News & Articles

Under some circumstances, owners and occupiers of land can be held liable for third party criminal acts that take place on their property. These types of lawsuits, which often involve apartment complexes, condominiums, hotels, bars, convenience stores, shopping malls, or workplaces, can result in significant costs to the property owner. In order to avoid these … Read More

As aerial drones become more prevalent, they raise a variety of issues that can affect communities. Drones can crash into people, vehicles, or property due to mechanical or operator error, they can make annoying noises, and, since many drones are equipped with cameras, they raise serious privacy concerns. Additionally, the regulation of drones is in … Read More

Serious problems can occur if a lender fails to subordinate its development loan to a community’s restrictive covenants, restrictions, and easements during or prior to development. If the loan goes into default and the lender forecloses, the result can be chaos for the association and property owners. Developers and property managers should be cognizant early … Read More

Classifying workers as either employees or independent contractors is not always easy. Simply labeling a worker as an independent contractor does not in itself establish the actual status of that worker in relation to the employer. The consequences of a misclassification can be disastrous to employers, resulting in government fines, back taxes, unpaid benefits, and … Read More

As the Internet has become the go-to source of information for most people, the first instinct of many residents of community associations who want information about their community or wish to communicate with the board of directors, their property manager, or their neighbors, is to go online. In addition to maintaining a website to allow … Read More

WCZ recently obtained two favorable decisions from the Georgia Court of Appeals in favor of its client, an individual who had guaranteed several multi-million-dollar real-estate loans. In the two related cases, a Rialto subsidiary (“Rialto”) was found to have twice breached its Settlement Agreement with WCZ’s client and was ordered to pay the legal fees … Read More

Pet waste in common areas is an unfortunate and recurring issue in many communities. One would assume and expect that neighbors would extend the common courtesy of cleaning up after their dogs. However, as we have all experienced firsthand (or firstfoot), some residents apparently feel that they have no such obligation. This is not only … Read More

The Georgia Property Owners Association Act (the “POAA”) was adopted by the Georgia Legislature in 1994. The POAA is an elective statute, which means that a community of townhomes or single family homes can decide whether or not it wishes to become subject to its provisions. In contrast, the Georgia Condominium Act is a mandatory … Read More

With spring and summer vacation season upon us it may be worth taking a second or even a third look at short term vacation rentals in your community. Online services such as Airbnb and VRBO are growing in popularity. These services allow property owners to list their properties for rental on a short term basis … Read More

WCZ partners Steven M. Winter and Richard J. Capriola and Senior Associate Eric Coleman have been selected to the 2015 Georgia Super Lawyers list. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters … Read More