The association first learned of this fee, which has been used by developers to generate funds for environmental issues near projects, when confused real estate agents began calling the association a few years ago. It is unclear exactly when the tax was first used by developers, but the fees likely have not been challenged until now because there have been few resales of new homes in planned developments, said Delores Conway, director of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast at the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. In some cases, private transfer taxes are used for things like community projects and habitat preservation. But because the tax is not regulated, a developer can do whatever it wants with the revenue.
