Real Estate Law Blog

Gross Lease or Triple Net Lease? What You Need to Know

When leasing a property for commercial use, there are a variety of lease types from which to choose. The two most common lease types are the gross lease and the triple net lease—but how do you know which is right for your situation? More >

Don’t Leave Your Clients High and Dry: What Real Estate Agents Should Know Before Using an Escalation Clause

The pandemic has made just about everything more difficult—including buying a home. In an extremely competitive market, hopeful buyers are looking for any strategy to gain an advantage and increase their chances of making a successful offer. One option your clients may want to consider is the inclusion of an escalation clause in their offer. But what exactly is an escalation clause—and how do your clients know if it’s the right choice for them? More >

Kentucky Real Estate Licensees: New Regulations WILL Affect You

As you probably know by now, all Administrative Regulations (201 KAR 11) governing the practice of real estate for licensees in Kentucky were touched by the legislature in some way in 2019. Some were repealed, some had changes almost too small to detect, some had major changes that altered the practice of real estate dramatically, some codified the interpretations of the regulations from the past, and some were just moved from one location to another in Chapter 11. More >

Considering a Conservation Easement? Here’s What You Should Know

Ever looked at a piece of your property and thought, “I wish it could stay like this forever”? If so, you may be in luck, because a conservation easement will protect certain types of property in perpetuity, and there may just be a tax incentive to do so thrown in for good measure. As with any type of property transaction, there are plenty of considerations that should factor into the decision to create a conservation easement, and some of the most important ones are outlined below. More >

Fractional Investment in Real Estate: What is It?

Not everyone has the investment resources of a certain real estate tycoon turned president, and that has often served as a bar to participation. In modern times, as real estate projects seek more and more investment, the solution has been to expand the class of those able to invest, bringing in new capital from investors who might not, as individuals, have the means to invest in high-end real estate. Enter fractional ownership of real estate – smaller investments from larger numbers of investors. This vehicle for investment can make the dream of serious real estate investment a reality. More >

Kentucky Legislature Tweaks "Full Name" Requirement on Deeds Yet Again

For the third year in a row, the Kentucky legislature has tweaked KRS 382.135, once more revising the “full name” requirement on a deed.

Prior to 2016, KRS 382.135 did not explicitly require a name on a deed for real property. The Kentucky legislature changed KRS 382.135(1) to include that a deed must contain “the full name of the grantor and grantee” of the property. Here, the problem is that the legislature failed to define “full name” for individuals or businesses, which caused confusion for both. Kentucky’s Attorney General subsequently produced an opinion, OAG 16-006, that the “full name” of an individual means, at minimum, that individual’s surname and “some combination of a personal name or initials.” The AG completely sidestepped the issue of business names, and this opinion on individual names isn’t binding in Kentucky courts anyway. More >

I Love It When a Comprehensive Plan Comes Together

It’s that time again – Lexington has been and remains busy assembling its 2018 Comprehensive Plan, titled “Imagine Lexington,” which will provide guidance on how the city will regulate land use over the next five years. This is a complex process that takes place in two phases. The recently concluded Phase I has already set out the goals and objectives of the plan, which we’ll examine in this blog post. The next phase, Elements and Implementation, may take the remainder of 2018 to hash out, although the Planning Commission suggests it will draft it through the summer. This plan is not just mandated by law; it helps mold a vision for the community of how it handles growth and expansion, which will shape the city for decades to come. More >

HMDA Reporting Eased for Community Banks and Credit Unions

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) has certainly not been making life easier for mortgage lenders in the past several years, with new regulations continually changing required disclosures and data collection, adding additional burdens to an already complex process. Luckily, the CFPB has decided to ease reporting requirements for certain smaller lending institutions on home equity lines of credit, and hopefully this will help ease the sting of new Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (“HMDA”) rules taking effect in January 2018. More >

Net Lease vs. Gross Lease: Which is right for me?

In the sale of a commercial property, typically an entire interest in the property is sold for a single price. However, there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to commercial leases. The difference between a gross lease and a net lease, for instance, can make all the difference. The different types of net lease can add even more confusion to the mix, leading to considerations such as gross lease vs triple net, rather than merely net vs gross lease.  For the sake of simplicity, this post will focus on the gross lease and triple net lease, as these are the two most common forms of commercial lease. More >

The Kind of Exchange to Like: Section 1031 Like-Kind Exchanges

Whenever you sell off a piece of investment property for a gain, you generally pay tax on that gain at the time of the sale. If you then use the post-tax proceeds to purchase another property that you later sell for a gain, you’ve effectively traded one property for another, but you were taxed twice along the way. Luckily, the tax code contains Section 1031, which allows for a tax deferred “exchange” of properties, and it can be a lifesaver for investors. More >