To access the new Handbook for MHA, inclusive of HAMP and HAFA, click here. While reviewing the Handbook you should be aware of the case of US Bank v. Sarmiento wherein the Court held that the statutory good faith standard for a CPLR 3408 Foreclosure Settlement Conference is whether the "totality of the circumstances demonstrates that the party's conduct did not constitute a meaningful effort at reaching a resolution", including compliance with the Handbook. To review the case, click here.

This Handbook is the rules for banks / servicers to modify mortgages, so pay careful attention to detail and make sure that they comply.

Andrew Lieb discussed Neighbor Issues on Real Life with John Christopher on 88.3 WPPB Peconic Public Broadcasting.

Learn the legal implications of what happens when your dog defecates on your neighbor's property.

Listen to the podcast here. 

Tune into 88.3 WPPB Peconic Public Broadcasting on Friday 5/22/15 at 5:30pm to hear Andrew Lieb and John Christopher discuss issues with neighbors and how to resolve them.

Attention Nassau County Bar Association Real Property Law Committee Members - Andrew Lieb, Esq. will be speaking on ""Top Ten Changes in Real Estate Law of 2014" at the Real Property Law Committee meeting on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 at 5:30p.m. in the Founders Room at the Home of the Association.

CLE credit is available.

Even the most affluent buyers and sellers want to save money on their real estate transactions beyond negotiating the sales price. Many find themselves shopping mortgage brokers for best rates, trying to negotiate commissions out of real estate brokers, or finding the attorney who charges the least. There are many other ways that real savings in real estate transactions are realized beyond squeezing your service providers and commoditizing their services. Instead, buyers and sellers should realize true savings by utilizing these five tips in real estate transactions.

Read Andrew Lieb's full article in The Huffington Post or Dan's Papers.

The Court of Appeals recently held that a single-family home is not “owner-occupied” for purposes of qualification in a Small Claims Assessment Review (SCAR) when such home is occupied “by an owner’s relative but not by the owner” “during the relevant tax period.” In so ruling, the court limited SCAR proceedings’ availability to fact-patterns that clearly establish occupancy by the owner.

Read Andrew Lieb's full article published in The Suffolk Lawyer.

SCAR Proceeding Owner-Occupancy Requirement

On Saturday May 2nd, Andrew Lieb, Esq. joined Dottie Herman's 'Eye on Real Estate' radio show on AM970. Topics discussed included:

• Latest Real Estate Trends
• Inheritance
• Reverse Mortgages
• Commercial Real Estate

Instructor: Andrew Lieb, Esq

Date: June 4th, 2015 at Newsday in Melville

Course Summary: Estate sales offer a unique opportunity to help the grieving by doing your job professionally. Starting with speaking the language of the Surrogate’s Court, this course will empower the real estate broker / salesperson to assist the Executor / Administrator in liquidating real property in order to satisfy debts of the estate. Additionally, disputes between beneficiaries and with the fiduciary, sales forced by the court, and foreclosures incident to the probate process will be discussed. Lastly, the student will be exposed to the overlay of brokerage and executor’s commissions where an Executor / Administrator is expressly exempt from the Real Estate License Law for Brokerage.

To Register: Login to Your Lieb School Account and Click "Enroll" or "Join Waiting List"

Instructor: Andrew Lieb, Esq

Date: May 12th, 2015 at Viana Hotel & Spa in Westbury

Course Summary: You get the client, spend months looking for the perfect deal, find it, negotiate it and send it to an attorney to close it. Then, what? It dies. Have you ever wondered if you could do anything differently to have more of your deals close? Learn some of the main reasons that deals die like issues with the Sales Agreement, Title, Escrow Deposit, Closing Date, Financing / Contingencies and the Seller’s Concession. Next, learn how to proactively save your deals and earn a commission. Knowledge is commission.

To Register: Login To Your Lieb School Account and Click "Enroll" or "Join Waiting List"

Check out Andrew Lieb's latest article published in The Suffolk Lawyer.

Andrew Lieb, Esq discusses 10 secrets to dealing with neighborly disputes.

These are the top 10 legal issues that you may face with your neighbor and how they will be resolved, in court, according to the law. Perhaps, this article will show you that a private, non-legal, neighborly, agreed-upon resolution is a better option for your predicament than turning to the courts. Then again, perhaps not.

Read the published article written by Andrew Lieb, Esq. in Dan's Papers by clicking here.

Tax Assessor James Ryan will be at the Manorville Fire Department at 14 Silas Carter Road on April 29, 2015 at 6pm.

Bring your questions as Grievance Day is May 19, 2015.

Andrew Lieb's latest article has been published in The Suffolk Lawyer.

In January 2015, a new Human Rights law went into effect in Suffolk County, to wit: Local Law No. 25- 2014. While the Suffolk County Human Rights Law (hereinafter “SCHRL”) is similar to the Federal Fair Housing Act and the New York State’s Human Rights Law, the SCHRL now adds the protected class of “lawful source of income” to prohibited housing discrimination throughout the county; a protected class that does not exist in either the federal or state law.

To read the full article, click here.

We are thrilled to announce the opening of our 200th Lieb School Class!

Divorce Deals: Selling the Marital Residence

Instructor: Andrew Lieb, Esq., MPH

Date: March 5th, 2015

Location: 230 Elm, Southampton NY

Click Here to Register

Class Description: Watch out! Here comes a headache, exposure to liability and impossible commissions. Ever work with divorcing spouses before? Then you know. Good luck getting them to agree on anything from sales price to showing dates while selling their homes or commercial properties? What happens when they start asking you to write letters about how their spouse is not cooperating on the deal? Ever get a call from their lawyers? How about when you get subpoenaed to appear and testify in their Contempt Hearing? What do you do? Where do your duties lie? What can you say and which documents can you provide?

A divorce can pull everyone and everything into its grasp. This course is designed to teach real estate agents how to navigate through all of the complexities of divorce deals from properly listing the property to procuring a purchaser and receiving commission in compliance with License Law.

Learn about the Domestic Relations Law’s concept of marital property. Prepare yourself to stay above the fray, make the deal, get paid and keep the divorcing clients responsive and cooperative along the way. Good luck.

Your neighbor's commercial vehicle (with loud and colorful electrician advertisements throughout the truck) is parked on the street abutting your driveway every day. Crews meet for coffee out front every morning at 5 AM, prompt, in order to gather for their workday. Your spouse parks in your driveway and you have to park down the street. The morning noise drives you nuts and you can't take it anymore.

Regardless if the business is lawful, pursuant to the local municipal code (i.e., zoning code), New York's highest court has said that "no one may make an unreasonable use of his own premises to the material injury of his neighbor's premises".  Meaning, that there are no hard and fast rules in this field of law, which is called a private nuisance cause of action, but, instead, a trier of fact (i.e., judge or jury) must determine if a given business activity is unreasonable at the location where it is being conducted.

In determining if an activity is unreasonable, the following factors should be analyzed to assess the totality of the circumstances under which the activity is being conducted:

1. The location of the property at issue;
2. Who was at the location first, the complainant or the business operator; 
3. The nature of the business' use of the property;
4. An overall character assessment of the neighborhood where the activity is occurring;
5. With respect to the injury claimed, how frequent is it occurring and to what extent or level is it occurring; and
6. How, specifically, the business is effecting the complainant's enjoyment of life, health and property.

A private nuisance cause of action has been used to shutter the following types of business operations: raising and keeping of pigs, quarry operations, nightclubs, auto racetrack and open air concerts. In fact, the Courts of New York have held that a business cannot defend such an action by arguing that "the defendant's business or works is lawful, and is a great benefit, utility, and convenience to the public, and is rightfully carried on in a proper, suitable, and convenient place, and in a careful and orderly manner, and in the best and most improved manner". Such a defense is irrelevant.

So, if you wish to shutter the business, exercise your rights and make a claim that the business is a private nuisance to your use of your property, you can let a court decide if the activity should be stopped. Further, let a court decide if you should be compensated for your lost use and enjoyment during the time that the business operated. To establish your lost value, look to the diminished rental value of your property during the time that the business operated from what that value would have been if there was no such business existing during that time. Now, go live in peace and quiet.

Not only can the offensive smell be stopped, but damages may be available to you as the neighbor who has had to endure the offensive smell throughout its existence. In fact, the law in New York is not so extreme that it requires odors to adversely impact your health in order for you to have rights. Instead, you have a claim so long as the odors are unpleasant and offensive. Odors that typically give rise to these types of disputes are caused by chemicals, farms, factories, restaurants and the like. To stop the smell, the claim that you should bring is called a private nuisance cause of action and to win on such a claim you will have to demonstrate that your enjoyment of life and property has been rendered objectively uncomfortable based upon unreasonable activities causing the smell.

Specifically, the courts explain that the following five (5) elements must be proven to prevail on this claim:

1. An interference substantial in nature
2. Intentional in origin
3. Unreasonable in character
4. With a person's property right to use and enjoy land
5. Caused by another's conduct in acting or failure to act

You should take note that you don't even have to be forced from your home by the smell in order to win on your claim. Instead, and even if you stay in your home, as long as your property experienced a diminution in its rental value during the course of the existence of the smell, you can recover that diminution in addition to having the smell's cause be stopped.

Shockingly though, secondhand smoke infiltration emanating from a neighbor's own home is almost never considered a private nuisance and no action can likely be brought to stop the smoke. The only exception to this rule, where smoking can be stopped, is when there is an express prohibition against smoking in residences within the locality where the neighbors reside. Such a rule prohibiting smoking can come from either a local statute / code or from a private contractual right existing in the house rules of an apartment building, cooperative apartment or condominium building.

So, before trying to stop the smoking check all county, town, city and village codes for such a law. Additionally, if you live in a multiple dwelling unit (i.e., an apartment), check the rules of the building contained within its house rules, lease, by-laws and/or operating agreement before proceeding. Knowing the rules will be the difference between winning and losing your case.

It's imperative to realize that the east end of Long Island is a massive place. It's over 30 miles from Westhampton to East Hampton on the south fork and not that much shorter on the north fork between Riverhead and Orient. As a result, the experience of summering on Shelter Island as opposed to staying in Southampton is drastically different. The fact is that each community on the east end has its own unique offering of features that are "fabulous" to some and that represent "shortcomings" to others.

Read the full article in the Huffington Post.

Now that 2015 is here, NYers should know the top changes from the past year in real estate laws that affect property owners and tenants in our community. This is not a list about the best events from 2014, but, instead, a list that highlights the new legal landscape that you face in 2015.

Read the full article in The Huffington Post.

Andrew Lieb's latest article is now available on Dan's Papers.

Keep these tips handy when planning your seasonal rental search.

Property Manager Liability: Requirements, Responsibilities and Fair Housing

Estate Deals

Instructor: Andrew Lieb, Esq., MPH

CE Credits: 3

Price: Free

Date: February 12th, 2015 at 12:30pm on 51st (between 5th and 6th)

Estate sales offer a unique opportunity to help the grieving by doing your job professionally. Starting with speaking the language of the Surrogate’s Court, this course will empower the real estate broker / salesperson to assist the Executor / Administrator in liquidating real property in order to satisfy debts of the estate. Additionally, disputes between beneficiaries and with the fiduciary, sales forced by the court, and foreclosures incident to the probate process will be discussed. Lastly, the student will be exposed to the overlay of brokerage and executor’s commissions where an Executor / Administrator is expressly exempt from the Real Estate License Law for Brokerage.

Register For This Class Here

Want to use a drone to capture aerial photos of your listings? Douglas Trudeau of Tierra Antigua Realty in Tuscon Arizona has become the first Real Estate Agent permitted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to use a drone in connection with real estate brokerage.

As you may recall, a previous Lieb at Law Blog discussed the FAA rules which requires all sorts of licenses, certificates and flight plans in connection with "commercial" drone flights.  In that blog, we explained that the FAA specifically targeted real estate agents using drones to take aerial photos as an example of regulated commercial flight.  Remember, we are talking about two to three pound quadcopters, not full sized aircraft here.

Douglas Trudeau has waded through the tiresome process of obtaining the necessary approvals for such a commercial flight and amount of red tape is undeniably absurd. First, Mr. Trudeau had to petition the FAA for an exemption.  The FAA's response is a daunting twenty-six page analysis of the various rules, statutes and regulations which much be examined and excused prior to permitting Mr. Trudeau to use his drone.  Read the FAA's response for yourself here.

In granting Mr. Trudeau an exemption, the FAA analyzed each of the following factors:

1. The type of aircraft used, including: size, speed, payload and weight;
2. The qualifications of the pilot (Mr. Trudeau has a private pilot's certificate, but not a commercial license);
3. The operating parameters of the anticipated flights, including: height, duration, range, tracking, interference with regulated airspace, and emergency contingency planning; and
4. Public Interest

Terrific news is here with a tax break for those who sold or lost their underwater homes to foreclosure in 2014.

A new line of negotiating brokerage commission is now available in the State of New York.

Buyers can now ask for a rebate of the seller's agent's brokerage commission in exchange for buying the property.

So, buyers should inquire of their prospective agents if the agent is offering a rebate on the transaction in consideration for being hired by the buyer. Alternatively, unrepresented buyers should inquire of the seller's agent if they offer a rebate in consideration of the buyer's offer to consummate a transaction.

At the least, it never hurts to ask.

Think about it ... a buyer's broker can now promote their services by incentivising prospective buyers to work with them by offering a rebate of the co-brokerage commission offered by the seller's agent.

To illustrate, a seller offers his seller's agent 6% on a deal whereby the seller's agent offers a buyer's agent a 3% share of that commission, in turn, for procuring a buyer, under a co-brokerage agreement. Now, that buyer's agent can motivate buyers to come to that deal by offering prospective buyers 1% of that 3%, or an alternative discount on the deal, for working with that buyer's agent.

Before the enactment of this statutory amendment, brokers did rebate commissions, but they have done so under a gray legal framework where there was no express authority for the practice (beyond a No Action Opinion Letter by the Department of State dated February 2008) and consequently it never became an overt marketing tactic by buyer's agents. Look for that to change.  


Real Property Law 442 was amended as 2014 came to a close. It now reads as follows (capitals represent additions to the statute):

Splitting commissions.
1. No real estate broker shall pay any part of a fee, commission or other compensation received by the broker to any person for any service, help or aid rendered in any place in which this article is applicable, by such person to the broker in buying, selling, exchanging, leasing, renting or negotiating a loan upon any real estate including the resale of a condominium OR COOPERATIVE APARTMENT unless such a person be a duly licensed real estate salesman regularly associated with such broker or a duly licensed real estate broker or a person regularly engaged in the real estate brokerage business in a state outside of New York; provided, however, that notwithstanding any other provision of this section, it shall be permissible for a real estate broker to pay any part of a fee, commission, or other compensation received to an unlicensed corporation or an unlicensed limited liability company if each of its shareholders or members, respectively, is associated as an individual with the broker as a duly licensed associate broker or salesman.