Land Trust

What is a Land Trust?

A Land trust meaning can be defined as the organizations that gain full or partial control over the piece of property at the request of the landowner. The land trust can have unique terms and conditions.

Types of Land Trust

It is mainly divided into two types:

Title-holding Trust

As the name implies, this enables the property owner to enjoy the rights to their land anonymously. Commonly referred to as the Illinois land trusts, the title-holding trust achieved popularity in the 1800s in Chicago. During that time, the government had restricted the landowners to participate in the city projects where they owned a part of the property. The rich businessmen and landowners would use a land trust to get their voting rights and invest in the properties anonymously. It is important to note that only a few states have a legal structure concerning the title-holding trust.

Conservation Land Trust

This is different from the title-holding trust. In the conservation land trust, the landowner is supposed to give the rights of the property for development purposes. Conservation land trust is designed to preserve cultural sites and wildlife. It ensures that the commercial buildings and construction projects do not affect the wildlife as well as the natural resources of the country. In other words, a conservation land trust guarantees the protection of natural resources from activities that could result in pollution and other damages.

Title Holding Trust and Conservation Land Trust

The title-holding land trust makes it compulsory for the property owner to draft and sign a Deed in trust. This is a legal agreement that transfers the ownership title of the property to the organization acquiring the property. Now, the property owner gets the full right to decide how the particular piece of property must be used and managed. They get to decide the person who will have the rights to the resources within the land, the way the property has to be managed and maintained, and the way the Income from the property must be distributed.

All these terms and conditions are to be specified in the deed of trust. Basically, the title-holding trust gives the property rights to the trust (organization acquiring the land). However, the landowner is still the one who has full control on the property. Simply put, in this type of trust, the ownership title is transferred to the trust, but you get to control of the property. The trusts can play an integral part in property planning and management. It is extremely important for wealthy businessmen, celebrities, and other professional investors to get the ownership title transferred to the land trust.

The other land trust does not involve the property ownership title to the organization. It rather involves the property owner signing a legal agreement with the trust in which they donate property rights to the land trust. The landowner still holds the rights to farm on the land, but they can’t construct or develop the property. Now, the terms will remain in effect even when the particular piece of property is passed to the next generation.