Free Republic

“It’s too easy to forge a deed and record it,” Real estate attorney Richard Alembik told WSB-TV. “It’s a big problem nowadays, because of the fact that e-filing, the e-recording of deeds is so easy. It’s very easy to record forged deeds.” Alembik said notaries don’t check the identification of the people who submit the documents to verify if they are the rightful homeowners. Victims of fraud who have proof to be the rightful homeowners can still be ordered by a judge to move out and pay fines, according to the outlet. An elderly Georgia homeowner was forced out of...

An elderly Georgia homeowner was forced out of his house and arrested when an alleged swindler used fraudulent documents to claim ownership of the property. Charles and Charmaine Allman lived in the same Stone Mountain, Ga. home — located 16 miles east of Atlanta — for the last two decades before officials told the couple Tuesday that they no longer owned the house and had to vacate. “They made us feel like we were squatters,” Charmaine Allman told WSB-TV. “Just tossed my stuff out like it was trash.”

Hello fellow FReepers. I have just been given the shocking news that my monthly rent for a 1-bdr apartment in N. Alabama is going up by $300 which works out to a 45% increase. The apartment complex has been recently bought by a NJ based company and apparently they have resolved to raise every tenant's rent. The reason that the manager told me was that materials costs are up "such as drywall". Ridiculous excuse. I just cant believe that this has happened. People here cant afford this kind of increase. Wages have not gone up AT ALL. I just dont...

House Bill 621, sponsored by Republican Florida state Rep. Kevin Steele, was put forward in response to Jacksonville resident Patti Peeples, who made national headlines earlier this year when several squatters moved into her Jacksonville property and caused nearly $40,000 in damages. Peeples first discovered that two female squatters broke into a rental property she owned after she sent a handyman to make repairs in anticipation of a home inspection after she showed an interested buyer the home 48 hours before.

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority is asking a federal judge to reverse a decision by the Biden administration to cancel oil and drilling leases in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge area. The leases were approved by the Trump administration in January 2021 and canceled by the Biden administration last month. The AIDEA said in its lawsuit the cancellation of the seven leases is unlawful for several reasons. The leases are legal and Congressionally mandated, the agency said. The lawsuit said the Department of Interior did not allow AIDEA to correct any issues to keep the leases. "DOI’s unilateral...

In a significant ruling late Thursday, Judge James Cain of the Western District of Louisiana sided with American energy advocates, striking down the Biden administration’s eleventh-hour restrictions on a pending offshore oil and gas lease sale. The injunction, favoring the plaintiffs – the State of Louisiana, the American Petroleum Institute (API), and energy giants Chevron and Shell – puts a halt on the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) restrictive measures concerning Lease Sale 261. This crucial sale, encompassing vast expanses in the Gulf of Mexico, was scheduled for the following week. The ruling by Judge Cain reiterates the federal...

The Biden administration did not give an explanation after it missed its own deadline to plan future oil and gas lease sales Thursday. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland vowed during a Senate hearing on May 19 to issue a legally-mandated program outlining proposed offshore lease sales over the next five years by Thursday. On Wednesday, Interior Department (DOI) spokesperson Melissa Schwartz confirmed the agency was "on track" to issue the plan by Thursday, according to E&E News. FIRST OIL SALES ON PUBLIC LAND UNDER BIDEN NET $22 MILLION FROM ENERGY COMPANIES Schwartz declined to comment on the delay in response to...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — One of the bidders in an oil and gas lease sale for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge last year has canceled the lease it bought, the U.S. Interior Department said. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management last summer said it was moving ahead with a new environmental review of oil and gas leasing in the refuge after Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said she found “multiple legal deficiencies” in a previous review that provided a basis for the lease sale. Regenerate Alaska, a subsidiary of Australia-based 88 Energy Ltd., was one of three entities that won leases...

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly backed legislation on Thursday that will make it easier to export military equipment to Ukraine, reviving the "Lend-Lease Act" that helped defeat Hitler during World War Two. The House passed the "Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022" by 417 to 10, three weeks after it sailed through the Senate with unanimous support. It next goes to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law. The measure revives a World War Two-era program that allowed Washington to lend or lease military equipment to U.S. allies. In this case, it will help...

The Biden administration missed another deadline to hold quarterly onshore oil drilling lease sales after a federal court ruled it was legally required to do so. The Department of the Interior (DOI) defied the June 2021 court ruling which ordered the administration to halt its ban on new oil and gas leases, the Western Energy Alliance — a fossil fuel industry group that challenged the ban — said Wednesday. In August 2021, the DOI vowed to publish notices of competitive sales in December and hold a lease sale 45 days later, two promises it failed to keep, in court filings....

The Biden-Harris administration issued a report Friday to increase the price of oil leasing fees on federal lands in the United States by 50 percent—even while accusing oil companies of artificially increasing prices through illegal and anticompetitive actions. Despite record-high gasoline prices impacting American families across the country with winter around the corner, the Biden-Harris administration is recommending Congress hike the cost of oil leases on government lands from 12.50 percent to 18.75 percent.

Donald Trump maintained a stake in Trump Tower when he became president, and with it, a financial connection to the Chinese government. P resident Donald Trump, who declared “I don’t make money from China” in Thursday night’s presidential debate, has in fact collected millions of dollars from government-owned entities in China since he took office. Forbes estimates that at least $5.4 million has flowed into the president’s business from a lease agreement involving a state-owned bank in Trump Tower. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China signed a lease for space in 2008, years before the president took office, paying...

Many matters are clear with landlords and tenants, but I've got a grey area here. If a tenant breaks a lease and requests to leave before the 12 months is up, what do they lose? If a landlord at move-in made them pay first month, last month, and security deposit, all about $1,000 each. What does a landlord have to return if they only stayed six months? What would be the purpose of taking these amounts if tenant could just walk and know they can get some of it back? Can a landlord deduct turn-over costs ? Like paying an...

Knowing how to lease a car is important - that knowledge will get you the best deal at the best price. But just as important is knowing when the time is right to lease a car, truck or SUV. That's right - timing can be everything in a vehicle leasing deal. If you can get both the knowledge and the timing down pat, chances are you'll walk away with a great auto lease deal. The fact is that most consumers have little idea how leasing really works, what some of the hidden costs are, or how to land the best...

Following Jordanian King Abdullah's decision to exercise option of ending Israel's lease on two territories, which was done under peace treaty, Prime Minister Netanyahu promises to negotiate extending the agreement.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel will renegotiate two annexes to its peace treaty with Jordan in an effort to maintain control over Naharayim and Tzofar, after the Hashemite Kingdom decided to reclaim the territories.Under the accord, Israel has been leasing the Island of Peace in Naharayim and the Tzofar enclave in the Arava for nearly a quarter of a century. Israeli farmers have cultivated the land for many...

LAPORTE — Law enforcement in LaPorte County is preparing for the possibility of an already-congested and dangerous U.S. 20 being overrun with more semi-trucks as drivers avoid the 35 percent cost increase of traveling the Indiana Toll Road. Much of that stretch of highway being down to one lane in each direction for resurfacing adds to the concerns. LaPorte County Sheriff John Boyd said he’s reached out to Indiana State Police to help patrol U.S. 20 if an increase in truck traffic becomes too much for his staff to handle alone. “We’re going to prepare for it,” Boyd said. “We’re...

Investors are hoping to seize upon the $1 trillion infrastructure plan proposed by President Donald Trump to transform the nation’s highways, bridges, and tunnels into assets they can monetize by adding tolls and other user fees.The Trump infrastructure plan, which the administration plans to roll out this week, is centered on the idea of “asset recycling,” which refers to the process of securing new infrastructure spending by leasing the operations of existing public property to private operators.The privatization-centered scheme has the nation’s largest toll operators salivating. Transurban, Cintra, and TransCore, three major toll operators, have retained federal lobbyists to influence...

After Donald Trump is sworn in as president on Jan. 20, he will follow a time-honored tradition and make his way from the U.S. Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue. Along the way, just a few blocks before he reaches the White House, he'll pass the Trump International Hotel. The 263-room luxury hotel is becoming the focus of a debate over conflict of interest between Trump and his business dealings. Trump doesn't actually own the landmark building, which was once the headquarters of the U.S. Post Office. In 2013, he signed a 60-year lease for the building with the General Services Administration,...

The controversial 2006 lease of the Indiana Toll Road paved the way for highway projects funded by public-private partnerships in Indiana — including the relatively smooth and nearly finished building of a bridge over the Ohio River at Louisville and the beleaguered construction of a 21-mile stretch of Interstate 69 from Bloomington to Martinsville. Indiana’s next governor — whose road-funding agenda will likely shape discussions at next year’s budget session of the Indiana General Assembly — will have a major role in crafting future deals to fund projects and maintain the state’s infrastructure. The question is whether the state will...

In a dispute that could have greater legal implications, a local pro-life organization filed suit Wednesday against a landlord, whose Vacaville office building houses Planned Parenthood, alleging religious discrimination after the owner first agreed to lease space to the group and then reneged, saying only that their pro-life clinic was “not a good fit.” Pacific Justice Institute, a nonprofit legal defense organization, filed the complaint on behalf of Alpha Pregnancy Clinics of Northern California in Solano County Superior Court, alleging breach of contract and violation of the organization’s civil rights. Alpha, a licensed medical clinic in the state of California,...