Refresher Course: Top Ten Things You Should Know About Pennsylvania’s Land Bank Legislation Karen Beck Pooley

What a Pennsylvania Land Bank might look like… (There’s no one way thanks to lots of flexibility in the legislation.)

1. Pennsylvania land banks can take many forms and touch communities of all kinds. The law allows counties and municipalities with at least 10,000 residents to create their own land bank by local ordinance OR to create a joint land bank with other communities (of all sizes) through an Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement (ICA).

2. Pennsylvania land banks can be staffed in several ways. Land banks can hire their own employees or pay city staff to carry out land bank activities.

3. Community members and stakeholders play a key role in Pennsylvania land bank operations. Land bank board members may include local elected officials and/or municipal employees and must include at least one community resident or member of a civic organization. All meetings are open to the public.

What Pennsylvania Land Banks can do…

4. Pennsylvania land banks can acquire properties in a number of ways. Properties (or interests in properties) can come into the land bank as gifts or donations; through transfers or exchanges with other entities; through foreclosure or purchase; and from municipalities or tax claim bureaus.

5. Pennsylvania land banks have “all powers necessary” to repurpose vacant and abandoned property. Land banks can… – Borrow and invest money; – Design, develop, construct, demolish, reconstruct, rehabilitate, renovate, relocate and otherwise improve real property; – Charge and collect rents for the use of land bank-owned property; – Enter into partnerships and other collaborative relationships with public and private entities.

6. Pennsylvania land banks can discharge or extinguish tax liens and pursue quiet title action through an expedited procedure. The discharge or extinguishing of school taxes is subject to school district approval. Multiple parcels of real property may be joined in a single complaint in action to quiet title.

7. Laws that restrict how municipalities may dispose of real property do not apply to Pennsylvania land banks. Land banks may sell, transfer, lease, or mortgage real property for any amount and/or form of consideration – as well as for any future use – it determines to be appropriate.

What Pennsylvania Land Banks cannot do…

8. But Pennsylvania land banks explicitly do not have the power of eminent domain.

How are Pennsylvania Land Bank operations financed? (Lots of options, including one unique to Pennsylvania.)

9. Properties held by Pennsylvania land banks are exempt from state and local taxes but not from laws and codes. Only land bank properties continuously leased to a private 3 rd party for more than five years owe state and local taxes. Land banks properties must be maintained in accordance with all applicable laws and codes.

10. Pennsylvania land banks can fund their operations through an array of sources. – Grants and loans from public and private sources; – Rents and lease payments or fees for services rendered; – Proceeds from property sales; – Proceeds from the issuance of tax exempt bonds; and – Up to 50% of real property taxes collected on repositioned properties (for five years after transfer).