If you recently purchased a home in Pennsylvania and its assessed value was changed as a result of the sale, you are likely the victim of a spot reassessment. Spot reassessments are illegal in Pennsylvania.
Section 8802 of the Consolidated County Assessment Law defines “spot reassessment” thusly:
The reassessment of a property or properties by a county assessment office that is not conducted as part of a countywide revision of assessment and which creates, sustains or increases disproportionality among properties’ assessed values. The term does not include board action ruling on an appeal.
In Pennsylvania, the county assessment office may only change a property’s assessed value under the following circumstances:
- as part of a countywide reassessment;
- when a parcel is subdivided into smaller parcels;
- when other parcels are merged into an existing parcel;
- when improvements are made to real property;
- when improvements are removed or destroyed;
- board action ruling on an appeal; or
- purchase of a property from the Tax Claim Bureau’s Repository List.