Property Tax increased almost 100%! Why?
I recently completed a Reno on a single family house in bk. Just got my property tax bill and it went from roughly 5800 per year to over 10k! There are no other homes in the neighborhood that have taxes remotely close to this. In fact, the exact same house across the street has a higher assessed value and is identical but there taxes are less than 4K. I figured the Reno would have some sort of impact on the taxes but nothing remotely close to this. Anyone on here wth similar experiences? I am thinking after some research this might be in error but I will likely have to get a lawyer or certiary involved to remedy.
midwoodflyer
in General Discussion 8 years and 11 months ago
22
Please log in, in order to post replies!
22 replies
soundhoner | 8 years and 10 months ago
Well, it seems like there isn’t a specific way to predict what the increase might be, but things might correlate. Contractors and others I spoke to suggest it’s related to the dollar amount stated on the permits. It could be incorrect. A NYT article on the subject from 2005 suggest the assessors are looking at the scope of the work and determining the value based on their estimates.
So it’s related to the dollar amount in some form, even if imagined. I think if people were getting their taxes tripled because they filed an electrical permit or something, we’d hear about it.
What I suspect is that, based on the very high end reno numbers on the Brownstoner forums (being as it’s populated by high-end contractors, architects, etc. – one other thread someone said that 400K for a two family house is ‘the minimum’ for a reno, for example), people are getting punished for high numbers on the permits.
But I’m speculating like you are.
midwoodflyer | 8 years and 10 months ago
Why is that critical? I’m actually thinking that the dollar amount filled in on the dob applications has nothing to do with the increase and more to do with the 6% per year, 20% per fiver year caps being lifted when an alt 1 or 2 is filed. This gives the finance department an opening to get the assessments up. The city is looking to all these new “rich” homeowners to fill the coffers
soundhoner | 8 years and 10 months ago
Critical question, to the OP: how much did you spend on the reno? What did you fill in the permits?
stickerhappy | 8 years and 10 months ago
Anyone know any way to get some idea of how much of a tax increase to expect depending on what renovation work is done? Anyone have any experience trying to speak with someone in the assessor’s office?
stickerhappy | 8 years and 10 months ago
What about if you don’t know what the actual cost will be? I know you submit a form when initially filling for permits where you estimate the renovation costs, but what if it ends up being much more or less? It seems hard to accurately ballpark the cost of a renovation before you start. Or is there another form to fill out at the end of the renovation?
midwoodflyer | 8 years and 10 months ago
Not neccesarily Resident2. My sign off has not happened yet and we were already hit with a 90% plus tax increase.
resident2 | 8 years and 10 months ago
The tax increase goes into effect upon completion and the issuance of a new C of O or the final sign off. That said it often takes the assessors office a year or so to increase the assessment and then depending on the tax cycle it maybe two years before you see the change in the bill. This is why buyers should be aware of buying a flip or anything with a new C of O…..
artsynani | 8 years and 10 months ago
Any time you do a major improvement of your property the city will assess 6 percent of that for tax purposes. And it is a fair thing right? Should you pay the same tax dollars that your neighbor pays when you fixed up your home? If you build a new home worth 2 million, your tax bill will be 24,000. DO that on long island and its 60,000.
artsynani | 8 years and 10 months ago
Any time you do a major improvement of your property the city will assess 6 percent of that for tax purposes. And it is a fair thing right? Should you pay the same tax dollars that your neighbor pays when you fixed up your home? If you build a new home worth 2 million, your tax bill will be 24,000. DO that on long island and its 60,000.
dmdesmond | 8 years and 10 months ago
This is really helpful for me. I hadn’t been aware they could take the limit off just because you filed permits! I thought the work had to be really substantial such as rebuilding, subdividing, CofO change , etc.
bklynteacher | 8 years and 10 months ago
Does the increase happen upon filing Alt 1, or upon completion? We filed for a C of O change 8 years ago (2 family to 3), and have been plodding steadily toward completion. Almost ready for a final inspection. Our taxes have never changed. Would they have increased by now if they were likely too, or should we expect an increase upon passing inspection?
jakester | 8 years and 10 months ago
I did a fair amount of research on this while working out expenses for purchasing in Brooklyn. The city has a “market value” and an “assessed value”. In many cases, the assessed value is artificially low because the city can only raised the assessed value by max 6 percent a year, and not more than 20 percent over 5 years. However, after alterations with a permit (I believe only Alt 1 work, but I’m not fully sure), the cap is removed, so the assessed value can jump up to where it “should” be based on market value. In many cases, a big jump after a reno is not due so much to the re-assessment of market value based on renovation, but rather because they can bring up your assessed value without any sort of limitation. (this is all essentially in line with what Resident2 said, just a bit of extra info too).
You should likely be able to compare pre and post renovation property tax bills to help work out if this is the case. If this is what happened to you, unfortunately I don’t think there is a ton of recourse , even if you are paying far more than your neighbors. Their rates would likely have a similar jump after a renovation in which permits were filed.
It is frustrating that the tax rules and regulations are super confusing and not well documented online at all. I think this kind of surprise in a sudden jump is not uncommon.
Arkady | 8 years and 10 months ago
Very carefully read the supporting documents about filling in Tax Commission forms. Whatever else you argue, don’t say anything about neighbors’ rates – it turns the TC right off.
midwoodflyer | 8 years and 10 months ago
Unfortunately it does. I’m hoping resident2 is incorrect in not being able to challenge the tax increase.
fraserlucas | 8 years and 10 months ago
can you share if my math makes sense.. would be helpful for all
midwoodflyer | 8 years and 10 months ago
Had I known the taxes would go up so dramatically I would have looked much more seriously at the surrounding suburbs. At least you get good to great public schools in exchange for the high taxes outside the city limits. And we did not add any sq footage, only renovated, all new systems etc, essentially a gut.
resident2 | 8 years and 10 months ago
If you file for a new C of O or for a major renovation your taxes will be significantly increased. You cannot challenge the increase for your ‘Improvements”. You can, but the City will basically ignore you.
This is why the old timers would not do any work that showed on the outside or file permits for basic upgrades.
Back a few years ago when the City was hoping wealthy income tax people would move back in from the suburbs they would not apply this. But now the current Mayor has to get the tax dollars from somewhere other than the new developments that are really doing nothing for “affordable” housing except skimming the best tenants from the smaller landlords, so yes taxes are being increased significantly to anyone that files a building permit. (except new development)
Nassau County taxes are not looking so high anymore; and you save on NYC resident income tax to offset the $15,000 – 20,000 a year Real Estate taxes.
fraserlucas | 8 years and 10 months ago
do you remember what your architect put down on cost.. i heard that dof takes the cost estimate that your architect and engineer submitted and you take that number and multiply by 6% that number gets added to your assessed value. so if the number was 100k. they would add 6k to your assessed value and you take that number times your tax rate an(19%) and your taxes would go u 1140ish
YahwehOrTheHighway | 8 years and 10 months ago
just renovated existing in my case