March 1, 2017 is the deadline to challenge your 2016 real estate taxes.
Please keep in mind the deadline to challenge your 2016 real estate taxes is March 1, 2017. For more information on the application process, please visit this article.
Charitable exemption – are church parking spaces leased to UNH students tax exempt?
We won’t make you wait – the answer is “no.” The New Hampshire Supreme Court was asked to decide whether twenty-four parking spaces leased to college students for all but about six hours a week and limited other times qualifies for the charitable exemption from real estate taxation under RSA 72:23,III. The Court found the arrangement did not constitute “use and occupancy” for religious purposes and therefore did not qualify for the exemption. The Court did not buy the church’s argument the revenue generated by leasing the spaces was used for charitable purposes, and thus the spaces should be tax exempt. The court also did not buy the argument that the entire parking lot, including the spaces at issue, should be exempt because the building the parking lot services (the church) is exempt. Nice try, though. The Bishop of the Protestant Diocese in New Hampshire, a corporation sole, d/b/a St. George’s Episcopal Church v. Town of Durham
The general public may acquire easement rights.
In what appears to be the final battle in the long-running war between Wentworth By The Sea Country Club and some members of the public, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled the public does indeed have easement rights over country club land to access Sanders Point. See Jesurum v. WBTSCC Limited Partnership
Prior to this case, only a handful of New Hampshire Supreme Court decisions referenced the concept of public prescriptive easements. This theory is distinct from highways created by prescription, and may provide an alternative to the time limits imposed by RSA 229:1. RSA 229:1 requires evidence of use for twenty years prior to January 1, 1968. As each year passes, such evidence obviously becomes more difficult to obtain. Some refinement may be needed to distinguish between a prescriptive “highway” and a prescriptive – what? Parking area? Path? In Jesurum, cars traveled over, and parked on, the way in question. Given the legislature created the January 1, 1968 cut-off date, the Jesurum ruling would appear to encroach quite close into the legislature’s domain.
Amazing but true….
Better to not have your tax appeal heard on a Friday
A recent analysis conducted by the Lubbock County (Texas) Appraisal Review Board found that taxpayers most often lose their appeals on Fridays, just before and after lunch, but get better results on Mondays and Tuesdays. The review was somewhat informal, but it was credible enough to lead to at least one resignation. (This information was reported by www.watchdog.org.) Will reforms be implemented? Maybe, baby.