Category Archives: 2019 legislative issue

Local TREND. Local Land Banks to Remedy Blight. WHO.WHAT. WHERE.

WHERE | Georgia

WHO | Gainesville City Council

WHAT | Gainesville-Hall County Land Bank under the 2012 Georgia Land Bank Act

What will the Land Bank do?  

  • rehabilitate vacant or blighted properties by acquire
  • manage and sell properties that may be sitting empty due to foreclosure, tax delinquency, code violations or title complications
  • will not make a profit from sale of the properties

Will the Land Bank have the power of eminent domain?  NO

Gainesville Times | How Hall and Gainesville…

Lege TREND. Extending ban on eminent domain for unregulated & deregulated private companies

In 2018, South Carolina legislators extended the ban on the use of eminent domain by private pipeline companies.

The ban continues until November 20,2020 while a panel makes recommendations whether whether unregulated utilities should have any of the eminent domain powers that regulated utilities have.

3 Points. Institute for Justice Against Pipelines and Eminent Domain. +1 Solution

Institute for Justice lays out these 3 points arguing eminent domain absue by pipelines:

  • “FERC presides over a system that strips property owners of their rights without courts”
  • FERC dawdles and property owners have access to courts blocked
  • Pipelines can unfairly start cutting down trees even before state permits are granted, with an example from NY of 500 trees cut down on a family farm for a project that was never permitted

the Solution: real judicial review, in a court, before proepty is…

Local TREND. Data Collection By Short Term Rentals. Where. What. Who.

Where: NYC new ordinance on short term rentals

Who does NYC’s data collection requirement apply to? Short Term Rental Platforms

What information will short term rental platforms, like Airbnb, have to collect?

  • Name, physical address, email, Airbnb profile URL, and phone number of hosts active that month
  • Addresses and URLs of any properties a given host rents out, and whether it was a full-home or partial-home rental
  • Total days the property was rented, rent/price paid, and any fees collected…

Private Property Rights in the Middle of a State Budget Fight.

Short Term Rentals, and the tax on short term rentals, became a bargaining chip in New Jersey Legislators.

Estimated annual revenue from the short term rental revenue in New Jersey: $250 million 

How New Jersey Would tax Short Term rentals:

  •  expand sales tax
  • apply the state’s  6.625% sales tax to r entals of fewer than 90 days would be taxed

NJ.com | Tax on shore rentals? I don’t like it, Phil Murphy says of Dem leaders’ key budget offer.

Lege TREND. How an eminent domain prohibition bill carved out utilities.

What use of eminent domain caused the legislation:    A school disrict in Pennsylvania needed to expand and made an attempt to use eminent domain for open space land

What was the legislative response?  Pennsylvnaia Legislature responded by enacting, and the Governo r signing, HB 2468 (PA | 2018) 

What does HB 2468 (PA | 2018)  prohibits eminent domain for open space unless:

  • a court grants permission because there is no other reasonable and prudent alternative
  • its a utility exercizing…

Legal Trend: Texas Local Government Can Be Sued for Taking without Compensation

Court: Judge Caroline E. Baker, state district court judge in Harris County

What happened to get us into a court room?   a Houston photographer’s claimed that UofH used his photogrpah of Houston in its materials without permission

What did Uof H argue to stay out of court? soveriegn immunity, represented by the Texas Attorney General’s Office

the court say?  that the university cannot claim soveriegn immunity for the taking

San Antonio Express News | UH can be sued for using photo, judge…

Local Lonestar TREND. Short Term Rental Ordinance Requires Inspection + Notification to Neighbors

City: Coppell

The short term renal ordinance passed by Coppelll City: 

  • must be owner’s primary residence
  • must be registered with the city
  • requires an emergency contact number be provided
  • property be inspected
  • notification to neighbors within 100 feet with a 24-hour hotline number for complaints

Coppell Gazette | Coppell City Council passes short-term rental ordinance 

Local Trend. Ordinance Limits Short Term Rental Properties.

Where: Boston, Massachusetts

Which properties can be offered for short term rental? Owner Occuppied Properties

Which properties cannot be offered for short term rental? 

  • properties occuppied by tenants
  • properties owned by investors

Boston Globe | City Council passes tough rules that limit Airbnb rentals. 

Legal TREND. Texas Supreme Court + Short Term Rentals + Restrictive Covenants = Win for Short Term Rentals

Court: Texas Supreme Court 

Case: Tarr v. Timberwood Park Owners Ass’n, Inc.

Did restrictive covenants stop short term rentals? No, short term rentals can continue. 

How did short term rentals continue in the face of restrictive covenenants that limit use of a property to single-family residences?

  • Covenants did not address leasing of property
  • Covenants did not require owner occupation
  • Since covenants addressed neither, there was no prohibition from short term leasing