Top 10 Real Estate and Construction Headlines from USA A number of significant changes to California construction statutes take effect over the next year. A commentary on a recent decision in the case of Engineering & Construction Innovations, Inc., v. L. H. Bolduc Co., interpreting a subcontractor's agreement to indemnify a contractor, the subcontractor's contractual obligation to procure insurance to cover that indemnity agreement and the impact of the Minnesota anti-indemnification statute on such contract provisions. The Government has announced that at some point in Spring 2013 it will bring into effect a new permitted development ("PD") right, to allow changes in use from Use Class B1(a) (offices) to Use Class C3 (residential), so that there will be no requirement to obtain an express planning permission for such a change in use. The Coulillards refinanced a purchase money mortgage. Over the years, the pollution exclusion in commercial general liability policies has provided something of a moving target for insureds, insurers, and underwriters. On July 11, 2012, California Governor Jerry Brown signedinto law the "Homeowner’s Bill of Rights," AB 278/SB 900,marking the first U.S. state to adopt into law theresidential mortgage foreclosure reform principlesoutlined in the February 2012 National MortgageServicing Settlement with the nation’s top five mortgageservicers. California Attorney General Kamala Harris, alongwith leadership in both the Senate and Assembly,sponsored the "Homeowner’s Bill of Rights." A discussion on a recent case where the question of whether the trustee could sell the entire interest including management rights, or just the debtors' economic interests in the LLC, was at the heart of the issue. California's long-standing anti-indemnity laws prohibit a public agency from forcing a contractor to indemnify the agency for its "active negligence." The Georgia Real Estate Appraisers Board recently adopted its final regulations regarding standards for developing and reporting an "evaluation appraisal." On April 24, 2013, the US Department of Treasury's Community Development Financial Institution fund announced the latest, eagerly-awaited round of New Market Tax Credits allocations. | 
