Lee R. Schroeder is an Ohio licensed attorney at Schroeder Law LLC in Putnam County. He limits his practice to business, real estate, estate planning and agriculture issues in northwest Ohio. He can be reached at Lee@LeeSchroeder.com or at 419-659-2058. This article is not intended to serve as legal advice, and specific advice should be sought from the licensed attorney of your choice based upon the specific facts and circumstances that you face.
When you purchase a house or building lot that’s not connected to a public septic/sanitary sewer system, you must own additional acreage beyond the building footprint so that sewage can be treated onsite. So when someone purchases a new home, they may find themselves with additional acres of farmland or woods.
When a new homeowner acquires farmland, a few main items should be considered and investigated.
First, if the homeowner isn’t a farmer, the homeowner will want to engage a tenant to farm the farmland.
Second, the homeowner should check to see if the farmland is taxed under Current Agricultural Use Valuation.
Third, the purchases should contact the local, county Farm Service Agency immediately upon the purchase of the property.
Purchasers of houses and building lots that are not connected to a public septic/sanitary sewer system must own additional acreage beyond just the building footprint, so sewage can be treated onsite.
As a result, in the context of purchasing existing houses or lots upon which to build houses, homeowners can find themselves with one or more acres of farmland or woods. The homeowner may desire to convert that acreage into a larger yard or woods. Alternatively, the homeowner may want to continue to have that acreage farmed or have the trees removed in order to avoid having to maintain that extensive area.
Read more about farmland and the items that should be considered when a new owner acquires farmland in Lee’s article in the Lima News here: Legal-Ease: Farmland came with my new house, now what?
Source: LimaOhio.com, “Legal-Ease: Farmland came with my new house, now what?” by Lee R. Schroeder, October 21, 2017