Property Tax Relief Proposed for Community Land Trusts

Many thanks to Representative Keith Fitzgerald (Sarasota) for again sponsoring the CLT property tax legislation. The bill will be considered in the 2009 legislative session. Click here to view a copy of the proposed language.

Rep. Aubuchon Files Housing Bill

Representative Aubuchon has filed the housing bill again this year and it contains the property tax language for community land trusts which directs the property appraisers to use the resale restriction in the ground lease to determine the assessed value of the land owned by the CLT and the structure owned by the homeowner. The bill filed December 23, 2008 is HB 161. There is no companion bill in the Senate at this time. The text of the entire bill can be found at
www.flsenate.gov/data/session/2009/House/bills/billtext/pdf/h016100.pdf

Florida Community Land Trust Institute Advocacy for Property Tax Relief

HB 699 sponsored by Representative Gary Aubuchon in the 2008 Legislative Session provided ad valorem (property tax) direction to property appraisers for the assessment of community land trust land and improvements (the structure or home on the community land trust owned land).

The reason this legislation is needed is because certain county property appraisers indicated they would not consider the resale restricted value when assessing the land trust home. This would mean, for example, that a community land trust home with a restricted resale price of $150,000 might be assessed at $450,000- the amount the house could be sold for if it were not a resale restricted home. The CLT homeowner would therefore be paying taxes on a value the homeowner could never realize and the real property tax burden would increase the cost of owning the home, directly undermining the intention of providing affordable homeownership.

HB 699 died on the calendar the last day of the 2008 session. RlwaysShowPlaceholderText> MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 epresentative Aubuchon has indicated that he will be filing the bill again in the 2009 session. Below is the language from HB 699—we expect this same language to be used in the 2009 legislation. The Florida Community Land Trust Institute will keep you updated throughout the 2009 session. You can also follow bills by going to www.flsenate.gov and www.myfloridahouse.org

Section 1. 193.018, Florida Statutes, is created to read:
193.018 Land owned by a community land trust to provide affordable housing; assessment; structural improvements, condominium parcels, and cooperative parcels.--

(1) As used in this section, the term "community land trust" means a nonprofit entity that is qualified as charitable under s. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and has as one of its purposes the acquisition of land to be held in perpetuity for the primary purpose of providing affordable homeownership.

(2) A community land trust may convey structural improvements located on specific parcels of land to provide affordable housing, which are identified by a legal description contained in and subject to a ground lease having a term of at least 99 years, to natural persons or families who meet the extremely-low, very-low, low, or moderate income limits specified in s. 420.0004, or the income limits for workforce housing, as defined in s. 420.5095(3). A community land trust shall retain a preemptive option to purchase any structural improvements, condominium parcels or cooperative parcels on the land at a price determined by a formula specified in the ground lease which is designed to ensure that the structural improvements, condominium parcels or cooperative parcels remain affordable.

(3) In arriving at just valuation under s. 193.011, a structural improvement, condominium parcel or cooperative parcel that provides affordable housing on land owned by a community land trust, and the land owned by the community land trust, and subject to a 99-year or longer ground lease shall be assessed using the following criteria:

(a) The amount a willing purchaser would pay a willing seller for the land is limited to an amount commensurate with the terms of the ground lease, which includes the restriction of the use of the land to providing affordable housing in perpetuity.

(b) The amount a willing purchaser would pay a willing seller for the resale restricted improvements, condominium parcel or cooperative parcel is limited to the amount determined by the formula in the ground lease.

(c) If the ground lease and all amendments and supplements thereto, or a memorandum documenting how such lease and amendments or supplements restrict the price at which the improvements, condominium parcel or cooperative parcel may be sold, is recorded in the official public records of the county in which the leased land is located, the recorded lease and any amendments and supplements, or the recorded memorandum, shall be deemed a land use regulation during the term of the lease as amended or supplemented.