Real Estate Regulation and De-Regulation from The Hill

This year was an interesting and exciting Legislative season.  While working on my committee, I saw several real estate related bills come through for discussion and debate.  There were several more that were debated on the House Floor.  Here is a summary of some of the Real Estate related legislation that will become law this year:

Window Egress and Zoning Enforcement

HB383 - This was a bill that I ran which dovetailed with SB178 that I reported on last year.  My bill puts teeth into the law which prevents building officials from requiring owners of rental property to cut into the foundation of their properties in order to enlarge existing egress windows.  The State Fire Marshall wrote the language for the bill and testified in its behalf at committee.  This should bring an end to most of the egress window non-sense where owners have been forced to endanger their properties by cutting into old and fragile foundations.

Short Sales and Deficiency Collections

SB42 - This bill brings deficiency collection for short sales in line with those for foreclosure.  Before this law passed, lenders had 6 YEARS to file a deficiency judgement against the seller of a property.  Most lenders don't file these judgements because the financial status of the sellers makes the action pointless.  However, in some cases, the lenders do file.  If they do, they now have 3 MONTHS from the time of the short sale closing to do so.  This should increase the number of short sales being worked in the marketplace and help us churn through our distressed inventory faster.  That, in turn, should help us accelerate toward a full market recovery.  


Property Tax Reductions for Urban Farms

SB122 - This bill allows parcels of land of 2 acres or greater that are zoned for uses other than agriculture in urban areas to be taxed at an agricultural rate when they are dedicated to that purpose. The bill closely follows greenbelt statute and allows the property to have reduced taxes as long as the property is in use for agriculture production.  When the property is sold, the seller must pay up to 10 years of the difference between the taxes they paid and what they would have paid had it been taxed the full rate through that time.  This should do two things.  First, it should increase the number of viable agricultural operations in urban settings; second, it should create an incentive for the properties to stay in agricultural use over longer periods due to the lump tax due at time of sale.

Mortgage Fraud Prosecution

SB281 - This bill funds the Mortgage and Financial Fraud Unit of the State Attorney General's Office.  The unit has been in hibernation for several years due to budget constraints.  The funds were available this year to restart the unit and begin investigating bad actors in the market.  

Good Landlord Program Changes

SB216 - This bill makes some changes to Good Landlord programs across the state.  It creates reciprocity for certification between cities who have a GL program.  It also restricts the fees that cities can charge for a business license to be no more than the actual cost of providing the license.  Ogden landlords have nothing to worry about.  The city charges $83 for a non-GL and $13 for a GL license when the actual cost to the city is $108.  Ogden has been an excellent example of how to run a GL program. The bill also provides an appeal process in the even that a landlord is kicked off the program.

Zoning Enforcement

HB302 - This bill requires cities to issue notices to owners and property managers, if desired, when giving notice of zoning violations.  It also requires that a notice be issued for each instance of a violation.  This will likely affect owners in Ogden regarding mowing of yards.  The city policy prior to this bill has been to send a notice once in the year and then move strait to issuing fines if the violation occurs again later in the same calendar year.  This will require a notice for each instance of the violation.