March 1, 2021 is the deadline to challenge your 2020 real estate taxes.
Please keep in mind the deadline to challenge your 2020 real estate taxes is March 1, 2021. Your request for a refund must be postmarked by this date and addressed to the municipality in order for the municipality to grant you a refund. You can obtain a … Read the rest
New Hampshire Private Road Taxpayers Alliance (NHPVRTA) is a NH domestic nonprofit corporation. It advocates for the rights of private road property owners. Private roads can be dirt, gravel or paved and can be found in the mountains, at beaches, lakes, and in cities and towns. Private roads can have a single residence, a few, or many residents as in … Read the rest
Obtaining a rezoning of property to a commercial zoning district is just the first step in the planning process. Typically, before breaking ground, most new commercial developments or redevelopments must first go through the local government’s site planning process. While zoning considers big-picture questions like whether the property is suitable for commercial uses, site planning digs into specifics about the … Read the rest
State and local government entities have the ability to use eminent domain authority to force the sale of private property for public projects. See RSA Chapter 498 A. This process aids in the orderly planning and construction of new public infrastructure such as highway widenings. It also gives the landowner the ability to challenge the amount of compensation that … Read the rest
Is a deed’s language granting a “temporary” well easement enough to ensure that the easement is actually temporary? The New Hampshire Supreme Court determined it did not in its opinion in Arell v. Palmer, 2020 WL 6372951 (N.H. October 30, 2020).
Arell involved a dispute between owners of two neighboring residential properties. When the defendants bought their property, their … Read the rest
As chronicled in the A&E television show Storage Wars, it is common for modern-day treasure hunters to place bids on repossessed storage units in the hopes of making a (very large) profit. However, the bidders would probably think twice if purchasing the contents of the unit resulted in the buyer taking on the obligation to pay the former owners’ … Read the rest
Easement holders have the right to access or use another’s property for the purpose of the easement. These easement rights are considered non-possessory, as the ownership interest (referred to as the “fee title”) is still retained by the property owner. The property benefitting from the use of the easement is referred to as the “dominant estate”. … Read the rest
The deed to a parcel of property may be the most important piece of paper someone holds. This is proof that they own their house, the land it sits on, and what that land includes. Yet many people aren’t quite sure what it all means.
Recording a deed or other document makes it public … Read the rest
In a prior blog post, we discussed the application of grandfathering, or “nonconformity”, provisions to existing uses of property that are subsequently banned by the local government. Nonconformity provisions essentially allow the current use to continue indefinitely on the property, even though it does not conform to the new code requirements.
However, expanding nonconforming uses can be problematic. For … Read the rest
Landowners in New Hampshire have protections against local governments retroactively banning their lawfully existing use of property. These legal, non-conforming uses are considered “grandfathered”. They generally are allowed to continue indefinitely despite not conforming to newly enacted zoning requirements.
In the zoning and land use context, grandfathered uses are those that existed prior to a change in zoning. Most local … Read the rest
