Prospective buyers had only three days to rescind a purchase agreement after receiving the statutorily-required property owners’ association disclosures. The rescission period is not extended due to incomplete information in the disclosures as submitted. Background Plaintiffs Liam and Brandee Daly ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David A. Oblon Real Estate Real Property Virginia Circuit Courts

In a takings dispute as to the damage value to the remainder property, the trial court erred in excluding only the government’s appraiser, when the property owner’s expert’s opinion was admitted without a superior basis. Background In 2014, the Commissioner ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Eminent Domain Evidence Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Real Estate Real Property Supreme Court of Virginia

Farmers held to be working in concert with anonymous people in trees for the purpose of blocking construction of a pipeline, in violation of a prior order of the court, are in contempt of court and subject to fines. Background ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Eminent Domain Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon Real Estate Real Property U.S. District Court - Western District

The owner of a tract of land housing a marine container terminal challenged municipal tax assessments on both real and personal property. Neither party presented credible expert testimony on real property value, and the court rejected the owner’s calculation of ...

Tagged with: Evidence Municipal Portsmouth Circuit Court Real Estate Real Property Taxation Virginia Circuit Courts

A property owner couldn’t be convicted of providing free waterskiing lessons to disabled veterans without having obtained a conditional use permit, as the cited zoning ordinance spoke to recreational “facilities” rather than uses. Background Defendant Witchduck Lake Enterprises Inc. is ...

Tagged with: Judge William R. O'Brien Municipal Real Estate Real Property Virginia Beach Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts Zoning

Because the plaintiff stated a claim against the only defendant to share her citizenship – the substitute trustee that executed foreclosure on her home – the court lacked diversity jurisdiction, and remand to state court was required. Background Plaintiff Norma ...

Tagged with: Banking Civil Procedure Judge Henry E. Hudson Mortgage Real Estate Real Property Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A property sales agreement, which set forth a mathematical formula for apportioning increases to local development-density rights between the property owners, was rendered impossible to calculate when the county removed the density limit entirely. Background In 2000, Appellant WG Land ...

Tagged with: Contract Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan Land Use & Zoning Municipal Real Estate Real Property Supreme Court of Virginia

Lured by the prospect of protecting his real estate from creditors, an elderly property owner’s sale of his land to a “holding entity” – which he was (wrongly) told would hold the property in trust – was not voidable on ...

Tagged with: Contract Per Curiam Opinion Real Estate Virginia Court of Appeals Wills & Trusts

A borrower who paid what she considered unreasonable attorneys’ fees to her noteholder, in anticipation of her impending sale of the property securing the note, could not recover fees she had paid voluntarily. To the extent the borrower argued that ...

Tagged with: Attorneys Fees Civil Practice Contract Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Daniel E. Ortiz Mortgage Real Estate Real Property Virginia Circuit Courts

Mortgagee Wells Fargo could subordinate its first-priority lien to its third-priority lien on secured property, without thereby moving the second-priority lien to first position, the court held. Defendant Milton H. Cortez obtained two loans to purchase a home in 2005. ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Bernhard Real Estate Virginia Circuit Courts