Can my property assessment go up if I grieve it in New York?
Can my property assessment go up if I grieve it in New York?
A New York Board of Assessment Review generally cannot raise your assessment as a result of your own grievance — it can only reduce or confirm the value on Form RP-524 — but the underlying assessment can still rise on a future roll for reasons unrelated to your appeal.
This is the most common fear that stops New York homeowners from grieving — and for the ordinary administrative grievance the answer is reassuring.
The BAR reviews only your complaint. When you file Form RP-524, the Board of Assessment Review is acting on your request for a reduction. Under N.Y. RPTL §525 it determines whether the assessment is excessive, unequal, unlawful, or misclassified and either grants a reduction or confirms (leaves) the existing assessment. The grievance process is not a vehicle for the assessor to raise your value above what is already on the tentative roll. So filing a grievance does not, by itself, expose you to a higher assessment for that year.
The judicial backstop. If you win a reduction in court or SCAR, RPTL §727 generally bars the assessor from raising your assessment for the next three years — additional protection for those who escalate successfully.
What can still go up — and why it isn't "because you appealed." Your assessment can rise on a future roll for reasons unrelated to your grievance: a town-wide reassessment or revaluation, new construction or an addition you made, a change in the level of assessment, or the expiration of an exemption. Those changes apply to everyone, not as retaliation for grieving.
Bottom line: grieving your New York assessment carries essentially no risk of the BAR raising your value as a result — the realistic outcomes are a reduction or no change. The decision to grieve should turn on whether you have evidence (comparable sales or RAR math), not on fear of an increase. See the state's Grievance procedures.