We are currently witnessing a rash of new municipal ordinances dealing with vacant homes. Some municipalities believe that by regulating vacant homes, their potential negative impact on property values may be avoided.
These ordinances typically feature a registration process, registration fees and inspection fees. In some cases, municipalities are even going so far as to require buyers to acquire certificates of occupancy in order to move into a home which has been vacant for a specified period of time.
The public purpose behind most of these initiatives is to ensure that vacant homes do not become a negative influence to surrounding properties and neighbors. While this is a legitimate goal, it also appears that a few municipalities have chosen to use these ordinances as revenue generators and/or a method by which code inspector salaries can be supported.
Because the requirements under these ordinances vary greatly from town to town, there is no way to summarize the details of each here. It is important, however, for home sellers, home buyers and their real estate agents to be aware of them. The terms and conditions of a purchase agreement may be affected by these ordinance provisions in some cases.
The real estate transaction continues to get more complicated every day. It is our goal at Coldwell Banker Weir Manuel to continue to stay abreast of every new development that affects the sale or purchase of real property and advise our clients accordingly.
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