Property

Questionable Development Plans in Southwest Harbor

Update – 8/15

SOUTHWEST HARBOR — A developer proposing to build a 40-home subdivision on the waterfront along Main Street is already marketing the homes, though he has yet to get approval for all of them from the town’s planning board.

Developer Jeff Crafts announced last week his plans to develop The Village at Ocean’s End in three phases on a 35-acre parcel adjacent to Western Way Condominiums. The project includes an events center, swimming pool, walking trails and, on the harbor, a boat club with a deepwater dock and a golf cart tunnel under Main Street.

Mr. Crafts has permits to build three homes on the property. One, which will be a model home, is under construction.

Building a fourth home on the property would trigger subdivision review by the town’s planning board, according to Southwest Harbor code enforcement officer Don Lagrange. Maine law states “no person may sell, lease, develop, build upon or convey for consideration, or offer or agree to sell, lease, develop, build upon or convey for consideration any land or dwelling unit in a subdivision that has not been approved by the municipal reviewing authority” which, in Southwest Harbor, is the town’s planning board.

Mr. Crafts maintains that at this point he is only offering the three permitted homes for sale.
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– Mount Desert Islander

By downeastlaw, ago

Adverse Possession and Maine’s Tradition of Permissive Use

Casenote: Weeks v. Krysa

In a case that shows that the finer points of adverse possession law in Maine are still open to interpretation, the Maine Supreme Court issued a ruling on July 17, 2008 overturning a lower court who had found for the party claiming adverse possession. The lower court had ruled in favor of the party who had asserted that they had obtained title to a piece of property through adverse possession based its seasonal use of the land in question.

Purchase Article 

By downeastlaw, ago

Court Upholds Takings

The Maine supreme court says the state Transportation Department legally took land occupied by a well-known restaurant so it could build a new bridge over the Penbobscot River.

In its ruling Thursday, the court says the former owners of the Sail Inn failed to present any evidence, other than personal opinion, contradicting the state’s position that taking all five acres of the restaurant’s land in Prospect was necessary.

The court also says plaintiffs Paul and Robert Dyer not contest that traffic safety concerns existed during construction of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge near the site of the Sail Inn.

The state condemned land for construction of a bridge to replace the Waldo-Hancock Bridge, which was built in 1931. The replacement bridge opened in 2006.

– Maine Today

By downeastlaw, ago

Why automatic rental termination fees are illegal

The story below describes a property management company that was automatically charging tenants a penalty if they moved out before their lease ended. While typically if you back out of a contract, which is essentially what your lease is, you still have to meet your obligation or pay to compensate the other party.

The reason a landlord cannot automatically charge the tenant the remainder of the lease amount or even a fee, is that if the landlord fills that unit, they will be making more than what they would have made under the contract. The landlord can only recover what they would have made if the lease / contract was fulfilled by the tenant.

But this does not mean you can just get out of your lease without risk. If you sign a one year lease, and move out before the end of the lease, you may have to pay the rent while you are not there. Your landlord will need to try to find another tenant.

A Portland-based property management company has agreed to stop automatically charging early termination fees when tenants leave an apartment before a lease is up.

According to Maine’s attorney general, Port Property Management typically charged tenants early departure fees of $600, even if it immediately re-rented the apartment. Attorney General Steve Rowe says automatic early termination fees can be illegal under Maine law if a landlord immediately finds a new tenant.

Under a court-ordered consent decree, Port Property Management also agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty and to refund money to tenants who were improperly charged early termination fees.

Port Property Management, which manages more than 700 apartments in Portland and South Portland, did not admit to any wrongdoing.

–wcsh6

By downeastlaw, ago

Gifted Harvard properties sold

Two properties that were donated to Harvard apparently for use by faculty members, have been sold. Because they were donated for the specific purposes, the University needed approval from the Maine attorney general before they could be sold. Without seeing the actual deeds, it is impossible to say if the sales were in line with the donor’s intent. But apparently the proceeds of the sales are to be used for purposes benefiting faculty.

In the case involving the Kendall estate in Maine, Harvard asked the Maine attorney general in January 2007 to allow it to sell the property, stating in court papers that the house needed “major capital repairs” and that the island’s remote location would force the school to pay an “exorbitant” amount of money for repair work that “far outweighs the income generated by the endowed maintenance fund.”

Maine’s attorney general raised no objection to the Kendall sale, and a judge approved the request on Jan. 23, 2007, 15 days after Harvard’s petition was filed.

Linda Conti, the assistant attorney general who handled the case, said in a phone interview that she made her decision based on the facts in Harvard’s petition. There was no hearing.

– Boston Globe

By downeastlaw, ago

Right-of-Way Easements in Maine

INTRODUCTION

This article describes right-of-way easements in Maine.  Right-of-way easements are a common type of easement in the state, and this article is meant to provide a basic overview of this legal right, how the right comes to be, who holds it, what it provides and also how this right can be lost. 

An easement, at its most basic, provides certain rights to a person, or group (the “easement holder”) to use a piece of land that is owned by another (the “burdened estate”).  There are several different types of easements, they can be created in different ways, and they can be extinguished as well. An example of a right-of-way easement would be when the general public is allowed to cross over private property to access water.  In Maine, often people are unaware that the reason they are able to reach a shoreline (be it the ocean, a lake, or a river) is because of a legally established right that lets them cross over someone’s private property.  

The full article is now free on the Teel Law Office website

 

By downeastlaw, ago