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LA Considers “Buying” Private Apartment to Fight Soaring Rent Prices
In late May 2022, the Los Angeles City Council directed the city to make a formal offer on a 124-unit housing development where the landlord raised rents by up to 300 percent. Residents of the Hillside Villa Apartments (“HVA”) at 636 N. Hill Place have lobbied since 2020 for Los Angeles to use the power... Read More
Redevelopment Plan Approving Grocery Store Use Upheld on Appeal
Last Friday, a two-judge panel of the Appellate Divison issued a Per Curiam opinion in Meredith v. Mayor and Council Borough of Somerdale (A-1933-20) and “affirm[ed] substantially for the cogent reasons expressed by Judge Silverman Katz in her thorough written decisions.” Slip op. at 16. Full text of the opinion is available here. This case... Read More
Failure to Read Ordinance Leads to Appraisal’s “Fatal Flaw”
In two recent related matters, both with years 2016-2020 pending, Phillipsburg Mall c/o Namdar Realty Corp. v. Lopatcong Twp. and Phillipsburg Mall c/o Namdar Realty Corp. v. Pohatcong Twp., defendants filed motions under R. 4:40-1 for entry of judgments at trial. Judge Joshua Novin, J.T.C., granted defendants’ motions and affirmed the property tax assessments. The... Read More
Fear of Taking and Allegations of Conspiracy Not Enough to Stop Redevelopment Designation
This recent Third Circuit Court of Appeals opinion stemmed from the district court’s dismissal of Plaintiff’s Complaint in Lieu of Prerogative Writ. Merrick Wilson, Academy Hill, Inc., and River Valley Heights Corp. (“Plaintiffs”) brought this action challenging the City of Lambertville’s resolution (100-2018) declaring an area that included Plaintiffs’ property as “in need of redevelopment.”... Read More
Appellate Division Affirms Town’s Right to Take Redevelopment Property
In New Jersey, redevelopment designations are often a precursor to the government exercising its eminent domain power. However, in order for the government to use eminent domain, it must first obtain a final judgment from the court authorizing the “right to take.” On April 6, 2022, in Lindenwold v. Jackson, et al., the Appellate Division... Read More
Can You Fight Eminent Domain?
Eminent domain is the inherent right or power of the government to “take” private property for public use. In New Jersey, the State is vested with the power of eminent domain as an attribute of sovereignty. The legislature can also delegate this power to other agencies and arms of the government, such as counties, municipalities,... Read More
N.J. District Court: Jersey City’s Limit on Short-Term Rentals is Constitutional Under the Takings Clause
Home sharing platforms have exploded in popularity over the past decade, becoming an acceptable way for individuals to earn supplemental income from their properties. Using these platforms, individuals may lease or sublease their properties for a short-term period of days, weeks, or months at a time. In 2015, Jersey City passed an ordinance affirmatively permitting... Read More
Tax Court Declines to Increase Property Tax Assessments for Carteret Property
The Tax Court of New Jersey recently rendered a seventeen (17) page opinion in Carteret Holdings Urban Renewal, LLC v. Carteret Borough (hereafter “Carteret Holdings”) that affirmed the 2018 and 2019 tax assessments for a garden-style apartment complex located in Carteret Borough, Middlesex County, New Jersey. The unpublished opinion, written by the Hon. Mala Sundar,... Read More
Property Tax Relief Legislation Advances Through NJ Senate Committee
NJ Property Tax Relief On January 27, 2022, the New Jersey Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee unanimously approved two pieces of legislation impacting New Jersey property taxes. These proposed bills, S330 and S343, are lawmaker’s attempts to give some measure of property tax relief to New Jersey residents. Though they both take very different... Read More
Crossing the Line? Nebraska Plans to Use Eminent Domain to Take Land in Colorado
We often think of eminent domain as the inherent power of the government to take private land for a public purpose. But what about when one sovereign entity intends to take land from another? Let’s look at a recent interstate taking story from the Nebraska-Colorado border, where Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts plans to use Nebraska’s... Read More
