Real Estate Litigation

Title claims often involve a variety of complex issues. A single title insurance claim may involve principals of real estate law, banking and lending law, real estate broker and mortgage broker regulations, insurance regulations and contracts law.

While many title insurance issues can be handled without litigation, our title insurance litigation experience can provide the leverage necessary to resolve many title insurance disputes prior to trial.

Disputes with homeowner’s or condo associations can be very frustrating to handle alone.  Our attorneys handle homeowner’s association and condo association disputes, no matter where you are in the process. We have experience reviewing association rules and amendments, to attempting to compromise and negotiate on your behalf, and, if necessary, filing and litigating a lawsuit.

If your association is already suing you over a dispute, we can review the case, provide a cost-benefit analysis, negotiate settlement, and defend the suit if necessary.  Our attorneys have years of experience at all stages of the litigation process concerning condo association lawsuits and homeowner’s association lawsuits, including appeals.

We represent individuals that have loaned money secured by mortgage liens on real property.  When a borrower refuses or can no longer pay, we will file a lawsuit to recover the collateral property.  However, many such cases may be resolved via a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure or a short sale.

The attorneys and staff at Hillard Cuykendall & Allred, P.A. are uniquely positioned to handle private lender foreclosures. Our experience in defending home foreclosures against large banks at our affiliate firm, Castle Law Group, P.A., has provided us with a deeper understanding of the issues facing both lenders and borrowers.  This experience allows us to better handle private lender foreclosures.

Commercial real estate leases are complex agreements between the landlord and tenant detailing the rights and obligations of each party regarding a commercial property.  Adding to the complexity is the fact that most leases are unique, because they take into consideration the needs of the parties, the characteristics of the property, and the nature of the business to be conducted on the premises.  

Our office reviews leases on behalf of our clients and litigates or negotiates resolutions of commercial lease disputes.  

Breaking up is hard to do, even for joint owners of property.  When multiple parties own a common piece of property, there may be some dispute when one party wants to separate from the partner or group.  When that happens, the parties have a couple of options. The easiest option is a partition in kind, where the parties agree to retain the property and split it up by creating new ownership rights for each party.  But this is not always practical, either because of contention between the parties, or because the type or location of the property is not conducive to sharing. In those cases, a party can seek a partition by sale, which causes the property to be sold and the proceeds distributed among the parties.  While this is an imperfect solution for all parties, it is often a tool to get the property sold in reasonable commercial manner. In some cases, the court can allow one party to “buy out” the interest of the other party. This avoids a sale to the public and allows one party to retain the property.

There are many factors to take into account when considering a partition action; and it may not be appropriate in all situations.  The attorneys at Hillard Cuykendall & Allred, P.A. have the experience to counsel you concerning your rights if you feel that a partition action is necessary, or to defend your rights if a partition action has been brought against you and property that you own.

Florida law requires sellers of residential real estate to disclose all hidden conditions that may negatively affect the value of the property.  This category of lawsuit is typically referred to as a “Johnson v. Davis” case – named after the famous Florida Supreme Court decision. Undisclosed mold, water damage, sinkholes, and termites are all common things that unethical sellers fail to disclose to buyers.  While a seller typically completes a “seller disclosure form”, failing to disclose a hidden negative condition is typically actionable. A buyer may even be able to recover prevailing party attorney’s fees. Please contact our office to schedule an appointment to go over the details and possible options if you purchased real estate and discovered undisclosed issues.  

Real estate broker litigation typically involves a broker or real estate agent’s failure to disclose a hidden condition the buyer – one that adversely effects market value.   While a seller typically completes a “seller disclosure”, the seller’s broker often becomes privy to information that was not disclosed on the seller disclosure form. Florida law requires that sellers of residential real estate disclose all hidden conditions that may negatively affect the value of the property.  

Another area of potential broker liability is where the broker or real estate agent fails to submit an offer to the seller in order to attempt to capture both sides of the commission.  Such conduct is a violation of the broker’s duties under Florida Statutes. Attorneys at our office have handled these types of lawsuits on behalf of the injured parties.