Housing Law Commons^™

Don’T Let The Bed Bugs Bill: Landlord Liability For Bed Bug Infestations In Georgia, Megan M. Harrison

Georgia State University Law Review

Although the historical relationship between bed bugs and humans dates back to ancient Egypt, the common bed bug, or Cimex lectularius, vanished from the beds of Americans around World War II. In the late 1990s, however, our bloodsucking bedfellows returned. Bed bug infestations are a growing public health issue. Bed bugs are now found in all fifty states, with populations in five states reaching epidemic levels. Both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) consider bed bugs a “pest of significant public health importance."

Despite their name, bed bugs are not limited to ...

Forced Evictions, Homelessness, And Destruction: Summer "Games"? Olympic Violations Of The Right To Adequate Housing In Rio De Janeiro, Leigha C. Crout

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

This article details the violations of the right to housing that took place in preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Analyzed under the international, regional, and domestic instruments that enumerate this guarantee, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the Charter and the Declaration of the Rights and Duties of the Organization of American States, and the Constitution of Brazil, the aim of this work is to draw attention to the systematic deprivation of one of the most central human rights in the name of the Games.

The Neighborhood Veto And Its Discontents, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

No Need For Cities To Despair After Bank Of America Corporation V. City Of Miami: How Patent Law Can Assist In Proving Predatory Loans Directly Cause Municipal Blight Under The Fair Housing Act, Jesse D.H. Snyder

Maine Law Review

Lack of sanguinity for cities was manifest after the Supreme Court’s May 1, 2017, opinion in Bank of America Corporation v. City of Miami. Although Bank of America recognized that cities have Article III standing to sue for economic injuries suffered from predatory lending, the Supreme Court rejected the Eleventh Circuit’s more lenient causation standard, favoring proof of “some direct relation between the injury asserted and the injurious conduct alleged.” Doubtless the result could have been worse for cities suing on the premise that racially discriminatory lending caused municipal blight. The courthouse doors could have closed if the ...

Building On The Tiny House Movement: A Viable Solution To Meet Affordable Housing Needs, Emily Keable

University of St. Thomas Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Hb 434 - Eminent Domain, Ashley M. Bowcott, Derek M. Schwahn

Georgia State University Law Review

The Act amends Georgia’s eminent domain laws by providing an exception to the general rule that condemnations cannot be converted to any use, other than a public use, for twenty years. The Act creates a new procedure which requires the condemnor to petition the jurisdiction’s superior court to determine whether the property is blighted property. Additionally, the condemnor must provide notice to all owners of the alleged blighted property. If the court finds the land is blighted property, the condemnor must file a petition to condemn the property according to the established procedure set forth in Article 3 ...

When Deciding Whether To Allow A Taking Of Property We Need To Ask What We Want Property Rights To Do, Douglas C. Harris

Faculty Publications

In recognition of the dangers inherent to a regime that enables a majority of owners to terminate the individual property interests of a dissenting minority, the Strata Property Act requires that strata corporations secure court confirmation of dissolution votes. Not surprisingly, the shift to a lower dissolution threshold, the rapidly rising land values in British Columbia’s urban centres, and the increased costs of maintaining aging buildings, have precipitated a growing number of dissolution votes and a steady flow of applications to the British Columbia Supreme Court (BCSC) to confirm the votes.

Building Community, Still Thirsty For Justice: Supporting Community Development Efforts In Baltimore, Renee Hatcher, Jaime Alison Lee

Renee Hatcher

Baltimore is a city of many challenges, but it possesses true communitybased strength. The city’s residents and community organizations are its greatest assets. This article highlights some of the community’s work and how the Community Development Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law (CDC) supports this work through its experiential learning curriculum. The challenges facing Baltimore’s communities (systemic disinvestment, structural racism, vacant buildings, unemployment, and the criminalization of poverty, to name a few) existed long before the national media coverage and uprising surrounding the death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed Black man who suffered a ...

New York Residential Landlord-Tenant Law And Procedure--10th Ed. (2017-2018), Gerald Lebovits

Hon. Gerald Lebovits

No abstract provided.

Se Avizora Una Nueva Alternativa Que Buscará Facilitar El Acceso A La Vivienda Propia A Los Más Jóvenes, Paul Cajacuri Jancachagua

Paul Cajacuri Jancachagua

Amending The Virginia Residential Landlord-Tenant Act Regarding Liability For Bedbug Extermination, Lisa Allen

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

An addition to the Virginia Code has caused complications for residential tenants who experience bedbugs in their rental units. A proposed amendment to this law will hold landlords liable for dealing with bedbugs infestations because landlords are in a position that makes them most able to afford treatment. This amendment would also address bedbugs effectively according to scientific research and align with federal housing guidelines.

Foreword, Patricia A. Mccoy

Patricia A. McCoy

In the wake of the financial crisis, mortgage lending to lower-income and minority borrowers overcorrected and has not recovered. Although homeownership is a riskier investment than previously realized, still it remains a proven path to increased wealth on balance for lower-income households. There are a number of reasonable reforms that could achieve greater access to credit while containing default risk. These include strategies to reduce down payments safely and to keep monthly payments manageable, combined with fixed-rate loans. Prepurchase counseling is important to preparing applicants for the financial demands of homeownership and strengthening their credit histories, while rapid foreclosure prevention ...

Maine's Foreclosure Mediation Program: What Should Constitute A Good Faith Effort To Mediate?, Jesse D. Stewart

Maine Law Review

The collapse of the housing bubble and subsequent financial downturn of 2008 unleashed a flood of foreclosure filings in the Maine courts, threatening the fundamental aspiration of homeownership for many Maine residents. This Comment examines the significant steps Maine has taken to address increased foreclosure filings through the implementation of a foreclosure mediation program and offers concrete suggestions to further improve the program.

Leverage: State Enforcement Actions In The Wake Of The Robo-Sign Scandal, Raymond H. Brescia

Maine Law Review

In the fall of 2010, the revelations that tens of thousands of foreclosure filings across the nation were likely fraudulent—if not outright criminal—sparked a nation-wide investigation by all fifty state attorneys general to assess the extent of the scandal and its potential impacts, but also to consider likely legal and policy responses to such behavior. One of the tools at the state attorneys general’s disposal that might rein in this behavior includes each state’s Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices (UDAP) laws. Such laws typically prohibit “unfair” and “deceptive” practices, which are described loosely in these ...

Land Banks In Missouri: A Comparative Analysis Of Statutory Schemes In Kansas City And St. Louis, Yelena Bosovik

The Business, Entrepreneurship & Tax Law Review

The housing and financial crisis of 2008 may be behind us, but a drive though any community, especially large urban areas, reveals too many boarded up buildings and abandoned properties littering an otherwise prosperous horizon. For many municipalities, the solution has been to create land banks to take possession of tax-delinquent properties and to sell them, with clean titles, for redevelopment or public use. This paper begins with a brief overview of the evolution of land banks, and a discussion on Missouri’s two land banks, one in Kansas City, and another one in the city of St. Louis. At ...

A Cross-Sectional Exploration Of Household Financial Reactions And Homebuyer Awareness Of Registered Sex Offenders In A Rural, Suburban, And Urban County., John Charles Navarro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As stigmatized persons, registered sex offenders betoken instability in communities. Depressed home sale values are associated with the presence of registered sex offenders even though the public is largely unaware of the presence of registered sex offenders. Using a spatial multilevel approach, the current study examines the role registered sex offenders influence sale values of homes sold in 2015 for three U.S. counties (rural, suburban, and urban) located in Illinois and Kentucky within the social disorganization framework. Homebuyers were surveyed to examine whether awareness of local registered sex offenders and the homebuyer’s community type operate as moderators between ...

K&P Homes V. Christiana Trust, 133 Nev. Adv. Op. 51 (July 27, 2017), Yolanda Carapia

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined that the SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, N.A. decision, extinguishing first security interests, applies retroactively to all foreclosures occurring prior to the date of the decision and since NRS 116.3116’s inception.

Exclusionary Megacities, Wendell Pritchett, Shitong Qiao

Faculty Scholarship

Human beings should live in places where they are most productive, and megacities, where information, innovation and opportunities congregate, would be the optimal choice. Yet megacities in both China and the U.S. are excluding people by limiting housing supply. Why, despite their many differences, is the same type of exclusion happening in both Chinese and U.S. megacities? Urban law and policy scholars argue that Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBY) homeowners are taking over megacities in the U.S. and hindering housing development therein. They pin their hopes on an efficient growth machine that makes sure “above all, nothing gets in the ...

Mortgage Foreclosure, By Charles Hastings Wiltsie, Robert C. Brown

Robert C. Brown

No abstract provided.

It Takes A Village: Designating "Tiny House" Villages As Transitional Housing Campgrounds, Ciara Turner

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

A relatively new proposal to reduce homelessness in the United States involves extraordinarily small dwellings. While the “tiny house” movement is intuitively appealing and has found sporadic success, strict housing codes, building codes, and zoning laws often destroy the movement before it can get off the ground. One possibility for getting around these zoning and building code challenges, without drastic overhauls to health and safety codes, is to create a new state-level zoning classification of “transitional campgrounds.” A new zoning classification would alleviate the issue because campgrounds are consistently subject to less strict building codes, which could permit tiny houses ...