The Land Court has overturned the denial of a special permit to a commercial nursery in Falmouth in GSTVS, LLC v. Falmouth Planning Bd., 14 MISC 486885 (Mass. Land Ct. Mar. 21, 2016), finding that that Board erred in its factual findings – a somewhat unusual...
Real Property
To Surrender or To Vest: That is the Question
Can a homeowner who owes more on their mortgage than their property is worth force the mortgagee to take title to the property as part of a bankruptcy plan? Put more simply: can an underwater homeowner, by filing bankruptcy, force a bank to take their property off...
SJC Oral Arguments in Skawski: Housing Court or Land Court Permit Session?
Today the Supreme Judicial Court heard oral arguments in the matter of Skawski v. Greenfield Investors Property Development, LLC, SJC-11926, which concerns the jurisdiction of the Housing Court and Land Court permit session over certain large-scale developments. The...
Third Time’s (Not) the Charm
The Appeals Court, in a recent decision, Zullo v. HMC Assets, LLC, No. 14-P-1696 (Dec. 30, 2015) (issued pursuant to its Rule 1:28), upholding a summary judgment decision by the Land Court, both reiterated the fundamentals of foreclosure law, and raised (but did not...
Kline House in Truro is One Step Closer to Demolition
The seemingly never-ending litigation involving what is still known as the Kline house in Truro moved one step closer to final resolution when the Appeals Court recently issued a decision upholding a Land Court decision concerning revocation of building permits and...
Homestead Protection in Bankruptcy for Property that Houses In-Home Occupations
Does the Homestead exemption apply in bankruptcy where the home in question is a mixed-use building where the debtor both lives and runs a business? In a recent decision, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, on an appeal from the...
Another (Zoning) Bylaw Bites the Dust
“What do these mean? By what standards are they to be judged? How can they be applied, in practice, in anything other than an almost totally-subjective manner?” These are questions most municipalities do not want to have directed at their bylaws, especially their...
“The Wall Comes Down” – Good Fences Don’t Necessarily Make Good Neighbors, Part IV
It seems the end is nigh for the Thetford, Vermont zoning dispute involving the 60-foot-by-24-foot partition erected by Ruth Dwyer to block her view of her neighbor, Patrick Perry’s house. She objected to seeing her neighbors mow their lawn, the light from their...
Foreclosure Bill Passes Senate, Moves to House
By a 31-7 vote, the Massachusetts Senate passed a bill last week that attempts solve a portion of the ongoing foreclosure crisis by giving assurances to those who purchase property after foreclosure. The proposed legislation would implement a three-year period of time...
Constructive Notice and Grandfather Protection in Leominster
Constructive notice and grandfather protection – all in a day’s work for the Land Court, which analyzed the application of both Zoning Act and the local zoning bylaw to a proposed home on a Leominster lot. In Niall v. Guaranteed Builders & Developers, et al....