Recent bills of the 132nd General Assembly (See https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/) pending in the Ohio House and Ohio Senate related to real property are as follows: House Bill 39 General Assembly: 132 Short Title: Require removal of snow and ice from abutting...
Criminal Penalties and Lack of Warrant Procedure Held to be Key Failings of Ordinance By Stephen Richman, Senior Counsel It is not easy being a municipality (such as a city or village) in Ohio these days. With the Ohio estate tax having been repealed several...
It’s a lease, it’s a contract, it’s a lease and a contract. Just as Faye Dunaway’s character in the movie Chinatown was both mother and sister to “Katherine”, an oil and gas lease in Ohio (and other jurisdictions) is both a contract and a lease. An oil and gas lease...
While title to real estate cannot transfer without a deed and a closing, the closing merely carries out the provisions of the real estate agreement. Accordingly, it is the agreement in a real estate transaction that is of paramount importance as it creates the...
From the Watch Your Language Series, by Stephen Richman As is commonly known, ignorance of the law is no excuse to one who is charged with a crime. In real estate, however, while ignorance of the law will rarely result in a prison term, it will almost always result in...
By Stephen Richman As of September 29, 2017, those wishing to appeal Ohio Board of Tax Appeals (“BTA”) decisions no longer have a choice between the Ohio Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals (for the county in which the taxed property is located or the taxpayer...
(A Watch Your Language Series Article) “If the law supposes that," said Mr. Bumble, "the law is an ass — an idiot.” Many laymen (and lawyers) believe, as Mr. Bumble in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist does, that the law, as a general rule, is absurd. Admittedly, there...
I had a law school professor that would often proffer the following two theories to rationalize court decisions (especially ones he seemingly did not understand): 1) the justices did not “get any”…. breakfast that morning; and 2) the government always wins. I...
Watch Your Language. As established in other “Watch Your Language” articles for this Blog, as a general rule, courts will uphold language in commercial agreements, unless it is contrary to statutory law or public policy. They traditionally presume that commercial...
By: Stephen D. Richman Becoming the “owner” of real estate is not quite as difficult as acquiring a wicked witch’s broom, but it is somewhat of a labored journey. The seemingly simple answer to the question of when one becomes the owner of real estate is: when title...