Hamilton County property owners will get some measure of relief in the form of a 25 day delay for payment of the second half property tax bills.
Property owners who pay taxes as part of their monthly mortgage payment will not notice any difference, but property owners who normally pay their tax bill by June 22, will have until July 17 to make that payment.
As reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer, Hamilton County Treasurer Robert A. Goering noted that the delay is necessary in part due to the fact that taxpayers cannot get into the Treasurer’s office to make a payment: “We have to balance the needs financially of the county and the needs of the individual taxpayer. And we have to balance that against the reality that, right now with this crisis, you can’t actually get to the treasurer’s office.”
Thus far, we are unaware of any other local counties who have delayed the property tax bills. We will update this post if any other counties join Hamilton County.
Warren County will continue with its normal tax bill due date of July 29.
Clermont County property tax bills are due July 8.
Butler County property taxes are due August 3.
In Kentucky, the deadline to initiate a property valuation appeal has been extended to begin on July 6 and end on July 20.
There have been numerous articles written about Remote Online Notarization (or RON) in the past few months, surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, and the real estate industry’s need to perform work digitally to ensure that sales, purchases and refinances can occur during the social distancing orders currently in place.
However, there has been some confusion surrounding terminology and differences in digital closings, and we are writing this article is to provide some clarity.
E-closing
An e-Closing or electronic closing is a mortgage closing in which all the documents are created, accessed, presented, signed, notarized and recorded electronically. They remain in their digital form and nothing is printed out. An e-Closing is conducted with the signor(s) and Notary in each other’s physical presence, thus not accomplishing the objective of full separation of the notary/closer and the parties.
Hybrid closing
A hybrid closing is the same as an e-Closing except that the Promissory Note is papered out and wet-signed (sometimes along with the mortgage), so again the procedure does not accomplish the objective of physical separation.
Remote Online Notarization (RON)
A RON closing, on the other hand, uses an e-Notary to perform notarial acts when the signor is not in the same physical location as the notary. The signor appears before an e-Notary in a live, recorded two-way audio/visual conference where identification is verified with a photo ID along with knowledge-based authentication technology. A platform such as DocVerify, provides a tamper-evident seal and uses encryption and multi-layered security to prevent fraud.
Conclusion
Ivy Pointe Title is pleased to announce that it has an in-house e-Notary to provide these services for cash, lender and refinance real estate transactions. Craig Donohoe, our in-house closer, is now able to perform RON closings for any lender, realtor, borrower or seller who would like the opportunity to sign their documents in the comfort of their homes or businesses, not only to avoid social contact at this time, but also in the future for convenience, speed and efficiency that has not previously existed in our industry. We also have a second dedicated outside e-notary, Ted Dahmus, who is committed to priority e-closings for Ivy Pointe Title.
For more information on how to place your RON title and closing order, please contact Rick Turner (513.943.5660).
Ken Meyers of Ohio Financial (513.328.1341) has invited me to do with him a series of video chats on issues of importance in the residential real estate marketplace. We will be posting them here.
This is the first one on the topic of the typically unwise practice of allowing a buyer to have early occupancy of a property before a closing has taken place. The short answer is: don’t do it. Ever.
Ken is a residential mortgage lender with whom our team has had great experiences and we certainly would recommend him for your consideration.
Let me (513.943.6655) know if you have considerations of early occupancy, you need us to document an agreement for early occupancy, or we can help extricate you from a situation of early occupancy.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis gripping the nation, today Ohio Governor Mike DeWine issued an executive order addressing commercial leases and commercial mortgages in Ohio. However, from our perspective, the Order is not intended to have any binding effect, and he would have no authority under Ohio law to issue such a binding order if he so desired.
Here are the components of the order, each of which he labels as a “request,” not an Order at all:
Requesting that landlords suspend commercial lease payments for at least 90 days for “small business commercial tenants in the State of Ohio that are facing financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Requesting that landlords also provide a moratorium on evictions of small business commercial tenants for a term of at least 90 consecutive days.
Requesting that mortgage lenders of Ohio-based properties forbear on collection or enforcement of such mortgage for a period of at least 90 days.
As with our prior blog on the stay-at-home Order, the Order does not seem to have any direct legal effect, but rather is designed to encourage restraint and cooperation in this difficult time all of the world is encountering.
Join Empower U tonight from the comfort and safety of your home via your laptop, tablet or cell phone for a webinar on powerful tools for small business from the federal government in the CARES Act passed last Friday.
>>> The link to sign up for the free seminar is here. <<<
If you want to email questions in advance, click here.
For specialized assistance for your company, we are offering consultation through the program for a flat $1,500 fee to help businesses through the process. Click here to get signed up and type “PPP” in the subject line of the email.
To have your email to be added to our firm mailing list and receive tonight’s PowerPoint, click here and say “add me to your list” in the subject line.
Joining us tonight are:
Attorney Rebecca L. Simpson who will lead the presentation primarily on Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans available very shortly to small businesses.
Attorney Stephen E. Imm who will answer questions of employers and employees about the COVID-19 crisis.
Melissa Knies from US Bank who will explain how to apply for the programs.
With the advent of the COVID-19 Crisis, Finney Law Firm and Ivy Pointe Title have quickly stepped to the plate, with technology that allows for the practice of law with appropriate social distancing, with attorneys who focus on practice areas to help their clients, and with cutting edge information on emerging programs to help businesses and individuals in need.
Technology allowing for electronic interaction
Finney Law Firm and Ivy Pointe Title have carefully developed the tools to be prepared for a day such as this:
DocuSign allows for execution of documents from your computer. By federal and state law, e-signed documents are fully enforceable as with “inked” documents. Our team is licensed and trained in DocuSign technology for all documents in which clients will allow an electronic signature.
Electronic notary. Finney Law Firm and Ivy Pointe Title contracted with one of only a handful of licensed e-notaries in Ohio for exclusive provision of e-notary services. Using the platform DocVerify, we have the strongest technology to allow real estate closings and other transactions to proceed. By Ohio law, it is permissible to have documents signed and acknowledged (notarized) without person-to-person interaction via electronic signature and electronic notary.
Electronic payments. We use e-billing and credit card payments (and wire transfers and EFTs) for clients who prefer this method of billing and payment.
Electronic discovery and electronic depositions. Your litigation does not need to stop because of the COVID-19 crisis. Most of the work pre-trial can still move forward using e-mail, Zoom.US or Microsoft Teams for depositions, and motion work that can be electronically filed with almost all Courts.
Work-from-Home. If you do need to visit our offices, you will find that most of our professionals are not at their desks. Rather, they are safely (for you and them) working from home with the latest technology including Microsoft Surface laptops, Microsoft Teams Video Conferencing, Microsoft Office 365 data in the cloud, so we can access your data from anywhere in the planet, but with tremendous Microsoft security technology and backups.
Practice areas to help your business
Our business lawyers are up to date and prepared to help you through the thicket of issues that arise or are heightened with the COVID-19 crisis:
Attorney Isaac T. Heintzis proficient in contract interpretation, including how to enforce or avoid obligations under a lease or other agreement. He has already written purchase agreements with COVID-19 contingencies to extend due diligence periods to the declared end of the crisis. As you might expect, Isaac has also had many clients initiate their estate planning, or finish long-delayed estate planning work.
Attorney Stephen E. Imm heads our employment law group, and is advising clients on a myriad of new COVID-19 legislation and addressing employment law claims under previously existing law and the new enactments.
Attorney Bradley M. Gibson heads our litigation group which is dealing with a multitude of business-to-business disputes, including those arising because of the COVID-19 crisis.
Attorney Richard P. Turner runs Ivy Pointe Title and in that capacity has been using every tool at our disposal to continue to close your transactions “accurately and on time, every time.” These include closings respecting social distancing, and we stand prepared to be one of the first agencies in Ohio to implement fully electronic closings. We also can do drive-by closings where you come to our office and sign documents from your car, or we come to you and you can sign them on our car hood.
Attorney Christopher P. Finney heads our public interest practice, and the host of issues addressing government-to-business and government-to-individual interaction arising from the COVID-19 crisis.
CARES Act assistance for your small business
Congress just passed the CoronaVirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which includes the Paycheck Protection Program that will provide what essentially are grants to businesses with fewer than 500 employees and enhanced Economic Injury Disaster Loans(EIDL).
We are working furiously to meet the needs of our clients in this fast-emerging crisis. Let us know how we can help you or your small business navigate these turbulent waters to come to the other side safely and profitably.
And our hope is that each of you remain healthy throughout this pandemic.
Our commercial real estate clients are still doing business — or at least they were last week. And buyers are now asking for a contingency to continue their due diligence periods to extend past the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
This is just another twist to what we are seeing in this dynamic environment.
In order to protect the safety of all parties to a real estate closing, Ivy Pointe Title has a team of closers willing “go the extra mile” to obtain signatures and notarize documents for buyers and sellers.
Curb-side service
To minimize social interaction, if you drive to either of our two offices (Mt. Adams or Eastgate), you can sign documents from the comfort of your car. We will come to you with the documents, obtain signatures, and notarize those that need to be acknowledged.
Travel to your location
We will also travel to the homes or workplaces of buyer and sellers to obtain signatures and notarize documents. When all signatures are obtained and the transaction is funded, we will record the documents, issue the title insurance policies and disburse.
Best closing practices for hygiene and safety
We use “best practices” in all of our closings, including (a) we will not meet in person with any buyer or seller who is ill or exhibiting flu symptoms, (b) none of our closers will work or attend any in-office or remote closing if he or she is ill, (c) we wash hands, use hand sanitizer, and use Clorox wipes of all pens, equipment and surfaces before and after each closing, (d) we will not shake hands and will maintain a safe distance from all closing participants and (e) almost all of our Ivy Pointe personnel are working remotely from home to limit human-to-human interaction at the company.
Teleconferencing for Realtors and lenders
At closings, we also have the technology and have trained our personnel to teleconference in lenders and Realtors from our laptops so they may participate at all stages, all while keeping a social distance and minimize the amount of people gathered at one time. Ahhh, this probably won’t fly for roadside service closings, but we can try with FaceTime!
A great future together
Let’s all cooperate to keep the closings moving forward and stay safe!
Conclusion
Even in the most difficult times and the most difficult transactions, Ivy Pointe’s team is willing to go the extra mile to be “Accurate and On Time” in your real estate closing. Contact Rick Turner (513.943.5660) or Eli Kraft-Jacobs (513.797.2853) to close your real estate transaction quickly and accurately.
Ivy Pointe Title is actively pursuing Remote Online Notarization (“RON”) in order to effectively and conveniently conduct closings during the COVID-19 crisis.
What is a Remote Online Notary (RON}?
First, understand what this revolutionary technology means: With e-signature and e-notary, original inked documents will no longer be required; everything can be signed through on-line execution. A buyer on his computer in one place can sign all of his closing documents, including the mortgage and other documents that need to be acknowledged (notarized) in his living room or home office, with a remote notary public sitting at a desk in another location. Similarly, a seller sitting in his kitchen at home can sign the deed and have it acknowledged (notarized) by an on-line notary sitting at his desk in another location. The Seller can likewise sign all of his other closing documents from his living room. Disbursements can be via wire transfer, mailed or hand-delivered checks. In other words, every single document (including the deed and mortgage) can be signed by a party without leaving his home, and without a notary public physically (but rather virtually) present.
Where are we today?
We are in discussions with our underwriters, lenders and Realtors to comply with all RON laws, mandates and edicts. Rather than being “first” to the table with this ground-breaking technology, we want to make 100% sure we can do this correctly when we do launch.
With the raging COVID-19 crisis and its economic fallout, the question that we are fielding the past few days is:
How can I get out of my contract to do “X”?
Each of the three analyses below hinges on the language of the contract. Thus, “it depends.”
Contract Contingencies
First, with respect to contracts to buy companies, real estate or other assets, consider the contingencies in the contract. For example, read here and here for easy “exits” from Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors residential contracts for buyers.
“Force majeure” provisions
But what about leases, long-term supply contracts, employment contracts, construction contracts and other commercial contracts?
Many such contracts contain what is known as a “force majeure” provision that essentially contemplates precisely the situation in which we find ourselves today: Some unexpected exigency such as war, famine, or pandemic.
In its essence, a force majeure clause is a contract provision that excuses a party’s performance under a contract when certain circumstances beyond their control arise, making performance impracticable, impossible or illegal. These clauses are common in complex commercial contracts, such as a commercial lease (and we really don’t expect to actually use them). Yet here we are and they can be a business-saving resource in determining how to proceed.
Can this provision excuse your performance and let you “get out of” a contract? Well, as you might expect your attorney to say: “it depends.” It depends on the language of the contractual provision.
Here is a sample force majeure provision from a commercial contract:
In the event a party shall be delayed or hindered in or prevented from the performance of any obligation (other than a payment obligation) required under this contract by reason of strikes, lockouts, inability to procure labor or materials, failure of power, fire or other casualty, acts of God, disease, restrictive governmental laws or regulations, riots, insurrection, terrorism, war or any other reason not within the reasonable control of such party, then the performance of such obligation shall be excused for a period of such delay, and the period for the performance of any such act shall be extended for a period equivalent to the period of such delay.
Would such a provision allow a tenant to terminate a lease? Would it allow an employer to terminate an employment contract for a term? Would it allow a manufacturer to avoid its obligations under a supply contract?
In this contractual language, we have the specific exceptions of “disease,” “acts of God,” and “restrictive governmental laws.” Since we have a disease that is arguably an “act of God,” and government-imposed shutdowns, it would seem that there are multiple bases upon which to argue for termination. But there could be countervailing arguments as well. For example, payment obligations are not excused in this sample language.
Some courts have applied force majeure clauses very narrowly, meaning that the specific occurrence has to be contemplated by a force majeure provision. Thus, is the word “disease” in your force majeure clause? Well, COVID-19 would seem to fit tightly within that definition, but does it? Hamilton County, for example, as of this writing, has no reported cases, and yet tens of thousands of people have been thrown out of work because of the fear of pandemic.
Mere diminished performance or increased expenses to perform alone likely would not be a sufficient basis to excuse performance and invoke a force majeure clause.
Business Interruption Insurance
Do you have business interruption insurance that would cover the COVID-19 pandemic consequences?
If you were prescient or cautious enough to buy business interruption coverage, that usually covers only a direct physical loss such as a fire, flood or earthquake. Some policies require that a loss be specifically designated, while other policies have no such requirement.
In the case of COVID-19, it may be tough to prove a direct physical loss but what if a workplace is contaminated and unusable due to a COVID-19 outbreak?
Possibly, business interruption coverage could be invoked if a supplier shuts down and can’t supply product or parts due to COVID-19
Additional considerations
Before triggering contingencies, invoking a force majeure provision or making a claim for insurance coverage, consider the following:
Are alternative means to perform your contractual obligations.
Will the other party to the contract consider mitigation of the performance problem, such as a rent reduction or other part-performance?
Could the parties reach a mutual agreement to terminate a contract or delay performance?
Conclusion
Virtually overnight, our firm and our clients have found ourselves in the middle of single worst crisis in perhaps 100 years. The first option should be to work towards accommodation with the other party to the contract. Beyond that, we have the options set forth above to consider for relief in this incredibly challenging environment.
Call one of our skilled and experienced attorneys if you want to explore your legal options or pursue one of these remedies.
