If you request a tax abatement, can the municipality increase your assessment?
The Superior Court does not have jurisdiction to increase an assessed value above the municipality’s assessment. If the municipality wants to correct an error of undervaluation, it must do so within the time constraints of RSA 76:14, and even then, the grounds for doing so are limited to circumstances where a taxpayer has escaped taxation completely, or someone else has been taxed instead. The municipality may, however, increase the assessment for the following tax year, so taxpayers should make sure they have solid grounds for an abatement before filing an abatement application.
Also of Note…
Lawyers are no longer needed for some eviction actions.
Beginning September 9, 2014, a non-attorney of good character who is a member or employee of a limited liability company, corporation, or partnership, which has five or fewer members, shall, with the proper written authorization from the organization, be authorized to represent the entity in eviction matters. Each such appearance shall require a new written authorization. In other words, have a separate written authorization ready for each case.
Got an expired real estate attachment based on a judgment?
You may be able to resurrect the attachment. The statute of limitations on debts secured by real estate is twenty years. See RSA 508:5. However, real estate attachments based on judgments for those types of cases lapse after only six years (RSA 511:55,I). Last August, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled these creditors may obtain a new attachment. The process is described in Trinity EMS, Inc. v. Coombs (August 6, 2014).
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