The Envelope from the County
A new value on the tax bill, the taxes that went unpaid, the strip the neighbor fenced, and the form when you sell
January. The reappraisal notice says the house is worth a third more than last year, and the bill has already gone out on it.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
Who else may file a valuation complaint, how total income is computed for the reduction, the separate reduction for disabled veterans, tax certificate sales, land banks, tacking the periods of successive possessors, prescriptive easements, the transfers the disclosure section exempts, and a claim for a defect the seller knew of are not walked here. Nothing on this page says what a particular parcel is worth, whether a particular strip has been held adversely, or whether a particular form was in time.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
11 words · tap one for its definition
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Board of revisionThe county body that hears a complaint against the value the auditor has put on a parcel. The complaint is filed with the auditor by the end of March, and the board's decision can be appealed within thirty days to the board of tax appeals or the court of common pleas.
- AccrualThe moment a claim became suable, which is the date every limitations period counts from. Six years on a written contract means six years from accrual, not six years from the agreement.
- AdverseUse of land without the owner's permission, which is the element of adverse possession that permission destroys. The claimants in the leading case had asked the owner's leave to use the strip, and the court held that asking was the opposite of adverse.
- Clear and convincing evidenceA standard of proof higher than the balance of probabilities used in an ordinary civil case and lower than proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Ohio uses it for civil commitment and for forfeiture, among other things.
- ConsentVoluntary agreement to a search, judged on the totality of the circumstances. Valid consent removes the need for a warrant and for probable cause.
- Attorney in factThe person a power of attorney names to act for somebody else. Under a durable power of attorney for health care, that is who decides about treatment when the principal cannot.
- Transferor and transfereeThe disclosure section's words for the seller and the buyer of residential real property. The transferor completes the disclosure form; the transferee is the one who may rescind within three business days of receiving it late.
- Confirmation of saleThe court order approving a sheriff's sale. It is a separate event from the sale itself, and it is the point at which a foreclosed property stops being redeemable.
- Delinquent tax contractA written agreement with the county treasurer to pay delinquent taxes, assessments, penalties, interest and charges in installments on a schedule the treasurer sets. While it stands, the foreclosure on the state's lien does not proceed.
- RedemptionRecovering property before a sale is finalized by paying what the law requires, which in a foreclosure is the judgment, the costs, poundage and interest.
- The homestead reductionA reduction in the taxable value of an owner occupied home, for an owner sixty five or older, permanently and totally disabled, or a qualifying surviving spouse, within the income limit. It is applied for with the county auditor on the tax commissioner's form.