Here is the announcement-
October 16, 2008
| District Assessors Conduct Real Property Inspections in Trinidad Neighborhood |
(Washington, DC) - The Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) announced today that its assessors have begun to conduct real property inspections in the Trinidad neighborhood. This is part of a periodic assessment in which interior/exterior inspections are made of every neighborhood in the District.
“We are always working to improve the accuracy of our assessment process,” said Deputy Chief Financial Officer Stephen M. Cordi. “These inspections allow us to validate our assessment data and maintain an equitable property tax system for the District.”
When inspecting a property, an assessor is required to present credentials that identify him/her as a representative of OTR. The credentials consist of an identification passbook, which includes the signature of the deputy CFO and a numbered badge. If citizens wish to confirm the employment of an assessor, they should call OTR’s Real Property Assessment division at (202) 442-6740. Residents can refuse entry and not allow appraisers inside their homes.
If the property owner is not available at the time of the inspection, the assessor will only inspect the exterior property. An interior inspection will only be conducted when an adult is present and the inspector is given permission to enter the home. If the property owner is not available at the time of inspection, the assessor will leave a note with contact information should the property owner have any questions.
These are old photos, hence the non-use of addresses, and many of these places have since been renovated. They are offered only as sample photos of vacant buildings. But we still have plenty of similar vacant places around. If OTR doesn't find stuff like this and tag it as vacant [assuming there is no active construction permit], I'll be pissed. I've had too many run ins with DCRA and OTR where they just don't come out to tag a property properly for me to complain at this stage about a general walk through [other than to ask why we don't have a better reconciliation system for permits]. They should absolutely work on reconciling the databases, but that almost feels like a pipe dream for some of us that have been working on certain problem properties for years that are still not tagged as vacant. As for these inspections, I am less concerned with whether so and so installed central air, and more concerned with whether he has a vacant and decrepit property that neighbors have been reporting for years that's still being taxed as if he lives in it.
ALSO, if you recently bought a vacant place and are renovating, you need to follow up with DCRA if you are still renovating. I hope the inspectors catch places [a surprising number of which were not taxed at the vacant rate, despite complaints] that have been quote unquote under construction for years with out any real progress.
12 comments:
It was my impression that you do not have to give permission for the inspector to enter your house, even if an adult is present. A realtor told me that, I'll try to see if I can confirm somewhere on DC's website.
That is true. From the announcement-
Residents can refuse entry and not allow appraisers inside their homes.
I'm just saying that they will ask. I don't want people to be caught off guard. In some cases, such as where the outside looks very nice, but the inside is all messed up, it might be to the owner's advantage to have the inspector look inside.
Does anyone know if this is typical of most cities? It seems pretty weird to me. While the situation you mention is possible, the opposite is much more likely to be true (e.g. you have made improvements not visible from the outside). This just seems like inviting the devil into your home.
Yeah, no kidding, why would I let an inspector in my house so I can pay more taxes?
I think another byproduct of the permitting system is that it lets them know you've improved your house so they can increase the assessment. So I wonder if these inspectors would compare improvements made to your house to a list of permits that have been pulled and then what would they do if they saw obvious construction that had no corresponding permit?
This is me talking out loud...I have no idea if the OTR people even care.
Rob,
in an ideal system DCRA and OTR would talk. I actually hope that they do. Mostly bk of my experience with the gap bwtn the DCRA vacant property list and the OTR vacant property list, I don't think they talk much. I think it's a good thing that they are doing a walk through bk they may find more vacant houses. I just don't want people to be surprised, or think that they must let inspectors into their homes. Beyond the point about new construction, I just don't like having strangers in my home. I don't have anything to hide particularly, but it's a privacy issue. I hate having contractors there too, but at least I invited them and know when they will arrive.
It's interesting in a year of a major budget shortfall, that instead of cutting services, the city is looking for new ways to make up the tax base by over burdening homeowners with yet another way to squeeze blood from a turnip.
Why not just complete the loop between DCRA and OTR. Invest in a common system that will link permits to tax assessments with an off set so as to not discourage people from lawfully making improvements to their homes. I live down the street from a "home addition" that became a multi-story 40 room eye soar under the watchful eye of DCRA. The Property is probably taxed as a single family house.
It would be smarter and garner more will for the two departments to unify their vacant property lists and then take steps to collect taxes on the existing stock of vacant properties vice sending someone to my door to check if I am skirting the law.
Even if you rent, you do not have to allow them in. By law even the landlord must give at least 24hrs notice before entering your rental space.
You might be interested to know that several years ago, a DCRA building permit inspector entered my home when I was not there. I had a few workers inside doing some minor work, so he waltzed right in without identifying himself. That is illegal and trespassing. But - it gets more interesting.
This same building inspector had been under investigation by the FBI since being accused of extorting thousands of dollars from developers. He had served time in federal prison because in 1986, he along with his police-officer-cousin were arrested after authorities recovered $100,000 worth of cocaine and a weapons arsenal including 17 rifles, 400 rounds of ammunition and a live hand grenade.
Yet DCRA hired him as a permit inspector anyway.
Sounds ridiculous? Then read this.
http://www.examiner.com/a-523441~Head_inspector_had_prison_past.html
anon 9:21
That house int he picture looks familiar. I believe it is on 6th Street close to Staton Park.
An OTR guy nabbed me as I came out the back of my house today to walk to SOVA to work (remotely).
He looked at his list and called out my name. He had his badge, etc, and just asked me to answer questions rather than be told I was leaving and he couldn't come in.
I answered the questions, including one that gave them information they didn't have. So my taxes might go up a little bit...at least they won't want to come in the house now.
Such a great article which This is part of a periodic assessment in which interior/exterior inspections are made of every neighborhood in the District.In which An interior inspection will only be conducted when an adult is present and the inspector is given permission to enter the home.Thanks for sharing this article.
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