residential property, recent…
Landlord’s Due Process Rights Not Violated by COVID-19 Moratorium on Evictions
Alistair Edwards—Senior Attorney, National Legal Research Group
As a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency, various states and municipalities around the country have imposed moratoriums on evictions and prohibited landlords for a certain period of time from filing eviction complaints for possession of real property. For example, on March 17, 2020, the…
Virginia Civil Forfeiture Eclipsed by Tenancy-by-Entirety Immunity
Trish Sifka—Senior Attorney, National Legal Research Group
An English Judge and Jurist, Sir Edward Coke, declared in 1604: “[T]he house of everyone is to him as his Castle and Fortress as well for defence against injury and violence, as for his repose[.]” This famous quote from the Court of King’s…
Landlord Liability for Wrongful Death
Landlord Tenant/Constructive Eviction and Breach of Covenant of Quiet Enjoyment
Brad Pettit, Senior Attorney, National Legal Research Group
An unreported mid-level appellate decision by a Pennsylvania Superior Court illustrates that courts take a dim view to a residential landlord’s attempt to defend against breach of covenant of quiet enjoyment and constructive conviction claims against him or her by a tenant by asserting…
Court Requires Cemetery to Remove a Decedent Mistakenly Buried in Plaintiff's Gravesite
Alistair Edwards—Senior Attorney, National Legal Research Group
It is not uncommon for an individual to purchase a specific cemetery gravesite or gravesites many years in advance with the plan for family members to all be buried in the same area. That was the exact plan of the plaintiff, Kathy Salyer. In 1982,…
PROPERTY: When Partition by Division of Sale Proceeds Is Appropriate
Matthew McDavitt—Senior Attorney, National Legal Research Group
Any co-owner possessing an interest in realty has a right, under common and/or statutory law, to the partition of such realty, as no owner may be forced to remain in co-ownership. Physical partition is preferred and should be made where such realty may be divided without…