Attorney Ben Proto - The Musings of a Mad Lawyer

Anyone who breaks a real estate contract without a legally sufficient reason for doing so runs the risk of being sued for breach of contract. However, most real estate contracts contain provisions, known as contingencies, which allow a party to terminate a real estate agreement under certain conditions. Below are some of the most common real estate contract contingencies.

I recently had the privilege to represent a group of people in Stratford, CT who had sought a referendum on an issue that the Stratford Town Council had approved, to sell the Town’s Water Pollution Control Authority assets to the Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority, and for Stratford to become a member of the GNHWPCA. Many citizens opposed this plan. The Plaintiffs, with the help of many others, collected over 6,500 signatures in 26 days utilizing the right of Referendum Process of the Stratford Town Charter.

Mother nature has once again decided to remind of us what a true—eh, mmm, how can I say this --- not so nice lady she can be, by dumping more snow and ice on our streets, driveways, yards and sidewalks. It’s those pesky snow and ice covered sidewalks that send people flying and falling and getting hurt that cause so many problems and light up lawyers’ eyes.

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It’s that time again, local property tax assessments. Many communities saw a decrease in property values, which will mean, in many cases, an increase in the mill rate.

Connecticut assesses property, for property tax purposes, at 70% of fair market value, as determined by the tax assessor. By way of example, if the tax assessor determines that your property has a fair market value of $250,000.00 the assessment for property taxes would be $175,000.00 ($250,000.00 x 70%). The mil rate, which is set by the local legislative body, would then be applied to the assessed value, in this example $175,000.00. Assuming the mil rate is 30 mils, the property assessed at $175,000.00 would pay an annual real property tax of $5,250.00 ($175,000.00 x .030).