Small Claims Assessment Review, New York City
The city taxes your home on its own estimate of what it is worth. Nobody ever checks that number. We do.
If the estimate is high, you are overpaying property tax every year, and New York built a $30 small-claims review, SCAR, so a homeowner can challenge it without a lawyer. Type the address, answer two questions, and see where your number stands. Co-op or condo? The same check reads whether your tax abatement is on the bill.
SCAR petitions on this year's assessment are due by October 24.
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NYC property tax specialists since 2008.
Own a 1-3 family home, a co-op, or a condo in New York City? Here is what a challenge can win back, who qualifies, and the two deadlines that run the year.
- $30
- the entire court fee for a SCAR petition, the small-claims review built for homeownersRPTL Article 7, Title 1-A
- 6%
- of market value is where a Class 1 home's assessed value is supposed to sit. Above that line, you are overpayingRPTL Article 18
- October 24
- the annual New York City deadline for SCAR petitions; the Tax Commission protest that must come first is due March 15
Read the detail
Five guides covering what SCAR does, who qualifies, how a challenge is run, the co-op and condo abatement, and the questions homeowners ask most. Every rule in them comes from the statute or the city’s own guidance.
- What does SCAR actually do?The $30 small-claims review of your home's assessment: what it challenges, what it can win back, and the two deadlines that run the year.
- Who qualifies for SCAR?The tests that decide it: owning and living in a 1-3 family home, exclusively residential use, and having protested to the Tax Commission first.
- How MGNY runs an assessment challengeFrom the first look at your number through the Tax Commission protest, the SCAR petition, the hearing, and the refund.
- Own a co-op or condo? Check the abatementSCAR is for houses. For apartment owners the money is the 17.5 to 28.1 percent co-op and condo abatement, and whether it is actually on your bill.
- Questions homeowners are askingStraight answers on what a challenge is worth, the $30 fee, deadlines, co-ops and condos, and what happens at a hearing.
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The city re-assesses your home every January. Check its number before you pay on it.
An overassessment does not fix itself, and missed years do not come back: a challenge only reaches the year it is filed for. A short call is enough to read your assessment against the market, say what a petition could recover, and put the filings in motion ahead of the deadlines.