In the Dirt: A Real Estate Legal Update

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination and guarantees persons with disabilities have equal access to purchase goods and services. Title II of the ADA governs places of “public accommodation,” which includes residential home builders sales offices. Although single family and model homes are not considered places of public accommodation, ADA complexities arise when home builders use some or part of a model home as a sales office.

In these common situations, Title II may apply, triggering accessibility requirements. Residential builders should consider how to minimize compliance costs and operational disruptions while meeting ADA obligations when using a model home to conduct sales activity.

Preferred return and waterfall provisions are the backbone of economic alignment in the operating agreements that govern real estate joint ventures. These clauses dictate how distributions are made between investor members and sponsors or managers. Poor drafting can lead to confusion, misaligned incentives, disputes, and costly litigation, so understanding effective drafting techniques is crucial.

On July 10, 2025, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe signed into law House Bill 594 (the “Bill”), which effectively eliminates the capital gains income tax for individuals and an income tax deduction for corporations. Capital gains are the profit realized from the sale of capital assets such as stocks and bonds, other personal property, and many kinds of real estate.

On August 7, in Frazier v. Equifax Information Services, LLC, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision to grant summary judgment to defendant Equifax, a consumer credit reporting agency (CRA), in a case brought under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

On July 12^th, Missouri Governor Parsons signed HB 2062, a House Bill that, beginning this August, may ruffle a few feathers of those developers, directors, homeowners, and others associated with Missouri homeowner associations (HOAs).

Banks own and operate a surprising amount of real estate for their branches and offices. There were over 77,500 bank branches in America as of the end of 2023. By comparison, McDonalds has about 13,000 stores in the US. That’s a lot of property, and it comes with a lot of legal considerations.

A seemingly small win for birds could potentially have big implications for builders. A recent court of appeals decision may impact commercial buildings and construction.

Developer beware! In Wisconsin, assessors may use an “anticipated” vacancy in making assessments.

The City of Milwaukee (and various other municipalities) has sent its Biennial Property Tax Exemption Report and Filing Fee Notices. Owners of tax-exempt real property in Wisconsin must file a Form PC-220 Tax Exemption Report (the “Report”) by March 31, 2024, to ensure their property is properly classified and continues to be recognized as tax-exempt. The Report must be filed with the clerk of the town, village, or city in which the property is located biennially of each even numbered year.

On February 7, 2024 FinCEN issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that FinCEN issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would require certain professionals involved in real estate closings and settlements to report information to FinCEN about non-financed transfers of residential real estate to legal entities or trusts. FinCEN’s proposal targets residential real estate transfers considered high-risk for money laundering.