Court Questions Appraiser’s Valuation Of Syndicated Conservation EasementCourt Questions Appraiser’s Valuation Of Syndicated Conservation Easement

The recent case of Oconee Landing Property, LLC et al. v. Commissioner (Oconee)¹ demonstrates that securing a “qualified appraiser” isn’t enough to document correctly the charitable deduction from a syndicated conservation easement. Before examining the case, let’s review the difference between a conventional and a syndicated conservation easement.

Two Types of Easements

With any easement, a property owner surrenders some future rights of use of their property but retains ownership. 

Conventional. A conventional easement is one in which a property owner agrees to protect the natural resources of a parcel of land by restricting its future land use or development. In exchange, the property owner gets a charitable deduction for the reduced val...