Make an appointment to see the local government official responsible for your property tax assessment and review with her or him the following possible errors:
1. Inaccurate property description or dimensions.
2. Clerical errors.
3. Mathematical errors.
4. Failure to consider needed repairs.
5. Failure to consider value-reducers like difficult ingress and egress, easements, drainage problems, heavy traffic areas, nearby railroad tracks, expressways, industry or noxious uses.
6. Lower assessments on similar properties in the neighborhood. Although market value is generally the controlling standard, by law, taxation must be fair and equitable.
7. Failure to depreciate for negative factors (deferred maintenace, age and quality of materials, poor workmanship, spalling, cracks or deterioration, defective or outmoded materials or construction, physical, functional or economic obsolescence of land or improvements).
8. Failure to recognize decreased value due to downward trend in the real estate market.
9. Unlawful assessments, such as double assessment of common areas both to individual owners and to homeowners association.
10. Exemptions or exceptions to full value taxation not applied or not properly applied to the property.
Watch this space for blogs giving examples of the above-listed ways to reduce your property taxes.
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Daniel A. Weiss is a former Attorney Special Master for the Miami-Dade County Value Adjustment Board. Mr. Weiss now represents commercial, institutional charitable, commercial, high-end residential, agricultural and municipal taxpayers at VAB proceedings throughout the State of Florida. Mr. Weiss handles both valuation and legal claims.
Mr. Weiss has over 25 years property tax experience. Mr. Weiss represented the Miami-Dade County taxing authorities in litigation and appeals between 1981 and 1995 as a Miami-Dade Assistant County Attorney and has since represented taxpayers in property tax matters.
Mr. Weiss appears as one of Florida's Super Lawyers 2006 in the publication of the same name. He was named by his peers as one of the top 6 local government lawyers in South Florida.
In Florida Trend magazine™'s Legal Elite's issue, July 2004, Mr. Weiss was selected by his peers as one of the top 30 government lawyers in the State of Florida.
For a free consultation regarding your property, contact us.
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