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SPECIAL BLOG
SAVE MONEY! APPEAL YOUR REAL ESTATE TAXES AS A
GROUP
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published August 16, 2018
Do you
believe that your real estate taxes too high?
Why not
appeal your tax bill as a group? Under Florida Law, a
condominium association can file a property tax appeal petition
on behalf of
all of the unit owners in the condominium. Once a petition is
filed, the Value Adjustment Board sets the case for hearing in
front of a Special Magistrate. If the unit owner has already
paid their taxes, the tax collector will issue a refund. Taxes
must be paid in full by April 1 or any tax savings will be lost
and the higher value will be reinstated.
Why appeal
as a group? The Association attorney may have knowledge of the
history of the building, foreclosures, claims against the
developer, the condition and/or use of surrounding properties,
neighborhood characteristics, and whether or not the property
has significant structural damage or is in need of repair. All
of these factors may contribute toward a reduction in the
appraised value of the property and subsequently, the tax bill.
There are
important deadlines to keep in mind however. TRIM notices which
advise you of the amount of your property taxes will be mailed
to property owners in the next two weeks. The filing deadline
is 25 days from the mailing of the TRIM notice, not the receipt
of the notice. TRIM Notices go out in Miami-Dade and Broward on
August 24 and petitions are due on September 18. Don’t blow the
deadline!
If the
association files on behalf of all unit owners, the filing fee
charged by the county is $15 for the first unit and $5 per unit
thereafter. The statute provides all unit owners with the right
to opt-out of the appeal.
There are no
attorney’s fees charged unless the appeal results in
successfully reducing the property taxes. Give us a call for
help.
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric Glazer graduated from
the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after
receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community
association law for more than 2
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decades and is the owner of Glazer
and Associates, P.A. a seven attorney law firm with offices in
Fort Lauderdale and Orlando and satellite offices in Naples,
Fort Myers and Tampa.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host
of Condo Craze and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs
at noon each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
He is the first attorney in the
State of Florida that designed a course that certifies
condominium residents as eligible to serve on a condominium
Board of Directors and has now certified more than 10,000
Floridians all across the state. He is certified as a Circuit
Court Mediator by The Florida Supreme Court and has mediated
dozens of disputes between associations and unit owners. Eric
also devotes significant time to advancing legislation in the
best interest of Florida community association members.
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