Joshua B. Horvitz

Joshua Horvitz is a Partner in the firm’s Real Estate group.  He has almost fifteen years of experience as a trusted counselor and advocate for property owners, businesses, individuals, and community associations throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  Mr. Horvitz is proudly committed to protecting the legal interests of his clients.

Mr. Horvitz regularly represents clients in real estate development and regulatory matters, such as zoning, land use, tax assessment appeals, tax abatements, business taxes, real estate taxes, and code violations.  He regularly appears before administrative agencies to advocate on behalf of his clients in connection with these matters, including the Zoning Board of Adjustment of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Historical Commission, The Tax Review Board of the City of Philadelphia, the Board of Licenses and Inspections Review of the City of Philadelphia, and the City of Philadelphia Board of Revision of Taxes.

Mr. Horvitz frequently counsels his clients in connection with the purchase or sale of real estate.  In this role, he provides legal guidance throughout all aspects of both commercial and residential real estate transactions.

As part of our Community Association Law group, Mr. Horvitz is Assistant General Counsel to numerous condominium associations throughout the greater Philadelphia area. In this role, Mr. Horvitz counsels Executive Boards, Board Members, and Managers regarding the internal governance of condominium associations, contracts, unit owner disputes, requests for an accommodation due to disability, collection of delinquent assessments, elections and voting rights, enforcement of rules and regulations, taxation, insurance, and other legal issues.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Horvitz undertook a judicial clerkship with several Honorable Judges of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, where he handled appeals from local administrative agency decisions, code violations, sheriff’s sales, dispositive motions, emergency injunctions, and equity/real estate matters.

As part of our Tax Assessment Appeals group, Mr. Horvitz analyzes our clients’ property holdings for potential tax reductions, negotiates tax reductions with the local taxing authority, and prosecutes tax appeals before the Board of Revision of Taxes.  Fineman Krekstein and Harris, P.C. is the premier law firm representing local property owners in tax assessment appeals.  Mr. Horvitz has helped hundreds of clients obtain real estate tax reductions.

• Represents one of the largest residential real estate development companies in the City in a wide variety of matters, including real estate and business taxes, permitting and licensing issues, code violations, fair housing, taxation and land use matters.
• Represents condominium associations regarding interpretation of condominium governing documents, enforcement and internal governance of the rules and regulations, amendments to condominium, elections, FHA/Fannie Mae, and many other issues affecting condominiums.
• Manages one of the largest Tax Assessment Appeals practices in the region, including multifamily residential buildings, office buildings, and industrial properties, saving our clients from onerous and inaccurate real estate taxes.
• Represents clients in the sale or purchase of real estate, and attend closings routinely on behalf of buyer, sellers and developers.
• Represents neighborhood community organizations, developers, and adjacent property owners in zoning matters before local zoning boards, and before the PA Commonwealth Court.
• Resolves tax delinquencies, discrepancies, default judgments, sequestrations, mechanics liens, lis pendens and tax sales.
• Manages the condominium fee collection practice for dozens of medium and large condominium associations, collecting from condo owners who have not paid their common expense assessments. Developed an expertise in collection and execution practice, including foreclosure, lien priority, garnishment of bank accounts and personal property, sheriff’s sales and bankruptcy.
• Defends code enforcement actions for alleged violations of local property maintenance code.
• Obtained regulatory approval to fund the historical preservation of the Frankford Arsenal, a World War II-era ammunition factory with over 100 historical buildings, through creation of a mixed-use development plan within its walls which incorporated preservation of historical sites.
• On behalf of a real estate developers, negotiated the critical terms of a development agreement with counsel for adjacent landowners, which allowed for the construction of two large multifamily apartment buildings in Center City Philadelphia.
•  Appeared and argued before the Philadelphia Board of Revision of Taxes to successfully obtain a 100% tax exemption from Real Estate taxes for a local community organization’s soccer field and outdoor event space, allowing it to continue to serve the local community by providing access to facilities for youth athletics and for local non-profits to host fundraising events for local charities.
• On behalf of a local condominium association, litigated and negotiated with the U.S. Department of Justice in order to obtain a favorable settlement in a housing discrimination matter regarding alleged service animals.
• On behalf of a local daycare business, appeared before the Zoning Board of Adjustment, where Mr. Horvitz successfully obtained a zoning variance for expansion of the business to areas of the building previously zoned only for residential use.