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Our second installment from the Tax Court’s busy first week of 2021 is a twist on an exemption opinion penned by Presiding Tax Court Judge Mala Sundar, P.J.T.C. The case, Township of Freehold v. Centrastate Healthcare Services, Inc., Nos. 000047-2016 & 000048-2016 (Tax Court January 5, 2021) marks further fallout from the Tax Court’s opinion in AHS Hospital v. Morristown, 28 N.J. Tax 456 (Tax 2015), though this time falling in the favor of the taxpayer. Let’s dig in a little to this one. 

First, a bit of history. The subject property was transferred to a for-profit entity in 2008, though still used as a clinic for indigent patients. The municipality filed an appeal from the “failure to impose” an omitted assessment for 2014 and 2015. The muni

While the rest of us were preoccupied with goings on elsewhere, the New Jersey Tax Court was quietly working away, bringing in 2021 with a trio of published decisions. 

The first, authored by Tax Court Judge Mary Siobhan Brennan, J.T.C., involved mutual appeals by taxpayer and municipality in 30 Journal Square Partners, LLC v. City of Jersey City, No. 009666-2020 (Tax Court December 30, 2020). In this case, the municipality filed its appeals in early June at the county tax board, and the taxpayer filed directly to Tax Court on the July 1 filing deadline. The taxpayer contacted the county board, requesting that the municipality’s appeals be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. While the municipality did not object to a dismissal, the City wanted the right to appeal fr

It’s been an interesting year for New Jersey real estate. Retail and office markets are hard hit by lockdowns and the introduction and ongoing appeal of remote work, and warehouse is the big winner with asking rents at an all time high. What about the residential market for first time homebuyers, or those with newfound freedom to move farther from a workplace? In a word: crazy.

In prime areas, homes hitting the market are snapped up in days or even hours. Bidding wars are common if not the rule, and sellers have almost unilateral bargaining power in negotiating key contract provisions, such as home inspection, mortgage and appraisal contingencies. 

How does this translate into a property tax problem? Under normal circumstances,  the sale of real property

In a recent case decided by the New Jersey Tax Court, a municipality asked for reconsideration of a decision reducing a commercial property’s assessment. The property in question was a mixed-use retail and warehouse building, with some mezzanine space in both the retail and warehouse areas. The main issue on reconsideration involved whether the Tax Court should have included the value-in-exchange of the mezzanine space value in the rent for gross leasable area, or given it a separate rent. Since there was no evidence of the value of the mezzanine, argued the municipality, the Tax Court had to affirm the assessment. The Tax Court rejected this argument, finding that the mezzanine space was properly included in the rental value of the main area. 

However, this is a case wh

On March 19, in light of the COVID-19 outbreak and the resulting public health emergency, the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court entered an order extending the filing deadlines for 2020 property tax appeals with the County Boards of Taxation and the New Jersey Tax Court. Instead of April 1, 2020, the filing deadline has been extended to the *later* of either a) May 1, 2020, or b) 30 days after Governor Murphy declares and end to the state of emergency in effect under Executive Order 103. This order does *NOT* toll or extend the statute of limitations for deadlines that have already passed, e.g. the January 15th deadline for Monmouth County Board of Taxation appeals. The March 19th Order is accessible here:

It’s been a big week for taxpayers in New Jersey - three significant property tax cases came down from the courts in the last week. First, the Appellate Division granted a property tax exemption to the operators of an upscale restaurant on a university campus, reversing the Tax Court’s decision below granting summary judgment to the municipality. A published opinion involving a tax case is rare; one reversing the Tax Court even more so, so it’s worth taking notice. It’s interesting to see the Appellate Division balancing the interests between state higher education and the needs of local government. 

Next, the Tax Court re-affirmed the protections afforded by the Freeze Act, ruling that a sale of the property was not grounds for finding a change in value that would void

Both in the trial courts and in the appellate division, oral argument is an opportunity to marshal your best arguments, look the court in the eye and make the case why your client should prevail. However, in a time when it seems that every cost is closely scrutinized, is there still a place for a trip to court to say something already captured in writing? In short, yes. A recent published appellate decision affirmed both the explicit and implicit importance of oral argument. 

In this tax foreclosure action, the trial court denied a prior lienholder’s request for oral argument in opposition to a dispositive motion to enter final judgment. The trial judge denied the request with a one-sentence explanation, relying on an opinion involving a rule governing family matters. Th

Every year, owners of commercial and multifamily residential real estate in New Jersey may receive letters from their municipal assessors requesting income and expense information. These information requests, commonly called “Chapter 91” requests after the law authorizing them, are permissible and there may be consequences for failing to respond. The question becomes – how should a property owner respond to the tax assessor’s request for income and expense information?

One important consideration is the potential consequences of ignoring the request. Failing to respond to a Chapter 91 request may result in a severe limitation on your ability to challenge the property’s tax assessment in the year after the request is made. This is crucial to remember, particul

In a recent unpublished opinion, the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court affirmed the dismissal of a complaint seeking leave to impose omitted assessments on Riverview Medical Center, now owned by Meridian Health Corporation, in Red Bank, New Jersey. This unusual situation grows out of a 2015 Tax Court decision entitled AHS Hospital Corp v. Town of Morristown. In that case, an exempt hospital had its exemption revoked due to an alleged change in use and lost its challenge to the assessments imposed by the municipality thereafter. 

In this case, the municipality filed petitions at the county board of taxation, and later at the Tax Court, seeking to impose omitted assessments for 2014 and 2015. Notably, the petitions were filed after

The course to economic rent before New Jersey’s Tax Court seems straightforward, but taxpayers and municipalities alike continue to run aground on shoals both old and new. 

The recent decision in Burr Corporate Center, LLC v. Township of Westamption considered four years of appeals on a “flex (office/warehouse) complex consisting of two buildings totaling about 78,000 square feet.

The taxpayer’s expert relied primarily on the subject leases, but failed to articulate the particulars of his analysis and had no market data to support his conclusion that the rents reflected the market. The Court rejected the argument that the subject’s rents should constitute the presumptive economic rent, as is assumed of the income derived from apartment build

New Jersey law requires drivers of motor vehicles to be in possession of their driver’s license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance while on the road. 

In the case of an insurance card, the law allows you to show the proof of insurance in “electronic form”, which includes showing an image of the card on a tablet, smart phone or laptop. Unfortunately, the exception only applies to your insurance card, so make sure you have your driver’s license and vehicle registration when driving. 

So, snap a picture of your insurance card or keep an electronic copy accessible on your smart phone. That picture may save you a trip to court and fines and costs of up to $200 or more!

At about 3:30 p.m. on March 31, the local property tax filing season is almost finished for the year. However, the door isn’t completely closed. Since April 1 falls on a Saturday this year, that means there is a weekend ahead, and last minute filers can scramble to get their petitions or complaints in on Monday, April 3, 2017.

There are also many municipalities that have conducted reassessments or revaluations, where you can file an appeal as late as May 1, 2017. If you’re not sure about the deadline for your municipality, feel free to send me an email and I’ll be happy to check it for you. 

Of course, if you own property in Monmouth County, you have an entirely different situation. If your assessment is $1,000,000 or less, your chance to appeal for 2017 ended

N.J.S.A. 54:4-34, the statute commonly known as Chapter 91, is a tool in the municipal assessor’s repertoire to gather data to set assessments. If a taxpayer fails to respond properly, the appeal is subject to dismissal, subject only to a summary hearing to test the ‘reasonableness’ of the assessment, unless good cause is shown which excuses the taxpayer’s failure to provide the information in the time allotted by the statute. A recent case raises the question again of what does or does not constitute ‘good cause’ for failing to respond to the assessor’s information request.

In Golden Eagle Foundation, Inc. v. Borough of Highland Park, an unpublished opinion issued on December 30, 2016, the Tax Court questioned whether ‘good cause’ existed for a taxpayer to fail