BLOG: Property Tax Appeal
Too Many Towns Equals High Property Taxes
Too Many Towns Equals High Property Taxes NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – “Recent studies by the Tax Foundation ranked New Jersey first in two categories residents and companies probably wished it did not: highest median property taxes and the least business-friendly tax structure in the US. According to the Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization, New Jersey took... Read More
Morris County Tax Appeals on the Rise
The Morris County Daily Record has published a feature on rising property taxes in New Jersey entitled “Tax Crush”. Read more about the feature here and, in particular, about the increase in volume of real estate tax appeals filed by aggrieved property owners in Morris County in 2009 here. The attorneys at McKirdy & Riskin... Read More
Court Confirms Tenant’s Right To Control Tax Appeal and to Refund
In Aperion Enterprises, Inc. and Quo Non Ascendet, Inc. v. Borough of Fair Lawn, (July 24, 2009) (Approved for Publication in N.J. Tax Reports), the New Jersey Tax Court was confronted with the question of a tenant’s rights in the prosecution and resolution of a tax appeal. The Tax Court held that the tenant is... Read More
Another Unsuccessful Taxpayer Claim
A New Jersey appeals court rejected a commercial taxpayer’s claim that its local property tax bill was an unconstitutional fine, forfeiture or penalty because of a statutory sanction dismissing its appeal for failing to provide income and expense information to the local tax assessor. Davanne Realty v. Edison Township, Superior Court Docket No. A-0333-08T3, decided June... Read More
Court Disapproves Averaging of Comparable Sales
A New Jersey appellate court recently held that a trial judge’s practice of averaging comparable sales in fixing the fair market value of real property is an improper valuation practice. In Pansini Custom Design Assocs. v. City of Ocean City, Docket No. A-2003-07T1, the plaintiffs owned a single family residence at the Jersey shore, which was... Read More
Taxpayer’s Appeal Denied, Found Insufficient to Constitute “Excessive Fine”
The challenge to a 2007 property tax assessment by a Bergen County property owner was denied by a New Jersey appeals court on the basis that the owner failed to provide income and expense information to the municipal tax assessor as is required under New Jersey law. 1717 Realty Associates v. Borough of Fair Lawn,... Read More
Environmental Impacts in Real Estate Valuation Litigation
By Thomas M. Olson and Anthony F. Della Pelle New Jersey Law Journal March 18, 2009 “Environmental contamination often has a significant impact upon the value of real property. Buyers and sellers devote substantial effort towards negotiating a price for the sale of contaminated property which accounts for its need to be remediated under the... Read More
Taxpayers’ Spot Assessment Claim Denied
The dismissal of a taxpayers’ challenge to their residential property tax assessment on the basis that it was an unconstitutional “spot assessment” was upheld on appeal for procedural reasons. Schwartz v. Township of Wayne, Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, Docket No. A-3756-07T2. The homeowners, Douglas and Mary Ann Schwartz, appealed their 2006 assessment,... Read More
Pro Se Litigant Given Another Chance in Tax Appeal
A New Jersey appellate court provided an Essex County homeowner with another chance to prosecute a property tax appeal on his residential property in Newark. Clarence Paul Roberts, who had filed an appeal of his property tax assessment with the Essex County Board of Taxation and New Jersey Tax Court, had that appeal dismissed by the... Read More
REDUCING REAL PROPERTY TAX EXPENSES IN A DOWN REAL ESTATE MARKET
APRIL 1, 2009 FILING DEADLINE LOOMS The recent economic turmoil has taken its toll on certain sectors of the real estate market in New Jersey. Owners, operators and property managers of commercial, industrial and other investment properties may look to reduce real estate tax expenses by considering whether to appeal their 2009 local... Read More
