The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank is poised to give final approval for a new exemption that would give deed-restricted homes a break from the land bank’s 2 per cent transfer fee on real estate.
The land bank commission on Monday voted in favor of the policy change, which would allow properties that include an affordable housing restriction to avoid paying the fee when they are sold.
Land bank executive director James Lengyel said the effort is being sought to ease the cost of affordable housing on the Vineyard, where the median home price has risen to $1.7 million.
“The land bank keeps its eyes open on how it can assist with affordable housing,” he said. “Basically what the land bank is saying is that unit is a public asset…If that is a public asset, then the land bank shouldn’t be levying a fee against it.”
The deed restrictions need to be in perpetuity to qualify, and must restrict the resale price of the property for people who make 150 per cent of the area median income, according to the proposed change.
“For awhile I’ve been thinking that we need to amend the regulations to exempt a particular transaction, namely when someone buys a property that is subject to an affordable housing restriction that is permanent, that has resale controls and those controls are in place in order to assure that an income qualified person is the succeeding owner of that property,” Mr. Lengyel told the commission.
There is already one property in the pipeline that would qualify for the exemption, and the land bank commission had no objections to the policy change. Fred Khedouri, the Chilmark member of the commission, said this change would be helpful to affordable housing efforts on the Vineyard and was unlikely to hurt the land bank’s bottom line.
“It will have minimal impact on revenues and provide meaningful relief to qualified buyers of deed-restricted affordable housing on the Island,” he wrote in a letter that was read aloud by Mr. Lengyel.
The land bank rarely amends its policies. The commission will likely do a second reading of the policy amendment at its next meeting, where the change would then become official.
This article appears in March 13, 2026.
It’s a good step and a great talking point, but the transfer fee needs to be amended and cash directed to affordable housing. The land bank has tremendous cash reserves and should pay down its debt so the towns are never on the hook for it. The argument that these cash reserves bolster bond rating and intern allow for more borrowing has run its course pay down the debt buy things with cash or leverage existing properties.
Been shouting this for years.
Time to put housing security at a higher priority than land-banking.
Cannot for the life of me understand why we push for additional real estate surcharge taxes when there’s already a tremendous amount of money going solely towards land preservation.
All the monies should be for housing. We need it on Marta’s vineyard for the workers.
Don’t tax me, don’t tax thee, tax that man behind the tree.
Why would someone deed restrict their property when that would drastically reduce the selling price when they want to sell it.
For the common good.
As a lifelong, year round resident of the island, I know that land preservation and affordable housing are two sides of the same coin; we need both of these things in order to protect and ensure our quality of life (fishing/shellfishing, hunting, farming, etc) on the island, including protecting surface and ground water quality and preservation of our natural areas.
People drive along our roads and see seemingly endless tracts of woodland and open space, but most of this is just land that hasn’t yet been developed. Our island is by definition a land of limitations.
The work of land preservation here is nowhere near done, and the land bank is the only entity on the island with a dedicated income stream to accomplish this goal. Furthermore, the land bank has facilitated many affordable housing projects that would not have happened without its involvement and leadership.
It is up to housing advocates to continue the work of seeking out affordable housing solutions.