Special offer

How to Request the Correction of an Erroneous Assessment

By
Real Estate Appraiser with Richard L. Sanderson Consulting AAS #239

Are You Missing an Opportunity to Lower Your Property Assessment?

Type of Challenges
There are valuation disputes with your local assessor and there are corrections to erroneous assessments.  The first, valuation disputes, are common when property owners disagree with the value estimated by the assessor that is then used to determine how much you will pay in real estate taxes.  Typically valuation disputes can only be challenged at specific times of year after a reassessment.

What is an Erroneous Assessment?
The second, corrections to erroneous assessments, are factual errors that are the result of being able to verify the correct size, location, or existence of a property characteristic.  For example, if your home has 1,424 square feet (sq. ft.) of gross living area (GLA) and the local assessor's office is using 1,710 sq. ft. of GLA when they determine your assessment, there may be an error in the assessment that can be corrected.  Corrections to erroneous assessment because of factual errors can generally be brought to the attention of the local assessor's office at any time.

I said there "may be an error" because the assessor's office will need to verify the correctness of their records against your information or re-measure or re-inspect your home.  Right now all you have is a difference of opinion as to the correct sq. ft. size.

Many real estate agents and brokers, appraisers, and assessors calculate the GLA of a dwelling differently.  Most assessors measure the exterior walls of the home to calculate the GLA above-grade that does not include attached garage areas, unheated porches or sunrooms, or finished basement areas.  If you are using an appraisal or settlement documents for evidence of your GLA the assessor's office will want to see how the area was calculated.

Keep in mind that assessors are very concerned with the uniform treatment of the properties they assess and the application of uniform assessment methods.  That is to say, the assessor's inclusion or exclusion of an area in the GLA is not necessarily incorrect if they treat all similar homes the same way.

The Erroneous Assessment Correction Process
Your first step should be to contact the assessor's office and explain why you believe there may be an error in there records.  Don't accuse them of making an error or purposefully causing you to have a high assessment.  Let them know that you are looking into the correctness of the property characteristics they are using to value your property.  Be an investigator, not an accuser.

A word of caution: You may want to ask some preliminary questions anonymously as a concerned property owner.  Doing a preliminary investigation may tell you whether there is a potential factual error, but more importantly you'll want to know that the error is not to the advantage of the assessor's office.  In some states, when you challenge the correctness of the assessment the assessor's office conducts a formal review of the factual property characteristics.  As such the assessor's office can either reduce the assessment (e.g., where the sq. ft. of GLA is smaller) or increase the assessment (e.g., where the sq. ft. of GLA turns out to really be larger than shown on the current assessment record).

If the information you provide the assessor's office does not convince them, ask what they will need from you and can they re-measure or re-inspect your home.  In the case of new construction (complete new home or addition or major renovation) the assessor's office may want to see the building plans.

If the assessor's office agrees to revise the GLA size, ask them how it will affect the assessment.  How much the assessment changes, if any, will depend on the variation in the factual information.  Some assessors will not change the assessment for small discrepancies, but merely correct he information for the next reassessment.  An example of a small discrepancy might be where you have three and one-half bathrooms and the assessor is valuing your property as though you have four full bathrooms. But keep in mind that several small discrepancies can add up to make quite a difference in the assessment.

Can the Correction Affect Multiple Years?
Some states have statutes of limitations that tell the assessor how many assessment years can be affected by a correction.  In Virginia, for example, the assessor's office can correct the current year's assessment and up to three previous assessment years.  Each state may vary so ask your local assessor about any statute of limitations.

Are Corrections to Erroneous Assessments Limited to GLA?
For this article we have used GLA size as an example of a factual error in property characteristics that can have an affect on an assessment.  Other factual errors in property characteristics include, but are certainly not limited to:

  • Correct lot, parcel or acreage size
  • Number of bathrooms
  • Number of fireplaces
  • Correct size and number of garages, decks, patios and other features
  • Basement size and how much may be finished basement area
  • Year built or remodeled
  • Zoning or other land use restrictions
Posted by

Richard L. Sanderson - Property Tax Consultant & Valuation Specialist

 

If your company or membership organizaton would like to know more about our services please contact me through this profile or through soical media.

Richard L. Sanderson

 

    

Comments (4)

Jay Schmitt
Keller Williams Keystone Realty - Gettysburg, PA
Gettysburg Real Estate Agent

Thanks for sharing some really useful information that is going to come in handy to me personally.

Nov 04, 2010 04:32 AM
Richard L. Sanderson
Richard L. Sanderson Consulting - Kalama, WA
helping improve local property tax systems

Jay:

Thanks for your comment.  This is avenue that not too many people pursue.  Some of the great things about taking this route, rather than challenging the value, is you can raise the concern at anytime, it can affect multiple assessment years, and if nothing else gives you peace of mind that the local assessor is using the correct property characteristics in valuing your property.

Nov 04, 2010 05:28 AM
Joshua Zargari
MJ Decorators Workshop LI staging and home decorating - Lynbrook, NY
MJ Decorators Workshop

Great info. Richard.

Nov 04, 2010 05:55 AM
Richard L. Sanderson
Richard L. Sanderson Consulting - Kalama, WA
helping improve local property tax systems

Thanks Joshua.  I see by your ActiveRain profile that you were active in your family construction business.  I come from a long line of home builders and carpenters.  My dad and uncle had a home construction business in Michigan and had my brothers and me nailing sub-floors when we were just kids.  Great experience! 

Nov 04, 2010 08:04 AM