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The so-called Derelict Fee Statute, General Laws Chapter 183, Section 58, comes up with great frequency in our practice, because people often get into disputes over the ownership and, thus, control of private ways. The statute governs the interpretation of deeds when...
A recent Land Court case, Bassin v. Fairley, 11 MISC 451773 (AHS) (Mass. Land Ct. June 17, 2014), provides a good reminder of the kind of inquiry a court will make when deciding whether a landowner can remove a tree that straddles a common boundary line. In Bassin,...
Summer is usually a pretty quiet time of the year for many lawyers, policy folks, and local zoning boards, but there have been a few interesting zoning-related headlines in the past few weeks.A few media outlets have recently published op-ed commentaries related to...
A few weeks ago, we blogged about some of the wind turbine zoning regulations--as they pertain to shadow flicker in particular-spinning about within Massachusetts. As you might recall from that post, Kingston had recently put a two-year moratorium in place (through...
To the unwary, it might be surprising that property dating back to the 1870s could, almost 150 years later, fall prey to a boundary line dispute. But it does happen, as the recent case, Bernier v. Fredette, 85 Mass. App. Ct. 265 (2014), reminds us. This case went to...
Increasingly, it seems, municipalities are dealing with permit requests for wind turbines, both for residential and industrial/commercial use. Like any other kind of development, wind energy has its detractors, with shadow flicker being one of the biggest complaints...
Real estate taxes, insurance and utilities comprise expenses that we all have come to expect as necessary incidents of property ownership. Many cities and towns in Massachusetts, however, also impose user fees for municipal services, as part of the development...
A recent (unpublished) Rule 1:28 decision, Hancock v. Chambers, 85 Mass. App. Ct. 1106 (2014), reminds both condominium owners and trustees and attorneys of the care that needs to be taken when drafting-and attempting to enforce-condominium trust documents so that...
Municipal zoning regulations are in a constant state of flux - especially when considered in relation to the long life span of many Massachusetts' residential and commercial structures. As such, many homes and commercial properties do not conform to current zoning...
It's an all too common scenario: a landowner builds something on his property, and then an abutter or neighbor thinks it is being built unlawfully and tries to stop it. In fact, let's assume that the landowner has already gone through an initial site plan review (as...