Real Estate Ethical Dilemmas

1. Discuss some ethical problems that might arise in a commercial real estate sale for the legal professional.
If a lawyer believes that his client is doing something that creates a serious ethical problem for him or her such as, commit a fraud, a crime or cause financial harm to another party. That lawyer might be inclined to breach the confidentiality to notify the other party. An ethical conflict may arise where, in the course of successive or simultaneous representations of clients, the adequate representation of a subsequent or simultaneous client may require disclosure of the other client’s confidences. This instance may put a lawyer in a not so ideal position. Many cases arise from the attorney’s mishandling of clients’ funds. This is an area that often deals with honesty. However, sometimes, in their efforts to make clients happy, lawyers release funds in violation of an escrow agreement or in the belief that everything that needs to occur will occur. In either case, it’s wrong. There is no instance where clients’ funds should be managed other than to insure that funds are protected until the appropriate time for release. …show more content…
Describe some of the problems for commercial tenants that may occur when the building is sold.
One of the main problems that a tenant of a commercial property encounters during the sale of their rented building is, having to obtain a lawyer to help review their lease agreement. The tenant’s lease must be carefully reviewed for any clauses that might terminate their lease agreement upon the sale, in addition if no such clause exists the tenant will be required to to provide an estoppel