Question: “Do I have to let assessors inspect my property?”
Answer: No, but you should.
Here’s what the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) had to say about this question in the March 6th issue of its publication, City & Town: “Local assessors have no legal authority to enter a person’s private property unless they have the owner’s consent.”
But, the DOR went on to say that if a property owner files an abatement application to contest their assessment and refuses to allow assessors to inspect their property, the owners can lose their right to appeal the Board of Assessors’ decision on that abatement application.
“Assessing department inspection of property are necessary to verify information that the assessors are required to obtain concerning the characteristics of the property for valuation and abatement purposes. Periodic inspection programs are part of the process necessary for local assessors to comply” with the five-year recertification requirements mandated by state law.
The DOR notes that inspections need to occur at least once every 10 years – known as a cyclical inspection – or may be prompted by a building permit, property sale or an abatement application. Targeted neighborhood inspections also can occur when there is evidence of volatile sale prices in a particular neighborhood, according to the DOR.
“Voluntary compliance with inspection requests furthers the objective and full and fair valuation of all property in the community,” said the DOR. This means that everyone is paying their faire share of the annual tax levy.
Now that it is spring, the Assessors’ Office has begun looking at properties for which building permits have bee taken out since last July 1st. This includes new single-family homes and condominiums, plus interior and external renovations of all properties in town.
These inspections allow the Assessors’ Office to calculate what is known in municipal financial terms as “new growth – in other words, the value of real property that has never been taxed before. The resulting tax dollars are used each year to lower the amount of property taxes paid by all property owners in town.
When Town Meeting is presented with a budget to approve, the total amount is reduced by state aid, local receipts (permit fees, auto excise taxes, etc.) and new growth money to result in the tax levy – the amount to be raised by property taxes.
That levy number is divided by the total valuation of all real and personal property in town to give you the annual tax rate.
