§ 137b.63. Notice of change of application.
(a) Landowner’s responsibility to provide advance notice of changes. An owner of enrolled land shall provide the county assessor of the county in which the land is preferentially assessed at least 30 days’ advance written notice of any of the following:
(1) A change in use of the enrolled land to some use other than agricultural use, agricultural reserve or forest reserve.
(2) A change in ownership with respect to the enrolled land or any portion of the land.
(3) Any type of division, conveyance, transfer, separation or split-off of the enrolled land.
(b) Contents of notice. The notice described in subsection (a) shall include the following information:
(1) The name and address of any person to whom the land is being conveyed, granted or donated.
(2) The date of the proposed transfer, separation or split-off.
(3) The amount of land to be transferred, separated or split-off.
(4) The present use of the land to be transferred, separated or split-off.
(5) The date of the original application for preferential assessment under the act.
(6) The tax parcel number.
(c) Landowner’s responsibility to provide notice of termination of preferential assessment. An owner of enrolled land shall provide the county assessor of the county in which the land is preferentially assessed with advance written notice of termination of preferential assessment, under § 137b.52(d) (relating to duration of preferential assessment) or § 137b.84 (relating to split-off that does not comply with section 6(a.1)(1)(i) of the act). The notice shall include the following information:
(1) The name and address of the landowner.
(2) Information sufficient to identify the property with respect to which preferential assessment is to be terminated. This may include tax parcel numbers, deed descriptions, references to the place of recording of the initial application for preferential assessment or similar information.
(3) The date upon which preferential assessment is to be terminated.
(d) Landowner’s duty to notify. As stated in § 137b.41(d) (relating to application forms and procedures), a person applying for preferential assessment of land under the act shall acknowledge on the application form the obligation described in subsection (a).
Notes of Decisions Notice by Landowner
Where a regulation mandates that a landowner provide notice of split-off from enrolled lands, the failure to do so relieves the chief assessor from its obligation to give notice within 5 days of deed recordation, and leaves the assessor free to assess roll-back taxes. The landowner’s notice requirement must be strictly construed to prevent the unreasonable result of avoiding roll-back taxes simply by not giving the required notice. Moyer v. Berks County Board of Assessment Appeals, 803 A.2d 833 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2002), appeal denied 812 A.2d 1232 (Pa. 2002).
Cross References This section cited in 7 Pa. Code § 137b.82 (relating to split-off tract).
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