For the purposes of this article, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to
them by this section:
DOCUMENT
Any deed, instrument or writing whereby any real estate within
the corporate limits of the City of New Castle, or any interest therein,
shall be quitclaimed, granted, bargained, sold or otherwise conveyed
to the grantee, but shall not include the following:
B.
Any lease, other than the following:
[Amended 8-3-1983 by Ord. No. 249A]
(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 property subject to the Unit Property Act. In determining the term of such writing, it shall be presumed
that any rights or options to renew or extend will be exercised.
(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.
D.
Any conveyance between corporations operating
housing projects pursuant to Chapter 45 of Title 31 of the Delaware
Code, and the shareholders thereof.
E.
Any conveyance between nonprofit industrial
development agencies and industrial corporations purchasing from them.
F.
Any conveyance to nonprofit industrial development
agencies.
G.
Any conveyance between husband and wife.olders
thereof.
H.
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.
I.
Any conveyance between parent and child or the
spouse of such a child.
J.
Any conveyance to a trustee, nominee or straw
party for the grantor as beneficial owner; 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
chapter; or from a trustee, nominee or straw party to the beneficial
owner.
K.
Any conveyance between a parent corporation
and a wholly-owned subsidiary corporation; provided that such conveyance
is without actual consideration.
L.
Correctional deeds without actual consideration.
M.
Any conveyance to or from the United States,
the State of Delaware or any of their instrumentalities, agencies
or political subdivision.
[Amended 8-3-1983 by Ord. No. 249A]
N.
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.
O.
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.
P.
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.
Q.
Any conveyance to or from a nonprofit corporation
organization of real estate acquired for the purpose of rehabilitation
and resale without profit.
R.
Any transfer to or from a corporation, or a
partnership where all the grantors or grantees own stock of the corporation
or interests in the partnership, in the same proportion as their interest
in or ownership of the real estate being transferred; provided, however,
that this subsection shall not apply to any transfer from a corporation
or a partnership unless the grantees have owned more than 50% of the
stock of the corporation or the interests in the partnership continuously
throughout the three-year period immediately prior to the date of
transfer; and provided further that this subsection shall not apply
to any transfer to a corporation or a partnership unless the grantors
have owned more than 50% of the stock of the corporation or the interests
in the partnership continuously throughout the three-year period immediately
prior to the date of transfer; for purposes of this provision, stock
of the corporation or interests in the partnership which have transferred
by reason of death, bankruptcy or otherwise involuntarily shall not
be considered in determining whether the fifty-percent requirement
hereby established has been satisfied.
[Amended 8-3-1983 by Ord. No. 249A]
TRANSACTION
The making, executing, delivering, accepting or presenting
for recording, of a document.
VALUE
In the case of any document granting, bargaining, selling
or otherwise conveying any land, tenement or hereditaments, or interest
therein, the amount of the actual consideration therefor, including
liens or other encumbrances thereon and ground rent, or a commensurate
part of the liens or other encumbrances thereon and ground rent, where
such liens or other encumbrances and ground rent also encumber other
lands, tenements or hereditaments. Where such document shall not set
forth the real or bona fide consideration therefor, the value thereof
shall be determined from the price set forth in or actual consideration
for the contract of sale, 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 estimated full value of such
lands, tenements or hereditaments for local tax purposes as determined
by the Board of Assessment of the city.
As between the parties to any transaction which
is subject to the real estate transfer tax imposed by this article,
in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, the burden for paying
such tax shall be on both parties unless altered by contract.
In addition to the other duties of the Treasurer:
A. The Treasurer shall prepare and furnish adhesive stamps
of such denominations and in such quantities as may be necessary for
the payment of the tax imposed by this article and shall make provisions
for the sale of such stamps in such places as may be deemed necessary.
B. The Treasurer may by regulation provide for the evidence
of the payment of the tax to be shown on the document by means other
than the affixing of documentary stamps.
C. The Treasurer is charged with the enforcement of this
article and is authorized and empowered to prescribe, adopt, promulgate
and enforce regulations relating to:
(1) The method to be used in affixing or canceling of
stamps in substitution for or in addition to the method and means
provided in this article.
(2) The denomination and sale of stamps.
(3) Any other matter or thing pertaining to the administration
and enforcement of this article.
Any person guilty of conduct prohibited in §
221-8 shall, upon conviction, be punished by imposition of a fine of not more than $500 or by imprisonment not to exceed six months, or both fine or imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.