Real Estate Litigation

Real Estate is a hotbed for different types of litigation. Real Estate is often viewed as a most valuable asset of a person or company. As such, real estate involves high financial stakes to all parties. And so our New York City real estate lawyers often find themselves in serious and extremely adversarial litigation over residential and commercial properties.

Real Estate litigation spills over into many other aspects of litigation. Construction related lawsuits are the most prominent, and our Firm also handles those cases. See the Practice Area on this site for Construction Law. But Real Estate cases can also involve Fraud and Partnership dispute cases. Since real estate investment often involves substantial outlay of money, it is an area where people have great incentive to cheat a partner or other party out of their money. This can involve stolen equity, fraudulent deed transfers, illicit collection of rent, or even conduct which denies another party the income from real estate. To certain unscrupulous investors and parties, a person’s money is fair game to stealthily overreach. Other such real estate litigation can involve Friends and Family Fraud, as also noted in this site, where those closely tied to each other by trust in family or friendship get taken advantage of in a jointly owned property.

Another major example of a far-reaching real estate scam is one where underneath the veneer of a legitimate investment vehicle lies a “Ponzi Scheme.” This is where an investor commits his/her funds to a “manager” or agent of a company who promises a certain high rate of return secured by investments in real estate. While the company may start by paying the promised rate of return, over time the company defaults on that obligation, said payment eventually falls away, and the investor hears nothing on where the principal investment went. The disappearance of that principal and the underlying agreement then becomes the issue in the lawsuit.

Moreover, both developers and professional purchasers of Real Estate can engage against in conduct against certain consumer sellers of their homes that effectively steal away years of equity that the consumer has steadily built up. Real Estate scammers come in the form of brokers, sellers, or buyers of property, or even "foreclosure rescue" outfits. Over many years, these schemes have become more and more actionable as the legislature particularly in New York has recognized the deception of these people and companies. Over time, various statutory provisions have sprung up to purportedly protect the consumer from real estate scammers.

In a case of this nature, the catalyst for this type of fraud is an inflated appraisal; one that gives the lender the basis to over-mortgage the property, setting the buyer up for imminent foreclosure or just plain financial ruin. Oftentimes these "middlemen" occupy positions of trust with the buyer, who has no reason to think they are getting scammed until it is too late. 

Buyers and sellers of real estate simply must be their own lawyer. While it is advisable to have a real estate lawyer in New York City review and discuss a real estate contract or other agreement, if such is not practicable or financially feasible, the person should scrutinize the important document(s) until they understand what they are getting into. The Linden Law Group, P.C. have given hours of free advice as to whether a consumer should enter into an offered contract, amend the contract with more favorable terms, or throw the deal away entirely. Heavy scrutiny of the initial documents to any transaction is essential to guaranteeing years of prosperity, and to minimizing the risk of an equal amount of financial misery.

Please contact us online or call us today at (212) 537-6612 for an initial phone consultation.

Client Reviews
★★★★★
I highly recommend this law firm. Attorneys Unger and Benjamin battled a real estate scammer who defrauded me out of substantial money. They were able to get a good result for me after the defendants put up numerous obstacles and delays over 18 months. And they were honest with me regarding their upfront and contingency fees. Definitely hire this firm if you are a victim of fraud or breach of contract. Rebekah W.
★★★★★
Over the years I have had dealings with many of attorneys and I can honestly say that Mr. Benjamin is the best lawyer I have ever worked with. He's conscientious, and takes care of your case as if his own interests were at stake. He's professional, always answered my calls and takes the time to discuss the best course to take. Everything was done timely and efficiently. I couldn't be happier with the result. I wish they were all like him. The best decision I made was to use him for all my legal needs. Nancy O.
★★★★★
Attorney Benjamin is an excellent attorney. He battled a finance company for me for nine years, defeating multiple motions that were thrown at him over the years. He is an honest, compassionate and trustworthy attorney, and was an aggressive advocate for me for a long time. After so many years, he finally got a great result in August, 2015 after defeating still another motion by the lender. I highly recommend Attorney Benjamin. Daniel O.
★★★★★
We hired this Firm on July 20, 2018 to sue a company for fraud. While the case took longer than we wanted, the lawyers battled for 1 year with this nationwide real estate company to expose the scam they inflicted on us. In order to get to settlement, our lawyer Jeffrey Benjamin cut the Firm's fee in order that we could put more money in our pocket and settle. The lawyers here are honest and bent over backwards to make us happy and settle, and not drag out the case for years. We are so happy we went with this Firm. Thank you. K.J.