Topics: Your Home & The Law - 167 results

One out of six Americans move each year, with the busiest season starting in May and running through August. Lawyers.com Editor-in-Chief Larry Bodine appeared on WRAZ-TV (the Fox affiliate, and sister station of WRAL-TV) in Raleigh, N.C., with pointers on how consumers can legally protect themselves during springtime moves. Protect Yourself from Rip-Offs The most common rip-off is when a dishonest mover quotes a low price over the phone or Internet. After packing all your belonging on the truck, the …

A Florida man was recently sentenced to 26 years in prison for foreclosure and short sale fraud. John Lebron, 33, was convicted last week of setting up a complex scheme to buy and sell foreclosed houses, make money on each part of the deal, and default on the loans. He is hardly alone among foreclosure offenders. Florida is known as the nation’s capital in foreclosure fraud. The state was among the hardest hit by the collapse of the housing bubble …

Whether or not your landlord can raise your rent depends on a number of variables, including the terms of your agreement and where you live. But here are some general guidelines.   A Long-Term Lease Protects You A lease is a binding legal contract that should specify the length of the lease and the monthly rent. In general, a landlord cannot increase the rent until the lease runs out. Some leases, however, allow the landlord to raise the rent for …

Tenants often think about making improvements to the property they are renting, especially if they like the location and the landlord, and plan to stay for a long time. This article deals with tenant improvements above and beyond the landlord’s requirement to keep a unit safely habitable. Don’t do anything to improve your rental property until you’ve read your lease or rental contract and have discussed the improvements with your landlord. Your lease or rental agreement probably contains a detailed …

  Lawyers.com videojournalist Matt H. Mayes from Los Angeles reports that a big pharma and insurance legal dispute was allowed to deprive innocent victims of money that they were entitled to and often desperately needed. Tens of thousands of plaintiffs sued GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) claiming its diabetes drug, Avandia, caused serious cardiovascular side effects — including fatal heart attacks. In 2010, the pharrmaceutical giant agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle the claims of thousands of people. Humana, …