Land Donations and Other Options

Sunrise on Christmas Day on the Bluff Mountain property that was bequeathed to FLC.

Fee Simple Ownership (Land Donation) The landowner grants all property rights, title and interest to the land trust. The land trust owns and manages the land.

Undivided Partial Interests – The landowner grants a shared, percentage ownership in the property to the land trust over several years until the land trust has full ownership. Land trusts will eventually own land, but joint ownership in interim.

Devise  Land is conveyed to land trust at death of the landowner through the landowner’s will.

Remainder Interest/Reserved Life Estate  The landowner conveys the land to the land trust, but continues to live on or use the property until his or her death. “Remainder interest” in property then reverts to land trust.

Bargain Sale – Land or conservation easement is sold to land trust for less than fair market value.

Right of First Refusal – The landowner agrees to grant the land trust the right to meet any bona fide offer to purchase the property.

Lease – Land is leased to a land trust or an individual for a specified period of years. Restrictions are placed on its use during that time period, effectively postponing development.

Deed Restrictions – Terms are placed in the deed to the property that restrict certain uses of the real estate by subsequent owners.

Mutual Covenants – Several landowners mutually agree to restrict their land. May not involve a land trust. Not necessarily permanent or binding on future owners.

Management Agreement – The landowner and the land trust enter into a generally informal contract concerning how the property’s natural resources are to be managed.

Registry Programs – The landowner enters into a legally non-binding agreement to protect the conservation values of his or her land, and the land trust recognizes the arrangement with a certificate, plaque, etc.

Landowner Contact – The land trust notifies the landowner of the unique conservation values of his or her property.

View of Douglas Lake in East TN from a property donated to FLC.

 

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