Property owners and triple net tenants may challenge their New Hampshire real estate taxes when the assessed value of their property is disproportionately higher than the assessed values of other properties in the municipality. The applicable statute, RSA 76:16, requires taxpayers to certify a good faith … Read the rest
Alfano Law attorney, John Hayes, successfully challenged a provision of the tax-deeding statute that permitted municipalities to profit from the sale of tax-deeded properties. While the tax deeding statute required municipalities to distribute profit to former owners if they sold the property within three years, the law does not require municipalities to sell tax-deeded properties within that time-frame.
In the … Read the rest
Last month, Paul Alfano attended the William and Mary Law School’s 16th annual Property Rights Conference in Williamsburg, VA.
Some of the top property professors in the country participated in panel discussions, including Stephen J. Early, winner of this year’s Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize, and prior winners of the prize, Professor James W. Ely, Jr., Professor Stewart … Read the rest
Several months ago, a few of us at Alfano Law Office noticed the frequency with which our office fights municipalities to protect property rights. Property rights are more than just things in your home or office. They include the right to use and develop land, the right to be paid full market value should the government take your property through … Read the rest
Homestead is a right to occupy one’s primary residence. Homestead also has a set value of $120,000, which comes into play when creditors circle the waters.
Each person has a homestead in the amount of $120,000; therefore, for married couples, each spouse has a $120,000 homestead.
The homestead right is exempt from attachment by creditors, except in … Read the rest
Property is anything that is owned by a person or company. It can be bought, sold, traded, stolen, or destroyed. It can be owned by a single person, or jointly between two or more people. Tangible items such as a car, books, clothes, DVDs, or even pets are considered personal property. Real estate or real property is the specific term … Read the rest
Effective the tax year beginning April 1, 2019, the amount of interest taxpayers must pay on real estate tax not paid within thirty days after bills are made drops to 8% from the current rate of 12%. The interest rate on properties subject to a tax lien drop to 14% from 18%. This is good news for taxpayers, and long … Read the rest
Many people own a house jointly with their spouse – or partner, friend, or family – often as joint tenants with rights of survivorship (“JTROS”). This means the couple owns the house together equally. If one of them dies the other retains full ownership automatically. The default in NH is to own property as “tenants in common” meaning each person … Read the rest
If you tolerate a few members of the general public to cross your land for twenty years, you may have opened the door to the entire general public crossing your land. The legal theory is called a “public easement.” A desire to access lakes and public recreational land are ripe situations for the creation of these types of rights.
Prior … Read the rest
In the case of Polonsky v. Town of Bedford, decided on June 28, 2018, the N.H. Supreme Court considered the interpretation of amendments to the alternative lien procedures statutes found in RSA 80:88-91. These statutes were enacted in response to Thomas Tool v. Croydon, 145 N.H. 218 (2000), in which the Court held that it was unconstitutional … Read the rest
