real-estate new-york-state
City Assessor vs Building Permit
<p>I live in NY and went to my local code enforcement office and applied for a permit. I was very up front about everything I planned to do with my home renovation from start to finish. I explained that I essentially wanted to completely modify my entire house from the foundation up. We originally wanted to leave the original floors and walls, but after determining it would have cost more to modify and bring up to code and realizing the house was never bolted to the foundation, we decided to replace everything from the foundation up. Never the less, we were issued a full renovation permit. </p>

<p>The original house was 1646sf and now the house house is 3200sf, we use to be assessed at 95k and I assumed with doubling the size of my house, my assessment would double and maybe a little more due to the fact it would be nicer. Now please keep in mind, we are still on the original foundation, original electrical service, original center beam, original boiler, basement windows, stairs etc. </p>

<p>I met with the assessor last week and she decided to reclassify my home as new construction and upped my assessment to 330k in a 110k neighborhood which brought my taxes up from 3k to 13k a year. </p>

<p>So my question is, is the assessor required to stick to the building permit issued (renovation), or does she have the authority to reclassify me as new construction?</p>

<p>There are always processes to appeal property assessments.  The process will be particular to your jurisdiction (usually county or city).  You can generally file appeals yourself.  You can also choose to hire lawyers and/or appraisers to appeal them, and some will even work on contingency (i.e., for some portion of what they are able to save you on taxes).</p>
