When a public body (government) acquires the land through eminent domain, the covenant ends. You may be entitled to sign up again, if you choose.

Property that is either given or sold to schools and power companies would also include in this group.

The best approach would be to enroll only the land that you intend to keep in the qualifying uses for the life of the covenant. This means to create a new legal description for separate tracts.

For example, if you own 100 acres and feel you may want to develop or sell a portion during the 10year covenant period, you will be required to submit a legal description to the Board of any property that will not be included in the covenant. This legal description can be by deed or by survey.

When one-half or more of the area of a single tract of real property is used for a qualifying purpose,then such tract shall be considered as used for such qualifying purpose unless some other type of business is being operated on the unused portion; provided, however, that such unused portion mustbe minimally managed so that it does not contribute significantly to erosion or other environmental orconservation problems.

The following DO NOT constitute another type of business:

• The lease of hunting rights or the use of the property for hunting purposes
• The charging of admission for use of the property for fishing purposes 

For Agricultural Preferential and Current Use, Georgia law now states:
Such property excludes the entire value of any residence and its underlying property; as used in this subparagraph,the term "underlying property" means the minimum lot size required for residential construction bylocal zoning ordinances or two acres, whichever is less. This provision for excluding the underlying property of a residence from eligibility in the current use covenant shall only apply to property that is first made subject to a covenant or is subject to the renewal of a previous covenant on or after May 1, 2012.

Covenants entered into before May 1, 2012 are not subject to this portion of the law, unless they transfer ownership, and are required to file for a continuance application. It also applies if you acquire new acreage and request it to be added to an existing covenant.

In Muscogee County, the minimum lot size required for residential construction is TWO acres. If you have more than one residence on the property, two acres must be cut out for each residence/mobilehome.

Leasing a portion of the property subject to the covenant, but in no event more than six acres of everyunit of 2,000 acres, for the purpose of placing thereon a cellular telephone transmission tower. Anysuch portion of such property shall cease to be subject to the covenant as of the date of execution ofsuch lease and shall be subject to ad valorem taxation at fair market value.

Caution should be taken if you are considering leasing for any purpose other than cell towers, huntingor agricultural purposes.

Yes. If your tract is 10.75 acres, with a residence, you must cut the house and two acres out.Your application for current use would be based on 8.75 acres and subject to the requirementsfor tracts 10 acres and less.

If you have a tract of 12 acres or less with a residence, you must cut the house out plus 2 acres andwould be subject to the same requirement.

No. Leasing is permitted if the lessee meets the qualification under O.C.G.A. § 48-5-7.4 (a)(1)(C) andthe use remains the same as the original covenant. Owner must notify the Muscogee County Board of Assessors if there are any changes to the original covenant to determine if a breach hasoccurred.

If a qualified owner has entered into an original bona fide current use covenant and subsequentlyacquires additional qualified property contiguous to the property in the original covenant, the qualifiedowner may elect to enter the subsequently acquired qualified property into the original covenant forthe remainder of the ten-year period of the original covenant; provided, however, that suchsubsequently acquired qualified property shall be less than 50 acres.

"Contiguous" means real property within a county that abuts, joins, or touches and has the sameundivided common ownership. If an applicant's tract is divided by a county boundary, public roadway,public easement, public right of way, natural boundary, land lot line, or railroad track, then theapplicant has, at the time of the initial application, a one-time election to declare the tract as contiguousirrespective of a county boundary, public roadway, public easement, public right of way, naturalboundary, land lot line, or railroad track.

If this occurs, you would be subject to the changes in the law that require any residence and two acres(if applicable) to be delineated out at the time you opt to combine properties.

Current Use land value is based on its use, location and soil productivity. Annually the Georgia Department of Revenue publishes a table of values for all Current Use land in Georgia. Thetable of values is available at the Muscogee County Board of Assessors Office, University of GeorgiaCooperative Extension Service County Office, the Georgia Forestry Association, Georgia FarmBureau Federation and the Georgia Forestry Commission.

Once your application has been approved, the acreage of your parcel is broken down by soil classification. Then the soil types are costed against the above table and totaled for a new Current Use value.

The Board of Assessors Office will continue to notify the taxpayer of any changes to the FMV of thecovenanted property. Remember the difference between FMV and Current Use value is the basisfor calculating any penalty. So, pay careful attention each year to the FMV of your land, even whilein a protective covenant.

If you do not change the use of the property, each party may be eligible to file for continuance of the original covenant. It would be wise to discuss this with the Board of Assessors office to make surethat the division will be done in a manner that would not breach the covenant.

The Board of Assessors should be consulted before building any improvements on propertydivided for estate planning purposes.

If property is placed in any of the above, there are specific requirements under the law. The partnershipor family farm corporation MUST derive 80% of its income from bona fide agricultural productionpurposes within this state. It may NOT receive more than 20% of its income from other non-relatedagricultural purposes, such as dividends on stocks and bonds other non-agricultural investments, rentalincome, etc. The property tax along with any maintenance fees are expenses to the property in whichincome derived from the property is used to pay such expenses and such income must be at least 80%from bona fide agricultural use.

All parties of the partnership or corporation must be related to each other within the fourth degree ofcivil reckoning (see addendum containing Degrees of Kinship), except that there is an allowance fora non-related 5% ownership for management purposes.

The Muscogee County Board of Assessors will require the following along with your application underthese circumstances:

• Copy of your certificate of corporation filed with the Secretary of State
• Copy of the income tax return for the partnership or corporation, and
• An affidavit that the parties are related to each other in accordance with the law