Ultimate Delaware County Real Property Tax Guide for 2024

By reading this guide, you’ll get a helpful sense of real property taxes in Delaware County and what you can expect when your payment is due. Should you already be living here, contemplating it, or only intending to invest in Delaware County, read on to get a grasp of what to expect.

When you have reason to believe that your real estate tax value is too high, you can always question the valuation. Delaware County is the one that evaluated the real estate and it will consider your appeal.

You can locate the required appeal process and the forms on the county’s website or at the county tax office. Read through the process thoroughly before filling out the forms. Your protest filing may not be approved if you do not correctly complete the forms on time.

The county will mail you a notice of the real property tax assessment and how much time you have to file your protest. If you do not make that time frame, you might give up your right to appeal the valuation.

You’ll be better prepared if you obtain a complete copy of the assessment file from the county. The assessment report could be the determining factor in the success of your appeal. If the valuation methodology wasn’t adhered to correctly or incorrect comparable properties were included, you may have a compelling argument for a reassessment.

You might not have to go through the official contest process if the facts are clearly on your side. In any case, you need to be prepared to present your case in person to the county’s review panel. They will only be interested in seeing proof that the assessment is incorrect and nothing else. Excessive tax rates and strong real estate value increases in your area are not appropriate reasons to appeal.

If you believe that you have proven your arguments but the county did not concede, you can protest their determination to your state’s tax assessment authority. In case of litigation, you better solicit for help from one of the best property tax attorneys in Delaware County PA.

Protesting your real estate tax assessment is your right. Prior to doing so, look at what the appraisal actually does to your yearly real property tax bill. Calculate what your real real estate tax payment will be with the higher value and any tax exemptions you qualify for. What looks like a significant increase in value may actually give a modest increase in your tax payment.

State statutorial regulations dictate uniform real property values be set by in-state counties. Appraisers cannot introduce revenue impacts in their evaluations of market worth.

State law mandates all property be re-evaluated at least once in a few years. Most often, appraisers lump together all similar properties located in the same community and collectively apply the same assessment strategies. Absent individual property inspections, unique property characteristics, possibly impacting property’s market value, are passed over.

For older properties, assessors start with bringing the tax rolls (property listings) up to date. The roll describes by address all real estate within a particular community. Post-construction, buildings were categorized by such features as structure kind, size, and year built. The property’s location and how it was used were also variables employed to put together these sets and then give market values collectively to them all. Now, without another checkup, utilizing often stale, possibly inaccurate information — with only recent property sales numbers being current — assessors must rely upon those collectively assigned estimated market values.

To secure some degree of even-handed market value evaluating, the state has implemented this process throughout the state. By reason of this en masse process, it’s not only probable but also unavoidable that some market worth estimates are distorted. Reasons for protest live here!

With market values recorded, your city along with other county governing bodies will determine tax rates independently. When totalled, the property tax load all owners shoulder is created. This is primarily a budgetary function with district managers first estimating yearly spending goals. After which it’s a matter of determining what composite tax rate is needed to balance that budget. In theory, at least total proceeds will equal the fund needed for all budgeted operations that year.

Counties, municipalities, school districts, special purpose districts, such as sewage treatment plants et al, make up hundreds such public entities in Pennsylvania. They all compute their individual tax rates based on fiscal marks. Nearly all the sub-county entities have contracts for Delaware County to assess and collect their tax.

Both routinely arranged and previously unscheduled public hearings traditionally play a dominant role in this budgetary system. Be aware that under state law, you can call for a vote on proposed rate hikes that surpass set ceilings.

Explicitly stated under the Pennsylvania Constitution, taxing bodies, like your city, have crubs on raising taxes. Tax levies are prohibited from being increased prior to notifying the public. Then a formal meeting concerning any proposed tax increase has to be convened.

If Delaware County property taxes are too high for your wallet and now you have delinquent property tax payments, a possible solution is getting a quick property tax loan from lenders in Delaware County PA to save your home from a potential foreclosure.

Property tax payments are customarily sent off in advance for the full year. With that, who pays property taxes at closing if buying a house in Delaware County? Property ownership shifts from the seller to the purchaser upon closing. At the same time, tax responsibility switches with that ownership transfer. From that point of exchange, buyers repay sellers on a pro-rata basis.

Typically, this is not a prorated tax reimbursement paid straight to former owners, however. Rather loan holders, settlement attorneys, or escrow companies will include the prorated tax amount with other purchaser payment obligations on settlement.