When you are purchasing a property, there are many important considerations involving the house above the ground and the land immediately below the house. In some cases, there are also important considerations that can be found even further below the surface. Some properties may have considerations involving their oil, gas or mineral rights (“subsurface rights”). …
Paying property taxes is an unavoidable consequence of owning real property in Florida. Each year, property owners receive a property tax bill reflecting applicable ad-valorem property taxes, as well as any special assessments imposed by a local governmental body. Property tax bills are issued in November and become delinquent on April 1st following the year…
If you are handling a transaction in which a Florida corporation, limited liability company, limited partnership, or other entity that is not a natural person, is one of the parties (either the buyer or the seller), extra care and precaution need to be taken when reviewing online business records. The Florida Department of State, Division…
A new Home Owner’s Association Disclosure (the “Disclosure”) has been approved for use with the FAR/BAR AS IS Contract as well as Standard Contract for Residential Sale and Purchase. The updated Disclosure is now available as part of the CR-5 Rev. 9/17 and was approved for use beginning on September 26, 2017. Part A of…
Last year (October 8, 2016 to be exact) our firm authored a blog about the Force Majeure Clause in Purchase and Sale Agreements (FRBAR rev. 2/16) at a time where the practical effects of a Force Majeure event was not locally present. Today, under a new contract (Florida Realtors/Florida Bar – Residential Contract for Sale…
We’ve blogged before about the legal mechanism (called partition) whereby joint owners of real property can break that joint ownership through a lawsuit when they aren’t able to agree on what to do with it. That process is described in general terms in our last blog on the topic, here: https://berlinpatten.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-an-action-for-partition-in-florida/ The purpose of this…
With Hurricane Irma, the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic, set to make landfall in Florida as early as Friday, the team at Berlin Patten Ebling wishes and prays for the safety of all people impacted. If you have spent any significant amount of time in Florida, you likely have some firsthand experience with…
As Florida braces for the possible threat of Hurricane Irma, we encourage you to take all necessary precautions to ready your loved ones and homes for potential impact. If you are purchasing property, or representing a buyer of a property, that is set to close in the near future, we urge you to contact your insurance provider…
The delivery of the inspection report is always a scary time for realtors (and all closing parties) when an older home is being purchased. In a perfect world, buyer’s and seller’s expectations would be set at realistic levels for the property before the contract. The character of the parties brings a lot to bear on…
As most of us know, Florida law affords spouses significant protections, particularly when it comes to homestead. Homestead laws are fantastic and somewhat easy to follow when spouses are living in marital bliss, as our beloved Jamie Ebling will be doing from and after August 30, 2017. It is then that Jamie will be married…
