Property Ownership Explained
Permit Manager is property-based and uses the Property records as its foundation for almost all other data.
At its core, the software has a list of all the properties within the municipality. Separately, there is a list of all the property owners within the municipality. If one person owns two properties, they only appear in the owner list once, but they are associated with two different properties. Understanding this relationship between properties and owners is helpful when understanding the correct way to change the ownership of a property.
When you change the ownership of a property, you don’t want to edit the owner’s information. Doing so will edit this owner’s information for every other property that the same person or business owns. Instead of editing the owner’s information, you want to associate a different owner with the property. Keep this in mind while walking through the steps below.
Later in this article, we describe how to edit the property owner’s information, which is different from changing ownership.
Change a Property's Deed Owner
Within the Edit Property window, look at the Property Info tab for the Deed Owner section. Click the Dropdown Arrow button to open the menu.
When the menu expands, click Pick New Deed Owner.
WARNING: Do not click Open Contact Record. This opens the contact data for the existing owner. Editing this data will change the data for all parcels owned by the same person or business.
This opens the Pick a Contact dialog box. Check to see if the new owner is already in the contact list. Sort or filter the list to look for the new owner. If the new owner is found in the list, highlight the owner and click Use Selected. If you don't find the new owner in the list, click the Plus button to create a new owner record.
Enter any updated information about the assessment, sale price, or transfer date into the Deed Transfer Information dialog box.
If the old owner does not own any other property in the municipality, you'll be given the option to check the Archive Old Owner box. Click Save.
Update Permits With New Owner
The application then allows you to change the permits in Pending or Active status to show new owner. If permits are not updated with the new owner, the permits will retain the old Deed Owner information.
Within the Previous Owners tab, highlight the previous owner in blue with a single click on that line. The Active/ Pending Permits section will then automatically populate. If you want to change a permit to the new owner, highlight that permit in blue with a single click on that line. Then click Update Permit.
If the new owner should also be listed as the Applicant on the permit, check the New Owner is Applicant box. To confirm the update of the permit owner, click Update.
Edit Property Owner Information
WARNING: The property owner contact information should only be edited to correct a misspelling, update a mailing address, or make other minor changes. Any edits made will affect all properties owned by that person or business.
Within the Edit Property window, look at the Property Info tab for the Deed Owner. Click the Dropdown Arrow button to show the menu.
Next, click Open Contact Record.
Once you are in the Edit Contact window, make any needed edits and click Save.
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