Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4714 – Taxing and financing of land bank operations
(a) A land bank shall have no shareholders and may not be structured as a for-profit entity. A land bank may receive and retain payments for services rendered, for rents and leasehold payments received, for consideration for disposition of real and personal property, for proceeds of insurance coverage for losses incurred, for income from investments, and for any other asset and activity lawfully permitted to a land bank under this chapter. A reasonable operating reserve may be established to facilitate operations. However, all revenues received by a land bank in excess of expenses must be utilized to address and remediate blight, for neighborhood conservation, or to improve housing within the foreclosing governmental unit.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4714
- Foreclosing governmental unit: means any political subdivision of the State of Delaware, where such political subdivision has the power to cause the sale of real property located within its respective jurisdiction for the collection of liens inuring to that political subdivision. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4703
- Land bank: means a land bank established under this chapter and in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4703
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- real property: is synonymous with the phrase "lands, tenements and hereditaments. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- State: means the State of Delaware; and when applied to different parts of the United States, it includes the District of Columbia and the several territories and possessions of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
- Year: means a calendar year, and is equivalent to the words "year of our Lord. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
(b) The real property held by a land bank, and its income, are exempt from all taxation by the State and by any of its political subdivisions. Dispositions of property into or out of a land bank are exempt from realty transfer taxes.
(c) In creating a land bank, a foreclosing governmental unit may elect to dedicate up to 50% of the real property taxes that would inure to the foreclosing governmental unit following the disposition of real property by the land bank, excluding any amounts allocated to school districts, for remittance to the land bank. Such allocation of property tax revenues shall commence with the first taxable year following the date of disposition of the property by land bank and shall continue for a period of 5 years.
(d) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a foreclosing governmental unit creating a land bank may levy or impose such additional taxes, fees, assessments, fines, or penalties as are needed to support the operations of the land bank. Any tax, fee, assessment, fine, or penalty imposed by a foreclosing governmental unit pursuant to this subsection must be reauthorized by the foreclosing governmental unit every 5 years and appropriately adjusted so that the revenues from such tax, fee, assessment, fine, or penalty do not exceed the projected operating costs and expenses of the land bank. Any failure to reauthorize such tax, fee, assessment, fine, or penalty shall be deemed an election by the foreclosing governmental unit to cease imposing or levying such tax, fee, assessment, fine, or penalty at the end of the applicable 5-year period.
(e) The Delaware Auditor of Accounts shall have the authority to audit any land bank created pursuant to this chapter.