Homeowners Transfer Property to BNCLT

Over the past year, BNCLT has been advancing our property transfer program, with support from the Greater Boston CLT Network. These property transfers can take many forms — outright donations or sales, bequests, land transfers, or life estates. 

In many ways, our property transfer work was catalyzed by a handful of local homeowners, who inquired about the possibility of transferring their properties to BNCLT. Many of these homeowners are longtime housing justice activists who are looking for ways to ensure their property will be permanently affordable and community-controlled. Today, we have a few exciting updates to share on this work.

First, the BNCLT Board of Directors has finally finalized our Property Transfer Acceptance Policy! Although we still have more to learn, this policy will serve as a framework to guide our board in working with homeowners who are interested in transferring their properties to BNCLT. Our policy includes the following considerations:

• General Policies

• Initial Assessment

• Property Transfer Types

• Due Diligence + Feasibility/Mission Analysis

• Location

• Building Type

• Use Restrictions

• Encumberances

• Cost Feasibility

• CLT Capacity

• Decision and Final Agreement

• Post-Property Transfer Steps

BNCLT Board Members discuss our property transfer acceptance policy.

Second, this week we met with two sets of homeowners pursuing the possibility of transferring their property to BNCLT. On Tuesday, we finalized Davida Andelman and Janet Jones’ plan to transfer their property to BNCLT through a will. This is the first “official” property transfer finalized through our new process. Davida and Janet are stalwart housing justice activists, neighborhood advocates, and BNCLT supporters, who have owned their property for almost 40 years. We are honored they are entrusting us to steward their property in perpetuity.

Davida and Janet sign the documents for their property transfer plan at a local notary public.

Davida and Janet say:

“We were lucky enough 39 years ago to be able to purchase this house. And while we’re both retired, and have been thinking about what we want to do at the end stage of our lives, we have decided that since we were so lucky to purchase this, that we would want to have that be our legacy, and pass it on to the future generations, and to have people be able to afford to live here and to buy this house, and to then pass it on to other future generations.”

At another homeowner meeting, we discussed the steps needed for the homeowners to transfer their land to BNCLT, while maintaining ownership over their property. Moving forward on this latter plan requires BNCLT to finish our ground lease, and perhaps develop an adapted version to suit these homeowners’ specific situation. 

Property transfers by local homeowners are powerful and effective ways for our community to take property off the speculative housing market and place it into community-controlled and permanently affordable commons. We are so grateful for the patience, partnership, and wisdom of these homeowners — who have inspired and supported this work. It hasn’t been fast or easy to figure out how to approach these opportunities, and we deeply appreciate those who have committed themselves to this work, and carved a path for future homeowners and CLTs. Thank you!