2016 Legislative Session is Here!

Dear Members,

2016 is here and things are already moving quickly. The 2016 Legislature is now in session and there are several bills that we are watching closely. The Estoppel Certificate legislation is of primary interest and I have high hopes that it will successfully be enacted into law. I intend to provide weekly updates (assuming enough happens every week) of what is going on in Tallahassee that is of interest. These will be separate from my regular emails and will be clearly identified as a Legislative Update. Look for these new Legislative Updates to begin next week.

We've received positive responses to our short series of TRID Town Halls – live webinars over the lunch hour that focused on TRID issues. We are working on getting those up and running again later this month. Topics will be expanded beyond those relating to TRID, and if you have any suggested topics (big or small) please send those to me (m.murphy@thefund.com) or to Maggie Thumberg (mthumberg@thefund.com).

I sent out an alert last week about the changes to the FIRPTA law. These are significant changes: the withholding rate has been increased to 15% for some transactions and the new provisions are effective for transactions that close on or after February 16, 2016. Here is a link to the alert that was sent out so that you can get more information.

That's all for this week. As always, thank you for your support of The Fund.

Best Regards,

Melissa Jay Murphy
Senior Vice President and
General Counsel