[MassHistPres] Question about notification of new homeowners in historic districts

[Skelly, Christopher (SEC)]

Judy, some historic district commissions send a letter to new property owners based on recent sales.  If you have the time and resources to keep track of recent sales, this can work quite well.  Other commissions just send a letter out to all property owners once a year.  Another idea is to have a district newsletter that goes out to all property owners a few times a year.  The newsletter can have lots of useful information about what is happening in the district as well as information on the local historic district procedures.

I also think Entering Historic District signs have many benefits, including informing property owners of the district in place.  Chris.

Christopher C. Skelly
Director of Local Government Programs
Massachusetts Historical Commission
Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us<mailto:Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us>

From: MassHistPres [mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Judy Neiswander
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2018 10:50 AM
To: MHC Preservation listserv
Subject: [MassHistPres] Question about notification of new homeowners in historic districts

In Dedham, when houses in our historic districts change hands, the new owners sometimes do things they shouldn't - put up metal fences, add metal entry porches, etc. When confronted they say they had "no idea" that they had purchased a house in an historic district & didn't know the restrictions. They are not told by their realtors or notified by the town. I've heard that in other towns new homeowners are notified by the local government that they have purchased a house in an HD & told what the regs are, or directed to review them on the town website. Does any town have such a system? If so, how does it work? We would prefer to be proactive rather than punish new residents who are, of course, out of pocket for what they believed were improvements.

Many thanks,

Judy Neiswander
Historic District Commission/Historical Commission
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