[Amended 7-14-1998 by Ord. No. 98-16]
A tax of 1.5% upon the transfer of real property
situated within unincorporated areas of Kent County shall be imposed
and collected, but said tax shall not exceed 1.5% of the value of
the real property transferred.
As used in this article, except where the context
clearly indicates a different meaning, the following terms shall have
the meanings indicated:
DOCUMENT
A.
Any deed, instrument or writing whereby any
real estate within the unincorporated areas of Kent County, or any
interest therein, shall be quitclaimed, granted, bargained, sold or
otherwise conveyed to the grantee, but shall not include the following:
(2)
Any lease other than those described or defined in Subsection
A(4) below.
(4)
Any conveyance between corporations operating
housing projects pursuant to Chapter 45 of Title 31 of the Delaware
Code and the shareholders thereof.
(5)
Any conveyance between nonprofit industrial
development agencies and industrial corporations purchasing from them.
(6)
Any conveyance to nonprofit industrial development
agencies.
(7)
Any conveyance between husband and wife.
(8)
Any conveyance between persons who were previously
husband and wife but who have since been divorced, provided that such
conveyance is made after the granting of the final decree in divorce
and the real estate or interest therein subject to such conveyance
was acquired by the husband and wife, or husband or wife, prior to
the granting of the final decree in divorce.
(9)
Any conveyance between parent and child or the
spouse of such a child.
(10)
Any conveyance:
(a)
To a trustee, nominee or straw party for the
grantor as beneficial owner;
(b)
For the beneficial ownership of a person other
than the grantor where, if such person were the grantee, no tax would
be imposed upon the conveyance pursuant to this article; or
(c)
From a trustee, nominee or straw party to the
beneficial owner.
(11)
Any conveyance between a parent corporation
and a wholly owned subsidiary corporation, provided that such conveyance
is without actual consideration.
(12)
Correctional deeds without actual consideration.
(13)
Any conveyance to or from the United States
or this state or to or from any of their instrumentalities, agencies
or political subdivisions and the University of Delaware.
(14)
Any conveyance to or from a corporation or a
partnership where the grantor or grantee owns stock of the corporation
or an interest in the partnership in the same proportion as his interest
in, or ownership of, the real estate being conveyed; provided, however,
that this subsection shall not apply to any distribution in liquidation
of a corporation, unless the stock of the corporation being liquidated
has been held by the grantor or grantee for more than three years;
provided, further, that this subsection shall not apply to any conveyance
from a partnership to its partners unless the partners' interest in
the partnership has been held for more than three years.
(15)
Any conveyance by the owner of previously occupied
residential premises to a builder of new residential premises when
such previously occupied residential premises are taken in trade by
such builder as a part of the consideration from the purchaser of
new, previously unoccupied premises.
(16)
Any conveyance to the lender holding a bona
fide mortgage which is genuinely in default, either by a sheriff conducting
a foreclosure sale or by the mortgagor in lieu of foreclosure.
(17)
Any conveyance to a religious organization or
other body or person holding title to real estate for a religious
organization, if such real estate will not be used following such
transfer by the grantee, or by any privy of the grantee, for any commercial
purpose; provided, however, that only that portion of the tax which
is attributable to and payable by the religious organization or other
body or person holding title to real estate for a religious organization
under 30 Del. C. § 5402 shall be exempt.
(18)
Any conveyance to or from a volunteer fire company
organized under the laws of this state; provided, however, that only
that portion of the tax which is attributable to and payable by the
volunteer fire company under 30 Del. C. § 5402 shall be
exempt.
(19)
Any conveyance of a mobile home as defined in
25 Del. C. § 7003, provided that the tax on said conveyance
has been paid under 30 Del. C. § 3002.
(20)
Any conveyance without consideration to an organization
exempt from tax under Subsection 501(c)(3) of the Federal Internal
Revenue Code [25 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3)].
(21)
Any conveyance of land which, at the time of
transfer, is being valued, assessed and taxed by Kent County pursuant
to 9 Del. C. §§ 8330 to 8337 and which the purchaser
intends to use for agricultural, horticultural or forest use, as those
terms are defined in 9 Del. C. §§ 8330 to 8332, for
as long as he owns the property, but if the property is put to any
other use within three years of sale, then the otherwise exempted
transfer tax will immediately come due and be payable by the then
current owner.
(22)
Any conveyance to or from an organization exempt
from tax under § 501(c)(3) of the Federal Internal Revenue
Code when the purpose of said conveyance is to provide owner-occupied
housing to low- and moderate-income households by rehabilitating residential
properties and reselling said properties without profit.
[Added 9-26-2000 by Ord. No. 00-22]
(23)
Any conveyance between siblings, half-siblings
or step-siblings.
[Added 9-26-2000 by Ord. No. 00-22]
B.
The term "document" defined in Subsection
A of this definition shall include the following:
(1)
Any writing purporting to transfer a title interest
or possessory interest for a term of more than five years in a condominium
unit or any unit properties subject to the Unit Property Act (25 Del.
C. § 2201 et seq.).
(2)
Any writing purporting to transfer a title interest
or possessory interest of any lessee or other person in possession
of real estate owned by the state or other political subdivision thereof.
(3)
Any writing purporting to assign or transfer
a leasehold interest or possessory interest in residential property
under a lease for a term of more than five years. For this purpose,
the term "residential property" means any structure or part of structure
which is intended for residential use, and excluding any commercial
unit subject to tax under 30 Del. C. § 2301(a)(88), relating
to commercial lessors.
C.
In determining the term of a lease under Subsection
B above, it shall be presumed for the purpose of computing the lease term that any rights or options to renew or extend will be exercised.
FIRST-TIME HOME BUYER
A natural person who has at no time held any interest in
residential real estate, wherever located, and which has been occupied
as his principal residence, and who intends to occupy the property
being conveyed as his or her principal residence within 90 days following
recordation.
TRANSACTION
The making, executing, delivering, accepting or presenting
for recording of a document.
VALUE
A.
In the case of any document granting, bargaining,
selling or otherwise conveying any real estate or interest or leasehold
interest therein, the amount of the actual consideration thereof,
including liens or other encumbrances thereon and ground rents, or
a commensurate part of the liens or other encumbrances thereon and
ground rents where such liens or other encumbrances and ground rents
also encumber or are charged against other lands, tenements or hereditaments,
provided that where such documents shall set forth a small or nominal
consideration, the value thereof shall be determined from the price
set forth in, or actual consideration for, the contract of sale or
lease or, in the case of a gift or any other document without consideration,
from the actual monetary worth of the property granted, bargained,
sold or otherwise conveyed, which, in either event, shall not be less
than the amount of the highest assessment of such land, tenements
or hereditaments for local tax purposes.
B.
For purposes of this definition, in the case of a document described in Subsection
B of the definition of "document" under which the consideration is based in whole or in part on a percentage of the income or receipts to be received in the future, actual consideration shall include the amounts actually received under such percentage of income or receipts provision; provided, however, and notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, that the tax imposed by this article shall be due and payable to the Department of Finance within 30 days after the date such amounts become due and payable under the agreement.
Where there is a transfer of a residential property
by a licensed real estate broker, which property was transferred to
him within the preceding year as part of the consideration for the
purchase of other residential property, a credit for the amount of
tax paid at the time of the transfer to him shall be given to him
toward the amount of the tax due upon the transfer. If the tax due
upon the transfer from the licensed real estate broker is greater
than the credit given for the prior transfer, the difference shall
be paid, and if the credit allowed is greater than the amount of the
tax due, no refund shall be allowed.
The tax imposed by this article shall be paid from the proceeds of any judicial sale of real estate as part of the costs of such sale and of the writ upon which the sale is made before any such proceeds are applied toward any obligation, claim, lien, judgment or estate, unless such transfer is exempt pursuant to the provisions of Subsection A(16) of the definition of "document" in §
191-22.
The payment of the tax imposed by this article
shall be evidenced by a notation of payment on the document. The collector
shall note on the document the payment of the tax, the amount of payment,
the date of payment and the initials of the person receiving payment
and his office. Such notation shall be conclusive evidence of payment
as to any subsequent purchaser relying thereon.
The Recorder of Deeds in and for Kent County
shall be the collector of the tax imposed by this article. The Recorder
of Deeds shall be provided with an official stamp to be used to indicate
on the document the tax paid.
No document upon which a tax is imposed by this
article shall be recorded in the office of the Recorder of Deeds in
and for Kent County unless proof of the payment of the transfer tax
appears on the document.
Every document, when lodged with or presented
to the Recorder of Deeds in and for Kent County for recording, shall
set forth therein as part of such document the true, full and complete
value thereof or shall be accompanied by an affidavit executed by
a responsible person connected with a transaction showing such connection
and setting forth the true, full and complete value thereof or the
reason, if any, why such document is not subject to tax under this
article.
[Amended 4-8-2008 by Ord. No. 08-10]
Funds realized by Kent County pursuant to this
article shall be segregated from the County’s general fund,
and the funds, and all interest thereon, shall be expended solely
for the capital and operating costs of public safety services; economic
development programs, including, but not limited to, agricultural
land preservation; public works services; capital projects and improvements;
infrastructure projects and improvements and debt reduction.
This article is adopted pursuant to the powers
conferred upon the Levy Court of Kent County, Delaware, in the 9 Del.
C. § 8101.