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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | May 5, 2014 09:18 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Mark Painter |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Requiring Buyer’s Agents to Provide Homebuyers Applications for Property Tax Relief |
In the near future I will be introducing legislation that would amend Act 9 of 1980, the Real Estate Licensing and Registration Act, to require buyer’s agents to provide residential property buyers an application for property tax relief through the homestead and farmstead exclusion during or before a residential real estate closing. As you are probably aware, the General Assembly enacted Act 1 of Special Session 1 of 2006, the Taxpayer Relief Act. The law requires school districts to allocate revenue garnered from legalized gaming in the Commonwealth to qualifying home and farm owners as a way to offset the cost of school property taxes. This property tax relief is known as a homestead or farmstead exclusion. Although the Taxpayer Relief Act requires school districts to notify property owners of the homestead and farmstead exclusions no later than 60 days prior to the annual application deadline, it has recently come to my attention that many homeowners are either confused by or completely unaware of this program. My legislation would help to bring awareness to the homestead exclusion by requiring buyer’s agents, at or before the time of closing on a residential real estate transaction, to provide their clients with a copy of the property tax relief form. Also, this legislation will also save school districts money by removing these applicants from the mailing list before the required annual mailings of applications as they would have already enrolled in the program. It is my hope that, with this legislation, we can not only clarify some of the confusion surrounding the program, but also help more homeowners take advantage of the homestead exclusion to reduce their property tax burdens. I urge you to join me in helping property owners by co-sponsoring this legislation. |
Introduced as HB2313