The following definitions should be used for reviewing the Conveyance Type reported on the State of Maryland Land Instrument Intake Sheet to local assessment offices.

Code 1: Improved Sale Arms-Length: Select this code if the property conveyed includes a building or relatively permanent structure attached to land. This type of conveyance represents a "market value"  transaction. (Refer to Procedure 001-014-001)

Code 2: Unimproved Sale Arms-Length: Select this code if the property conveyed only consists of vacant land. This type of conveyance represents a "market value" transaction. (Refer to Procedure  001-014-001)

Code 3: Multiple Accounts Arms-Length: Select this code if the property conveyed includes more than one account for the assessment records. This type of conveyance represents a "market value" transaction. (Refer to Procedure 001-014-001)

Code 4: Not an Arms-Length Sale: Select this code if one of the conditions above does not apply. (Type of conveyances that are not considered an arms-length transfer of real property include, but are not limited to gift, foreclosure, tax sale, auction, estate sale, or confirmatory deed, a transfer of the property between related parties, or one or more of the parties were acting under duress to buy or sell.)

If a conveyance code of “4” is chosen for a transfer it must be accompanied by one of the following numbers in Convey Code 4 Reason field located in the Sales History tab.

1. Family Sale, or Corporate Affiliate
2. Tax Sale, Sale involving a Government Agency or a Condemnation
3. Sale involving Charitable, Religious or Educational Institutions
4. Forclosure or Financial Institutions; Buyer or Seller
5. Short Sale
6. Bankruptcy, Divorce or Forced sale by Judicial Order or Divorce
7. Estate, Auction or Trustee sale
8. Partial Transfer
9. Other – any sale deemed non-arms-length for a reason not listed in numbers 1-8 above. (Specific reasoning for coding a sale “9” in Convey Code 4 Reason field must also be noted within the “SALE/APPRAISER NOTE” field located in the Sales History tab.)

Any sale with $0 consideration does not need a specific reason code. These transactions only need to be coded "4" in the Conveyance Type.

The primary purpose of this process is to distinguish arms-length conveyances from transfers that have not had full exposure to the marketplace. An arms-length sale is a  transaction between unrelated parties under no duress.

Any sale which is arms-length but is to be excluded from sales analysis and ratios should have the "Qualified" box unmarked in the AAVS Sales tab. An unmarked "Qualified" box must have notes as to reason for exclusion entered into the “SALE/APPRAISER NOTE” field located in the Sales History tab.)

Any transfer which includes an improvement in the consideration but not yet assessed as of that date of transfer should be coded as a "1". If coded as a “2” or unimproved, a transfer to be used later in the sales analysis for that model may be missed.

NOTE: Changing a Conveyance Code or qualification during analysis or ratio review, requires Supervisor approval and must have notes as to reason of exclusion entered into the “SALE/APPRAISER NOTE” field located in the Sales History tab as well as a correct drop down number in the Convey Code 4 Reason field.)