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How To Deal With The Legalities Of Land Use

7 March 2023 by Richard Ramirez

Land use is often one of the bigger challenges in real estate law. While you may be perfectly prepared to use a property in a particular way, there may be some legal hurdles. If you're trying to make sense of land use, a real estate lawyer will encourage you to do the following three things. 

Research

Ideally, you'll have the opportunity to research the rules for a property before you even acquire it. If there are problems with land use at a site, you might want to consider a different location. Even if you're inclined to stick with a location, you can create contingencies for the sale based on the approval of your use case. This will protect your interests in case the approval process doesn't go your way.

If you already own the property, research becomes even more important. You don't want to start actions that could lead a city or a community group to seek a court injunction stopping your work. While you can do some basic work like surveying, the best move is to conduct research about land use for your site. Also, a real estate attorney can research the local process for seeking a variance of the zoning rules if the current usage rights aren't sufficient.

Documentation

Few things are as valuable in the eyes of the law as documentation. If a property was previously zoned for a specific use, that's useful information. You can show how previous ordinances or property records reflect the approved usage.

Also, you may need to document mitigation measures. Even if a property is zoned for a particular use, you might need to show what you're doing to keep the site safe. This may include removing old equipment and materials, remediating the soil, and installing barriers or containment ponds. The more you can document, the faster the process will move.

Outreach

Keeping community members in the loop is critical to being a good neighbor. Identify local groups and work with them to ensure everyone understands your plans. You can highlight the benefits of a project and emphasize what you're doing to limit adverse effects. Even if it's something as simple as putting a convenience store in a residential area, small measures like mitigating traffic problems can win points. If you need to approach the city council for a variance, having community groups on board can go a long way toward pursuing approval for your work.

Contact a local real estate lawyer to learn more. 

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