Any Condominium created in New Hampshire after September 10, 1977 is governed under New Hampshire RSA 356-B, the Condominium Act. In the event of a conflict between the Declaration and By-Laws of your Condominium, the provisions of RSA 356-B shall control. This is why you will see the words, as the same may be amended from time to time, in condominium documents and/or your deed. If a new law is enacted under the statue your condominium is automatically governed by it.
To create a condominium is a lengthy process and it starts by completing an Application with the Office of the Attorney General. There will need to be a Declaration and By-Laws created. These are sometimes referred to as the condominium instruments and the law specifies many of the items that must be included in them. Generally speaking, the Declaration is the document that creates the condominium and the By-Laws spell out the day to day operation of the Association
One item that many owners become confused about pertains to the Master Policy of Insurance and what it covers. Pursuant to RSA 356-B:43, the unit owners association or the board of directors is required to obtain a policy that provides fire and extended coverage in an amount equal to the full replacement value of 100% of the structures within the condominium. This means that you do not purchase the insurance to cover the interior of your unit, the association does. You pay for this coverage as part of your dues. You would, however, need to purchase a separate policy to cover the personal belongings inside your unit. This is not a new law or requirement, it has been in effect since RSA 356-B was created in 1977.
The reason for this law and the requirement for the association to keep the property fully insured is to protect the unit owners. What if unit owners were allowed to purchase their own individual coverage and their were a fire or loss in one unit and it turned out that individual owner had no insurance. There would be no funds available to restore the unit and this would be a detriment to all adjacent owners.
Check back often for more information about condominium ownership in New Hampshire.
Many towns are facing issues with the rising cost of recycling and trash removal. In some towns where the trash is collected by the municipality they are even considering taking it away from some, but not all, citizens.
In the nearby Town of Hampton, if you are a Condominium owner, they want to stop collecting your trash. They will still continue to provide that service to other residential home owners, hotels, motels, businesses and restaurants. Only condominiums are being singled out to have their service taken away.
Fortunately Condominium owners have some protection under New Hampshire RSA 356-B, the Condominium Act.
RSA 356-B:4 states that each Condominium unit shall constitute for all purposes a separate parcel of real property, distinct from all other Condominium units. They are no different than any other residential homeowner that will continue to enjoy trash collection services provided by a town.
RSA 356-B:5 goes on to say that … no Condominium shall be treated differently by any zoning or land use ordinance which would permit a physically identical project or development under a different form of ownership
Other protections are offered under RSA 676:3 which protects a Condominium from being subject to an ordinance which is later passed after a site plan has already been approved and recorded. If your Condominium site plans makes no mention of trash, shows no locations for a dumpster and does not state who has the responsibility for trash removal it cannot be added later. The site plan is required to be signed by town officials before being recorded whereas the Condominium Declaration and By-Laws are not subject to town review or approval. The Attorney General’s office is the entity who reviews and approves those documents.
Under the Fair Housing Act, prohibited activities include providing different levels of service to different classes, i.e. residents in single family homes have the benefit of trash collection while denying that same service to residents in Condominiums. Imagine that the trash truck comes down your street and stops at your neighbors house and collects their trash because they live in a single family home. It then starts up and passes your condominium without collecting your trash and stops next door at the hotel or business to collect theirs. That just seems wrong!
What is a HELOC. It is a Home Equity Line of Credit loan and we often find that they don’t get discharged when they are paid off. The reason for this is that this type of loan is similar to a credit card. The loan can be drawn on and paid back during the period of the loan which may range for as long as 30 years.
Many homeowners do not even realize that this type of loan is still secured by a mortgage on their home. When they go to sell the property they discover that the lien has not been discharged. It is important to remember that when you pay off a HELOC you must specifically request in writing that the loan be closed and discharged unless you plan to draw on it at a later time.
Wire fraud is on the rise everywhere and the Federal Reserve is being asked to take a more proactive role in preventing it, especially as it relates to real estate transactions. Two key points are:
1. All parties involved in the real estate transaction need to help educate customers on the dangers of wire fraud and on the ways to protect data and funds. For example, by encouraging consumers to call their known reputable source at a verified number to verify instructions before transmitting funds.
2. Financial institutions on the receiving end should match not only the account number but also the payee’s name when there is a wire transfer. Oftentimes fraudulent wire instructions will say the transfer is to be sent to the attorney’s trust account, for example, but instead it goes to the criminal’s personal account as beneficiary.
If you intend to wire funds to us and suspect anything may be wrong with the instructions, please phone us to verify. If we have sent you instructions and you suddenly receive an email asking you to wire to a different account, phone us to verify. We have only (1) IOLTA account, so we will never change our instructions and ask you to wire to a different account.
Clients have begun to inquire about transferring firearms in their estate planning. Unique rules and procedures apply to certain firearms – such as NFA firearms, even in estate planning. Limited liability companies (LLC’s) were once the preferred method, but LLC’s require annual maintenance fees to the state and even separate tax returns. Now, “gun trusts” that are prepared as part of an estate plan can be used to pass on the trust creator’s firearms after their death. Prepared separate from a conventional revocable trust, a gun trust may provide access to more people than the original owner, may provide for changes in the law over time, and may require trustees that are more likely to be knowledgeable of firearms and the legal requirements that surround them. A gun trust will not pass on other assets, only the guns, and a separate conventional trust is still needed for other assets. Using a gun trust can provide for the legal, safe transfer of NFA firearms and even keep those weapons in trust for several generations.
Written by J. Kirk Trombley, Esq.
Just as soon as one type of wire scam is uncovered it seems like a new one pops up. One of the latest versions involves the perpetrator sending the funding lender wiring instructions to a legitimate account belonging to an innocent, unknowing title company. In verifying the account number, the lender will see that the funds are being wired to a legitimate title entity.
Once the wire has gone through, the scammer contacts the unknowing title company and states that the funds were sent in error. The scammer gives the title company instructions for sending the funds back, but those instructions are fraudulent and the funds will be sent to the scammer. The title company then confirms that it was not entitled to the funds and sends them back using the account information that it has received from the scammer.
The lesson to be learned here is that if you receive wired funds in error, the wire should be rejected. In doing so, the funds will automatically go back to the original sender.
Everyone needs to be vigilant in dealing with wire transfers, verifying information by directly contacting the other parties through secure channels and being skeptical when instructions are changed at the last minute or appear out of the ordinary.
In a money wiring scam, a dishonest person lies and tricks you into wiring money to them.
The scammer might say:you won a prize, or inherited money, but you have to pay fees first;
- you won the lottery, but you have to pay some taxes first;
- a friend or family member is in trouble and needs you to send money;
- you need to pay for something you just bought online before they send it;
- you got a check for too much money and you need to send back the extra.
These are all tricks. If you wire money, the scammer will keep it and you will not get your money back.
Wiring money is like sending cash. If someone you do not know asks you to wire money it is probably a scam. Scammers are clever and they try to make things look real. They are good at fooling people and they also want to rush you. They want your money before you have time to think, but before you do anything, stop and check.
If you have already wired money to someone who contacted you…that money is probably gone. Remember, if you gave money to a scammer once, you will probably be targeted again . The best thing you can do to help yourself and others is to report the incident to the Federal Trade Commission.
While most people utilize spam filters and use antivirus software, spam and phishing emails can still slip through it and into your inbox. An Email recipient is the most critical element in preventing an attack. The following are some tips on how to identify the authenticity of a questionable email.
Incorrect Grammar/Spelling/Text Body
Many phishing email contain misspellings because some of these messages have been poorly translated from other languages., Additionally, you will want to pay attention if the time or date appears in the message body of an email. If the email contains the date format of DD/MM/YY or 24-hour time it is likely that the email’s point of origin was outside of the United States.
Email Format/Absence of Logos/Plain Text Email
Most legitimate messages will be written with HTML and should be a mix of text and images. A poorly constructed phishing email may show an absence of images, including the lack of the company’s logo. If the body of an email is only an image as text, it’s possible that it is not legitimate. While Outlook blocks showing images by default, if the email is all plain text and looks different than what you’re used to seeing from a frequent sender, you may want to contact the sender directly in a new email or phone call.
Urgent Request for Personal Information
One tactic that is commonly used by hackers is to alert you that you must provide and/or update your personal information about an account (e.g., Social Security number, bank account details, account password). Phishers will use this tactic to drive urgency for someone to click on a malicious URL or download an attachment in an attempt to infect the user’s computer or to steal their information.
Suspicious Attachments
High-risk attachments file types include: .exe, .scr, .zip, .com and .bat. Most spam filters will generally do a good job of quarantining those format. Most companies companies commonly send and receive .zip, .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx and .pdf. However, a malicious sender can implant devious code in those formats as well. Once you open the attachment your computer is already compromised. Be cautious if you have sent an email that has an attachment and the sender is questionable. You should verify the legitimacy of the email first and then examine the context of why the attachment is being sent.
Links in the Email
A common practice is to avoid blindly clicking on links in an emails. Outlook allows you to hover over a link before clicking on it. If the link in the body of the email is different than what Outlook hovered preview reports, it is not legitimate. Even if it seems legitimate, open a new browser window and type the URL directly into the address bar. If you’ve clicked on a link, a phishing website will look identical to the original, however, your system may already be compromised.
It was recently reported in a posting on foxnews.com that as of 2016 the five top most commonly used passwords on the Internet and therefore the worst to use from a security standpoint are:
- 123456
- password
- 12345
- 123456789
- qwerty
Unfortunately people are still using these passwords because they are easy to remember. Some industry experts recommend using no fewer than 9 characters, with at least one number, a symbol and an upper case character and no sequential patterns. The thought is that 6 characters takes possibly seconds to break, but 9 or more non-sequenced characters makes it more difficult so hackers may move on. Changing your passwords regularly is also key. Some cyber security measures start with the simplest of items, strong passwords being one of them.
Trombley Kfoury are proud to be a Sponsor for the Camp Allen Charity Golf Tournament. Here’s our Sponsor Hole with Chris Masters from Rowley Insurance sizing up the green. We had a great time at the Manchester Country Club.
