White Papers
The Law Offices of John Boehnert is pleased to make these White Papers available to interested readers, including lawyers, real estate and mortgage professionals and others interested in real estate acquisitions, investment or development. Please feel free to share this material with others, with proper attribution consistent with copyrighted material.
Omnibus Checklist: Environmental and Real Estate Issues in an Acquisition Transaction
Every purchaser, business and real estate professional responsible for acquiring real estate wants “THE Checklist”, a concise list that explains precisely what they must do to conduct a thorough due diligence inquiry and avoid problems when purchasing real estate. Though an all-encompassing checklist does not exist, a proper due diligence action plan can be designed and tailored for each real estate transaction.
This report shows how to cost-effectively develop a real estate due diligence checklist, including guidance on how to structure, organize and conduct the due diligence inquiry. The report includes a detailed Omnibus List of due diligence items, covering both real estate issues and environmental issues, to focus the inquiry.
To make the Omnibus list useful to a wide range of readers in diverse geographic areas, it is structured to address issues, rather than specific statutes. However, for the benefit of readers, the author has provided an appendix identifying federal environmental statutes that may impact real estate transactions, and for Rhode Island practitioners, an appendix identifying Rhode Island environmental and land use statutes that may impact real estate transactions.
Also included is an appendix setting forth a comprehensive omnibus due diligence checklist in a transaction format, so it may be used as a working checklist in an acquisition transaction. Given the extensive due diligence tips throughout this report, this White Paper will prepare readers to conduct more comprehensive and cost-effective real estate due diligence inquiries.
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Environmental Due Diligence in Rhode Island: Avoiding Hidden Pitfalls and Costly Mistakes When Buying Real Estate
The consequences of missing a significant environmental problem when buying real estate can range from costly to catastrophic. This special report focuses on the Rhode Island market and shows how to organize a due diligence inquiry, how to recognize the jurisdiction of various regulators (which is often obscure to the uninitiated), and how to avoid common problems in the due diligence inquiry.
The report contains extensive due diligence tips, many of general applicability and many others geared to the intricacies of the Rhode Island regulatory environment. This report will benefit current property owners, real estate professionals already familiar with Rhode Island, as well as out-of-state professionals doing business in the Rhode Island real estate market.
Readers will be better equipped to conduct more thorough, cost-effective environmental due diligence inquiries in Rhode Island and will become more attuned to the nuances of the Rhode Island regulatory environment. The author is aware of no other report that provides specific due diligence tips geared to a wide range of real estate acquisitions in Rhode Island, whether waterfront property, environmentally-impaired property, or residential, commercial or industrial property.
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About the Author
John Boehnert is an attorney, writer and speaker on real estate, land use and environmental law*.
Over the years he has represented developers, energy companies, multi-national corporations, investors, lenders, non-profit corporations, and state and local governmental entities.
His expertise includes coastal permitting, waterfront property rights, public trust doctrine issues, structuring and obtaining permits for sophisticated real estate acquisitions, leasing and development projects, negotiating and obtaining permits for complex Brownfields redevelopment projects, and winning the most significant real estate property rights case before the Rhode Island Supreme Court in over a century.
When a decision by the Rhode Island Supreme Court unexpectedly raised significant questions as to the ownership to hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate located on filled tidal land throughout the State, and legislative efforts to correct the problem proved unavailing, a number of banks, utilities, educational institutions and businesses engaged Mr. Boehnert to seek a resolution to the serious challenge posed to these private property rights.
Mr. Boehnert convinced the State Attorney General to agree to an expedited procedure for hearing the case, including an unusual direct certification to the Supreme Court by the Superior Court, without a Superior Court hearing or trial, resulting in a definitive decision by the Supreme Court in thirteen months, rather than the normal trial and appellate review time of 3-4 years. That decision resolved the title issues not only for the litigants but also for thousands of other property owners, without the necessity of filing a class action lawsuit, by setting up a title clearing mechanism for the other impacted properties.
John Boehnert is also a frequent writer and speaker on real estate and environmental issues and may well be the most published practicing attorney in Rhode Island. Mr. Boehnert has published well over 100 articles, addressed national conferences on International Submerged Lands, International Coastal Zone Management, coastal permitting and coastal zone management, and land use law, as well as other professional groups on real estate and environmental law issues. He authored a chapter in a book on legal issues affecting the shopping center industry, and his article on the Public Trust Doctrine was published in the William and Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review. For years he has authored a column in the Providence Business News on real estate and environmental issues, and he has contributed articles to the Providence Journal. He also provides in-depth analysis of real estate, land use and environmental law issues on his blog, which is the only one of its kind in the state.
John Boehnert is certified as a mediator and arbitrator, and also provides consulting services for lawyers on sophisticated real estate or environmental projects.
*The Rhode Island Supreme Court licenses all lawyers in the general practice of law. The Court does not license or certify any lawyer as an expert or specialist in any field of practice.
