This blog has discussed “Captain Sam’s Spit” in Kiawah Island three times before. Googling that picturesque name will reveal a treasure trove of news, opinion and case law involving the proposed development of a beautiful and extremely precarious tract of pristine beach property on South Carolina’s coast. In the news, reported by WCSC- TV (Charleston), the town of Kiawah Island, the Kiawah Island Community Association, and the Kiawah Conservancy filed a breach of contract suit against KDP II, LLC, the owner of the spit. According to the reporting, the lawsuit alleges that a 2013 development a ..read more

Photo from DeBordieu.com South Carolina’s Court of Appeals affirmed the permit issued by DHEC to DeBordieu Colony Community Association for the construction of anti-erosion groins on DeBordieu Beach*. In this appeal from the Administrative Law Court, South Carolina Coastal Conservation League contended that the ALC erred in finding the groins would be placed in a high erosion area, that the erosion threatened existing structures, and that the groins would not detrimentally impact the downdrift of sand to other beaches. The Court defined a groin in footnote 2, referring to DHEC Regulations, as ..read more

Image from The New Yorker Several media outlets are reporting that the family of Ralph Yarl, a black teenager who rang the wrong doorbell in a white neighborhood in Kansas City, is suing the homeowners’ association in addition to the man who fired the shot. The theory against the HOA is that it failed to exercise reasonable care regarding the use of firearms in the neighborhood. There are apparently no rules against discharging firearms. Yarl rang the doorbell on April 13, 2023, mistaking the house for a friend’s home. He had been sent to pick up his siblings, but the correct house was about a ..read more

On April 24, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published an edition of its Supervisory Highlights that emphasizes the agency’s actions to combat “junk fees” charged by mortgage servicers. You can read the publication here.   Examples of the illegal activities revealed by CFPB examinations included charging prohibited property inspection fees, sending deceptive notices to homeowners, and violating loss mitigation rules. The publication touts that in response to the agency’s findings, financial institutions refunded fees to borrowers and stopped illegal practices. The agency ..read more

Richland County passed an ordinance on April 9 to attempt to regulate short-term rentals. The ordinance requires Airbnbs, VRBO and other short-term rentals to obtain business licenses and pay a 3% accommodation tax monthly. The ordinance applies only to unincorporated areas of Richland County, but the City of Columbia previously passed a similar ordinance.  Other South Carolina jurisdictions have similar regulations. Short-term rentals are described as being 30 days or less in duration. The properties will be subject to safety inspections, according to the ordinance. The properties will ..read more

This blog has discussed several times the difficulty of getting and maintaining homeowner’s insurance in some locations, especially coastal areas. This appears to be an extremely difficult issue in Florida, and I have heard similar concerns along South Carolina’s coast. The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that insurance companies are increasingly using aerial images from drones and balloons as a tool to cancel insurance on properties deemed as higher risk. You can read the article here. Googling the topic also reveals several related stories. Apparently, angry homeowners are reporting los ..read more

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced a proposed settlement on March 15 of four large antitrust suits involving buyers’ brokers commissions. The monetary settlement is set at $418 million. The settlement also involves a new rule prohibiting offers of compensation to buyers’ brokers on the MLS. This dirt lawyer does not have the legal ability to discuss the antitrust issues involved in these lawsuits. The speculation about how this settlement will ultimately affect the housing industry is widely varied among experts in several professions. The impetus for the original complain ..read more

ALTA says the attack on title insurance offers a false promise of savings This blog never intends to discuss politics, so don’t interpret this post to take a political position. The intent is to inform real estate lawyers of news affecting our industry. Just ahead of the State of the Union Address, President Biden announced plans to lower housing costs, calling on federal agencies to take all available actions to lower costs of consumers at the closing table and to help more Americans access homeownership. You can read the President’s Fact Sheet here. Congress is asked to pass a mortgage reli ..read more

While real estate practitioners are struggling to implement office procedures to accommodate the reporting requirements of the new Federal Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), one court has held the Act to be unconstitutional. National Small Business Association v. Yellen, Case 5:22-cv-1448-LCB (U.S. District Court, Northern District of Alabama, March 1, 2024) held that the Constitution does not give Congress the power to regulate millions of entities and their stakeholders the moment they obtain formal corporate status from a state.  The government had argued that the foreign affairs power ..read more

Chicago Title recently published an update on an IRS regulation, and I wanted to make sure readers of this blog have the most current information. Dirt lawyers know that cash payments greater than $10,000 must be reported to the IRS through form 8300. For a primer on this requirement, review IRS Publication 1544 here. The government’s stated goal in imposing this requirement is to detect money laundering and to catch tax evaders, terrorists and those who profit from the drug trade. Effective January 1, 2024, the IRS updated its regulations to require businesses that file 10 total information r ..read more