While litigating a brokerage commission dispute this afternoon, it dawned on me that real estate agents just don't know their company policy on many issues that they face in their profession. In fact, when they do know their company policy they fight it saying its not what their license permits.

To be clear, company policy is not the same thing as license law, nor is it Department of State regulations and it certainly isn't ethics opinions. What company policy is instead is your company's rules that are much more restrictive than any of the proceeding categories. You see companies have to manage on the macro and try to minimize risks so they make internal rules that narrow the line of legality to attempt to avoid the line of illegality as much as possible.

So imagine license law, regulations and ethics opinions constituting a large circle and company policy as a smaller circle therein of what you can and cannot do as an aspect of your job. All big companies have policies and most agent's independent contractor agreement incorporates these polices by reference, so agents must know and constantly be updated on their policies.

Go read your manuals.

Cooperative and Condominium Boards have broad authority when it comes to making House Rules governing the activity within the community.  This authority derives from the governing documents of the cooperative or condominium, such as the by-laws.  House Rules may cover a wide range of topics from noise and odor levels, to the keeping of pets, to the conduct of owners and guests.

No the banks are generally not so nice about giving away their money; so one would wonder why they don't always pursue a deficiency judgment after a foreclosure auction.

The new expanded definition of "estate", which included jointly held property, retained life estates and interests in trusts for Medicaid recovery purposes was repealed on March 27th, 2012. Also, spousal refusal has been maintained.

Real Estate Agents - Just a few seats recently opened up, fill them by clicking here.

To see the foreclosure percent throughout the Tri-State Region, click here.

A recent case decided in Tompkins County ruled that local zoning amendments banning all activities relating to hydrofracking were not preempted by the Oil, Gas, and Solution Mining Law (OGSML). So, municipalities can ban fracking in their territories.

In the Tompkins County case, the Plaintiff, a company engaging in exploration of land for hydrofracking, brought an action against the Town of Dryden attacking their zoning amendment which banned hydrofracking. The Court determined that the State’s OGSML did not prevent the Town from creating local zoning ordinances banning hydrofracking.

This decision is particularly important because many NY municipalities have been amending their zoning regulations in response to their resident’s concerns about hydrofracking.

Remember to always keep yourself apprised of local zoning amendments in order to ensure the latest developments in your municipality because laws and regulations in real estate may change daily.

For further information about the case, see Anschutz Exploration Corporation v. Town of Dryden, 2012 WL 556172, Slip Op. 22037 (2012).

Grievance days vary in the various Villages across Suffolk County, but for the Towns its the third Tuesday in May (May 15, 2012), so start checking your local municipalities and prepare your forms to reduce your real estate tax bill.

Nassau residents, you already missed the deadline this year of March 1, 2012, but you are now early for next year so don't forget about filing your grievance.

For more information about tax grievances in New York State, click here.