{"id":1981,"date":"2019-09-05T10:00:11","date_gmt":"2019-09-05T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/10q\/?p=1981"},"modified":"2019-09-05T10:00:11","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T14:00:11","slug":"court-rejects-philadelphias-method-of-assessing-condominium-properties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/10q\/court-rejects-philadelphias-method-of-assessing-condominium-properties\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Rejects Philadelphia\u2019s Method of Assessing Condominium Properties"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Philadelphia, real estate taxes are based on assessed values set by the Office of Property Assessment (OPA). The OPA sets a land value and improvement value for each property. Since 2003, the City has given owners of new residential property a 10-year tax abatement on the improvements. The abatement was put in place to encourage new construction, and by any measure, much development has occurred since then.<\/p>\n

A condominium unit owner owns the unit outright, plus an undivided percentage interest in the land along with every other unit owner. In 2017, the OPA, without notice, changed its valuation methods for land beneath high-rise condominium buildings. Rather than valuing the land itself and assessing each unit owner for his or her share, the OPA allocated a fixed percentage of the total value of the unit to land. In high-rise condos receiving tax abatements, this made the land values artificially high and implied land values higher than, for example, are found on Central Park South in New York City. Almost 300 homeowners, living in three separate high-rise condo buildings, appealed their assessments.<\/p>\n

In her opinion of July 16, 2019, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas President Judge Idee C. Fox ruled in favor of the homeowners and against the City. She found that the homeowners\u2019 methodology of valuing the land using the comparable sales approach \u201cis the most common method to value land under professional appraisal standards.\u201d She found that the homeowners\u2019 expert, Reaves C. Lukens, III, provided the court with a \u201ccredible and reliable opinion of the value of the land\u201d at issue. By contrast, the court ruled that the methodology of the City\u2019s expert was \u201cnovel and not generally accepted among the community of professional real estate appraisers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court\u2019s ruling means that the City must value land based on recognized approaches of valuation.<\/p>\n

The homeowners were represented by Matthew A. White, Philip B. Korb, and Matthew Vahey of Ballard Spahr LLP. Ballard Spahr attorneys regularly represent clients in tax appeals and litigation.<\/p>\n

An <\/em>earlier version<\/em><\/a> of this article was originally published on Ballard Spahr\u2019s Alerts & Publications.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Matthew A. White is a partner in the Litigation Department of national law firm Ballard Spahr. In addition to trying cases in state and federal court, Matt has extensive arbitration and mediation experience. He represents business clients in complex litigation across a wide array of areas, including securities, mergers and acquisitions, commercial real estate, and complex construction, in high-stakes cases that often involve multiple parties and numerous claims and cross-claims.<\/em><\/p>\n

Philip B. Korb (LAW \u201975) is senior counsel in Ballard Spahr\u2019s Real Estate Department. Phil is well-known for his work on major projects in and around Philadelphia, particularly on mixed-use and condominium planning and development. He handles matters involving real estate development, real estate acquisitions and financings, real estate taxation, leasing, planned community development, workouts, and general real estate matters.<\/em><\/p>\n

Matthew I. Vahey (LAW \u201913) is an associate in the firm\u2019s Litigation Department who earned his J.D. from Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law. Matt litigates a variety of commercial disputes and defends white collar cases. He has also served in government as a high-level legislative and administrative adviser.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent Philadelphia Court ruling rejected a new land valuation method used by the city to assess the property tax burden of condominium owners. In rejecting the city’s approach, the court embraced the traditional valuation process more commonly used to assess the amount of property tax condominium owners must pay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,256],"tags":[1353,1354,1355,254,1356,1357,669,446,1349,488,1358],"coauthors":[2,1350,1351,1352],"class_list":["post-1981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-authored","category-property-land-and-real-estate","tag-central-park-south","tag-comparable-sales","tag-condominiums","tag-new-york","tag-office-of-property-assessment","tag-opa","tag-philadelphia","tag-real-estate","tag-tax-abatement","tag-taxes","tag-valuation","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"yoast_head":"\nCourt Rejects Philadelphia\u2019s Method of Assessing Condominium Properties - The Temple 10-Q<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/10q\/court-rejects-philadelphias-method-of-assessing-condominium-properties\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court Rejects Philadelphia\u2019s Method of Assessing Condominium Properties - The Temple 10-Q\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A recent Philadelphia Court ruling rejected a new land valuation method used by the city to assess the property tax burden of condominium owners. 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