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Tax Certiorari
Wow, Certiorari, seems kind of daunting doesn't it. It's a Latin word that means
to be informed of, in the case of a legal issue, to re-examine the decision
of a lower court.
So, how does this apply to my tax grievance? If your grievance is denied or you think the decision of the tax board is incorrect, you
can file a Tax Certiorari petition with the court. For residential tax grievances, it's known as SCAR (Small Claims Assessment Review).
What you are doing is asking a higher court to review the decision of a
lower court. In this case, the tax board. They can either agree with you and issue an order reducing your
assessment or agree with your Town Board and do nothing.
How do I do this?
(Click for Details).
You
have to file a petition with the court
for review. The fee for this is currently $30. As with the tax grievance you filed with the Town, you
don't have to have an attorney, but you have to appear and justify your claim. You can use the same paperwork you did for the town, but remember,
you were not satisfied with those results. So, what else can you do?
There are 3 other things you can do to help your
case.
The first
is a property appraisal. This is an opinion from a licensed and trained appraiser. This will carry weight with
the court. The issue here is cost. You can easily eat up your tax savings with the cost of
an appraisal which can cost upwards of $300 or more.
Second, you can request a Real Estate Brokers BPO (Brokers
Property/Price Opinion). While not as strong as an appraisal, it
still carries weight because it's from a licensed, trained real estate broker.
Like anything else, you have to have the facts to back it up. If the BPO
or appraisal gives the same or similar results as your tax grievance, this will serves to
strengthen your position. The big
advantage here is that a BPO usually costs under $100. If you have a broker and
decide to file a SCAR, call them. If not, you can request a BPO
from this website. We have trained brokers that will assist you. The fee
for this is $74.95
Finally, you can hire an attorney. They will represent you for your SCAR petition. They will charge for this service,
you can discuss the fee with the attorney you choose. If you don't have an attorney, we
can point you in the right direction. We work with lawyers that have many years of real estate experience.
Contact us for more information.
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