They did increase the assessed value of my property by $600 and tax about $15. Assessed value here is about a third of the market value. I called them about it and they said I would have to go through a protest procedure which might take up to a year. I'll pay the extra tax but am pissed. That nice New Castle County assessor that came out and looked at the replacement deck lied when he said the tax would not go up.
How did the county know you replaced your deck?
Hidden observation posts outside Home Depot; microphones concealed in street lamps to pick up repeated hammer blows?
Building permit?
My town has a photo from Google Earth on file. When it was time for regular reassessment they took photos of the outside.
$ 15. per year ? Really ?
What does that bring the total to ?
John T.
Yes, permits were needed to tear down the old one and for the new one. The builder took pictures of the tear down and emailed them in, then the builder took pictures of the poured footers and sent them in. When new Trex deck was installed the county came out and inspected it then a while later the tax assessor came out. The latter is who I am pissed at for lying to me.
My old deck did not meet the current county code and even though old footers were just the concrete slab patio below the contractor needed to drill down through the concrete and nearly solid rock below to put new concrete footers a yard down. Old deck was attached to the house but new is essentially freestanding.
I had one bid where the contractor would have skirted the county permit but built to code but we did not want the risk or bother. His was the lowest bid but the one I took was only $500 more and I think footer design was better. New Trex deck does look terrific and adds to the value of the house.
Even in this small state with only 3 counties, code varies from county to county and permits may not be required in the other two counties.
We've been in this house 45 years and hope to stay but this experience has taught me a lot about rule changes and construction. Hope my experience will help caution others in this ng.
Aerial photos is the most common way. Our tax man has far better photos than Google and they shoot them every year. They shoot 4 obliques from the compass points so they can even see under trees and a ways under a car port. I suspect computers look for changes but I know they are right on top of it and I am not a fanatic about permits. I never hear from the building department but my tax bill seems to show everything I do.
He pulled permits . -- Snag
We built a free standing deck near our garden and didn't get a permit to build it. Also built a pool deck, and then dismantled it when we sold the pool and never got a permit.
Didn't seem to matter. Our property taxes keep going up every couple of years, anyway.
Frank"
I'm not sure where we stand tax-wise , a lot depends on the finished value of the house we're building . I do know there is a provision about age 65 and no tax increases . Permit-wise , we don't need 'em out here in the woods . No building codes out here either . Doesn't mean I'm going to cut corners ... -- Snag
The old deck likely wasn't done with a permit and was therefore not on the assessment.. Either that or you enlarged it
I grew up in a location where externally visible improvements were approached very, very carefully. There were houses with peeling paint and loose shutters that were quite stylish inside -- and the county assessor never got an invitation to dinner.
That ain't nuthin'. My Comcast bill went up over $25/mo or $300/yr...and I'm not as wealthy as you.
Legally they really can't even come on your property but that is generally ignored by the people walking around with the cameras and lap tops. The lady who walked into my back yard acknowledged that I could ask her to leave but she pointed out she already knew about everything she saw including a new 128 sq/ft bump out on my screen cage (no permit) that was only a few months old and she showed me an updated plat on her laptop. She just said "everything looks right to me" and left.
Do you have pictures of the progress of your building? You've been working on it as long as I can remember, anyway.
Construction started in the summer/fall of 2013 , I have a few pictures but haven't been taking many lately . We're building this place totally out of pocket , which slows things down a bit . Right now we're saving up for hardwood flooring and I'm holding out for the good stuff , 3/4" prefinished solid oak . Looking at around 1200 sf , that's a pretty big chunk of money but it needs to be bought at one time so it all matches . It might move along faster if I didn't have other responsibilities - cutting firewood , gardening , maintaining our cars , etc . -- Snag
No, it was on the plan with the county. Dimensions were not there but it is in same place. I enlarged it from 18 to 20 ft length because Trex came in 20 ft lengths and would have been cut so cost was the same.
We had slight mix up with county clerks not finding plot and telling us we needed a survey but we had an old copy of it from a septic guy and they accepted it. I went into county records on line and it was there. County clerk was either lazy, sloppy or did not know how to access.
One of my points is that county rules vary considerably and you must investigate yours. Had I replaced the deck without access to the house or without stairs but having access to the house, a permit would not have been needed.
We're paying a little over $4,000 now and that is with a senior discount of $500. The split is 18% to the county and 82% to the school district. Compared to surrounding states we are low and down state Delaware property taxes are half. Lot of retirees from New Jersey are going there. One lady told me of a Jersey friend looking at houses there and hearing the tax asked if that were the tax per month.
I'm only 3 miles from PA and we have developments straddling the states. The guy on the PA side may pay twice the tax as neighbor with the same house on the DE side of the street. Income taxes are lower in PA but they have a sales tax except on food and clothing. Gas is nearly 40 cents a gallon higher so PA residents take advantage by shopping here.
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