Can property taxes go up based on if you're renting your house out or not?
Asked by
AshlynM (
10684
)
April 10th, 2011
When I received my property tax bill in the mail, I was shocked. It had spiked up so much since last year. It’s a little over a thousand dollars.
My property taxes have NEVER been that HIGH for as long as I’ve been living in my house as my primary residence.
Could the recent hike in property taxes be because I’m not living there anymore?
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14 Answers
Absolutely. I own a duplex, and I live in one side and rent out the other side. These are identical mirror-image houses, exactly the same and are attached to each other. My rental property side’s tax bill is nearly double that of the side I live in. Sucks.
Yes, it does suck. At least my property taxes only come once a year.
Did you provide them with the rental information or do they have access to that somehow? This doesn’t sound right but it may be about some other municipality that I don’t understand their rules.
@jleslie, I don’t think they are sophisticated enough in Tennessee to know about rent multipliers, lol
@Season_of_Fall yeah, in my county I don’t think it matters if it is a primary or secondary, investment, etc., except for people over 65. In FL your primary can have a homestead exemption and increase cap, so if it becomes an investment property your taxes can really jump.
@Season_of_Fall and @JLeslie Well, I live in West Virginia… if we have it here, I’m guessing Tennessee would be up to speed on it, too. ;)
In California there is a residency exemption, but other than that there is no difference. It is a reduction of $7,000 in the assessed valuation, which, at Prop 13 rates, means a savings of $70 per year.
Ours are adjusted every 5 years, based upon the sales price of houses in the area. They periodically send a questionnaire asking if you’ve done improvements. If you mortgage the property, that can trigger an increase.
You can appeal the appraised amount if you think it’s out of line with what you could sell the house for.
@AshlynM, Did you have to report to them any rent your getting for the house, or have you had to turn over a copy of any leases to any municipal office? I exploring to try to determine if they made some blind assumptions that may or may not be in line with whats appropriate for what typical for the area.
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