tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319205560371412819.post6982529979696405459..comments2023-06-17T03:34:15.514-04:00Comments on the Other 35 Percent: Lost: Vacant Property TaxCary Silvermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18069869511368628929noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319205560371412819.post-9395139873663541772011-04-15T14:27:35.070-04:002011-04-15T14:27:35.070-04:00Brian P Murphy
The vacant property law got a bad ...Brian P Murphy<br /><br />The vacant property law got a bad name because of the many horror stories of unjust and negligent enforcement that it created. An older couple had a house for many years with a side yard that was a separate lot. It was assessed as "vacant" even though there was a barbecue fireplace, patio and outdoor furniture. Their story about getting the runaround from their government would make anyone grind their teeth and clench their fists. Finally they had to hire a lawyer and spend a lot of money to get things squared away.<br /><br />There are many, may worse stories than this. It was a bad law.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319205560371412819.post-41979567082996415582010-01-05T21:38:58.213-05:002010-01-05T21:38:58.213-05:00I own a vacant lot in the city. I have been negoti...I own a vacant lot in the city. I have been negotiating with the HRPB, neighborhood commissions, etc to get a approval for my plans for over a year. The plans have finally been submitted to DCRA to get a building permit and now I have to pay an expeditor just to get the plans through DCRA. Under the old law, there was no exemption for vacant lots while waiting for permission to build. The vacant property law forced property owners who would planned to use their cash to build, to spend $30K, $40K, $50K in property taxes. I understand people's frustration with the slow pace of improvement, but often it is the bureaucracy of the DC slowing the process not the property owner. We are in a credit crunch. I have excellent credit, savings and good salary, but I had a difficult time finding a bank that was still issuing construction loans for 2-unit buildings. I admit I have made some mistakes along the way because I have never had a home built before, but raising my property tax would not sped up my building process. I am paying my current mortgage, mortgage on the lot, property taxes and an architect. I can assure you that if I could build anymore quickly I would.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319205560371412819.post-50201172088833277032009-12-02T19:34:42.115-05:002009-12-02T19:34:42.115-05:00Carey:
Class 2 is $1.65 for the first $3M and $1....Carey:<br /><br />Class 2 is $1.65 for the first $3M and $1.85 for more than $3M. I assume that a non-blighted vacant residential property would be subject to those same levels. <br /><br />And a vacant lot cannot be taxed as a blighted property, no matter how dangerous, ugly, or eyesore it is. (Thanks Kwame!) So this creates an odd economic incentive for a potentially blighted building owner to knock down the building and pay far less in property taxes. <br /><br />Bowser's bill on vacant properties seems to be quite good. It doesn't affect the property tax rates, but it seems to simplify the vacant property registration process and gives the city greater flexibility on designating a property as blighted.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319205560371412819.post-66551513829206024902009-12-02T01:16:10.041-05:002009-12-02T01:16:10.041-05:00Anon 12/1, I stand corrected if the vacant propert...Anon 12/1, I stand corrected if the vacant property law was changed as a result of a series of amendments to a second reading of the Budget Support Act rather than through an amendment to the originally introduced blighted property legislation. <br /><br />Thank you for the detailed and helpful legislative history of how we arrived in the current mess. You must be about one of six people in the DC government, including members of the council, who can recite it. I stand by my comments that the 2008 increase in the vacant property tax from $5 to $10, coupled with increased (and occasionally inaccurate) enforcement, is what led to the ill conceived recent changes. <br /><br />You correctly point out a quirk in the new law -- that is -- the previous vacant property registration system remains in place and vacant improved properties, even if not blighted, will be taxed at the commercial rate (twice the occupied residential rate). However, I believe it would not, as you suggest, place a higher tax on many vacant properties owned by large developers. Since many of those properties are zoned commercial, they would be taxed at the same commercial rate as always. For instance, the many Douglas Development properties along 7th and NY Avenue are Class 2.<br /><br />So, correct me if I am wrong, the poorly-written law currently sets the following rates: <br />-Occupied house: $0.85 (Class 1)<br />-Vacant house: $1.65 (Class 2)<br />-Occupied commercial: $1.65 (Class 2)<br />-Vacant storefront: $1.65 (Class 2)<br />-Vacant lot: applicable residential or commercial rate; no higher tax, even if it is a nuisance property.<br />-"Blighted" house or commercial building (likely to be applied primarily to condemned properties): $10<br /><br />And, FYI, Councilmember Bowser introduced legislation on Tuesday, December 1, to again amend the vacant and blighted property laws.Cary Silvermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18069869511368628929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319205560371412819.post-69580672563473262222009-12-01T20:29:49.319-05:002009-12-01T20:29:49.319-05:00Carey's legislative history is completely wron...Carey's legislative history is completely wrong. <br /><br />The reason that LIMS shows no information on the Evans' "Blighted Properties Abatement Reform Act" is quite simple: Nothing has happened on that bill since it was introduced. And, given that it would do the exact opposite of what Bowser wants to happen, it's highly unlikely that bill will ever see the light of day.<br /><br />The vacant property tax changes occurred during the second vote on the Budget Support Act in September. Bowser introduced an amendment that would put vacant property into a Class 3 tax rate of $5 per $100 assessed, and create a new Class 4 tax rate of $10 per $100 assessed. She tried to create a mechanism for designating a property as blighted, but it wasn't well thought out. <br /><br />Kwame Brown then introduced an amendment to Bowser's amendment that gutted it. It got rid of the $5 rate for vacant properties, and made the Class 3 rate applicable only to vacant buildings (excluding vacant lots) designated as blighted. <br /><br />I believe nearly all Councilmembers voted in favor of the Brown amendment. There was minimal discussion of policy or of how much money the city was going to be leaving on the table. Instead, there was a rush to vote for the Brown amendment and no consideration about such a major decision being made without any public hearing or discussion. <br /><br />The Brown amendment contains one useful quirk: vacant residential buildings that are not designated as blighted would be subject to the Class 2 property tax rate (same rate as commercial properties). I'm not sure that was intentional (more likely it was an oversight due to astoundingly sloppy legislative drafting by Kwame Brown or whoever it was that wrote the amendment for him). But at least that means that Douglas Development and other vacant property speculators will at least pay double the occupied residential rate. <br /><br />The bottom line with the Kwame Brown pro-vacant property slumlord amendent is that it created a poorly conceived blighted property system, yet also continued the vacant property registration system. That's why DCRA's website still talks about registering vacant properties.<br /><br />LIMS may suck, but doing basic research doesn't depend on LIMS.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319205560371412819.post-62114132162332362232009-11-23T19:21:49.149-05:002009-11-23T19:21:49.149-05:00At the Blagden Alley meeting last week, I was told...At the Blagden Alley meeting last week, I was told that Douglas has soon to be realized plans to restore the facades of buildings north of NY on 7th St with windows and such.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319205560371412819.post-25089913981690432812009-11-21T03:42:26.062-05:002009-11-21T03:42:26.062-05:00Douglas is part of the vacant property problem. Th...Douglas is part of the vacant property problem. The wasteland north of NY Ave, including the empty corner at P and N. Cap are all owned by this group. Even though there is fencing around a half collapsed building and boarded up windows on another, neither of these have ever appeared on the vacant list.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319205560371412819.post-13284655206981745512009-11-20T11:50:07.036-05:002009-11-20T11:50:07.036-05:00The motivation behind the repeal, I believe, was t...The motivation behind the repeal, I believe, was to address the situation of big developers whose properties are stalled due to the financing crunch/bad economy. Some own large vacant lots or office buildings (i.e. ballpark district). Others own entire blocks of vacant storefronts (i.e. Douglas Development in the Convention Center area). The argument of these developers is that they keep their vacant properties secure and clean, and therefore they should not be subject to the tax. Hence, the "blighted" property tax.<br /><br />The fact that some innocent resident owners were caught up in increased DCRA enforcement, along with a few beaurocractic horror stories, gave the council the cover that they needed to eliminate the vacant property tax. <br /><br />The result of the change, however, is that it will largely let speculating absentee owners, who don't care if the neighborhood has to clean up their mess and has empty crime-ridden streets, off the hook.<br /><br />I'm not sure of the exact vote. Evans, Wells, and Michael Brown introduced the bill. Alexander, Kwame Brown and Gray cosponsored. Kwame Brown was probably feeling the heat from developers, since he motivated the increase in the vacant property tax rate from $5 to $10, and he is also chair of the economic development committee.<br /><br />Bowser was the strongest advocate of keeping some form of the tax. <br /><br />One day, the DC Council will provide citizens with a useful and transparent bill monitoring system like any of the 50 states that allows you to see, in near real time, what amendments were introduced and how legislators voted. It's 2 months since this legislation passed, yet the Council's "Legislative Management Information System" (LIMS) still provides no information on the bill: http://www.dccouncil.us/lims/legislation.aspx?LegNo=B18-0448&Description=BLIGHTED-PROPERTIES-ABATEMENT-REFORM-ACT-OF-2009.&ID=23130Cary Silvermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18069869511368628929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319205560371412819.post-30680667239543194562009-11-20T11:12:14.538-05:002009-11-20T11:12:14.538-05:00Hey one last thing...
A lot of people think tha...Hey one last thing... <br /><br />A lot of people think that because absentee slumlords pay real estate taxes anyway, that this is enough to discourage speculators ~ untrue:<br /><br />The normal residential real estate tax, i.e. the cost of holdng on to a vacant property) is $.85 for every $100 in value. If your vacant property is assessed at $250,000 - $450k that means you'll be paying about $2500 - $4500 a year.<br /><br />But wait ~ because of the annual 10% cap on tax increases, a building bought 10 years ago for $100k and now worth $250-$450k is probably now assessed only at $200k (at most). <br /><br />So our landlord ends up paying $2,000 a year to sit back and wait and speculate, and wait...<br /><br />...THAT'S THE PRICE OF 1 MONTH'S RENT for a 1 bedroom apartment!!!!!<br /><br />A pretty cheap price to pay when you stand to make profits in the 100s of thousands of Dollars. <br /><br />All courtsey of some of our elected City Council members!<br /><br />Jay'O in Columbia HeightsJay"Onoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319205560371412819.post-74866519158653603442009-11-20T10:52:41.101-05:002009-11-20T10:52:41.101-05:00Why the hell is the DC coucil trying to protect ab...Why the hell is the DC coucil trying to protect absentee slumlords woh live in MD and VA? <br /><br />Sure a very few well meaning DC residents might have a vacant property that won't sell, but the Law had a 12 month exception for those rehabing and selling a property.<br /><br />The rest are slum spectulators who probably lived in DC in the past and still have political conections and family in DC that vote.<br /><br />Well, I call BS on that! Our concilmembers should be responsive to DC RESIDENTS not outside moneied interests. Isn't it bad enough that we don't have the Vote and now we have people from other Sates preventing us from improveing our neighborhoods!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319205560371412819.post-13089768999524323622009-11-20T10:47:17.991-05:002009-11-20T10:47:17.991-05:00This really is outrageous! I can attest to 5 hous...This really is outrageous! I can attest to 5 houses on our block that have been rehabed, sold and/or rented after the absentee landlords got notices from DCRA.<br /><br />They actually didn't have to go any farther than just telling them what was insotre for them as a "Vacant Property" and BOOM - the block improved.<br /><br />Does anyone know how each councilmember voted on this? <br /><br />Kwame Brown and Evans wanted the reduction<br /><br />Graham and Bowser were against it...<br /><br /><br /><br />WE SHOUDL ALL CONTACT Councilmember BOWSER to encourage her as she is still trying to get it back to 5% for plain vacant buildings! ! ! !Jay'Onoreply@blogger.com