On April 15, the City of Norfolk posted this press release which announced the start of a five-year review plan of the real estate in Norfolk. Except for the fact that the first reviews were scheduled to start five days later, the notice seemed to me to be relatively benign:
Prior to initiating the inspection of a particular property, the appraiser will make the appropriate introduction at the door. If the owner/occupant is not home, an exterior review will be conducted and a notice will be left informing the owner of the visit.
That wasn’t the take of a reader, whose neighborhood is one of the first affected, and who emailed me last week. By permission, here’s part of what she said:
I am hugely concerned that this is government overreaching. They can stand in the public right of way and refer to building/contractor permits for assessments, as is done across Hampton Roads assessor offices. Coming onto private property smacks of intrusiveness and overstepping bounds. My home is my sanctuary from the rest of the world; I am a law abiding, prominent Norfolk citizen who just likes to be at peace where I live. I love my house and my neighborhood, but am seriously troubled by the thought someone can come uninvited to my property, connected to the city assessor’s office, which is thus connected to planning, codes, etc. They are not permitted in my home nor should they be allowed on my property. Having done nothing wrong (but possibly owning a home in Norfolk), I am shocked to see this piece in the CPRV newsletter. There are enough attorneys reading this who own homes as well and I would imagine they are already mounting a legal challenge that says “overstepping” in big red letters.
In a followup, she continued:
The assessors are leaving cards on door handles because they want “in” into homes that badly. All they need to do is stand in the street and take a picture of the structure; they must remain in the public right of way, according to all accepted practices, to do this. My guess is that they are after residents who do magnificent home improvements on their own. There is nothing by law that gives them entry into a private dwelling without a warrant. It’s a real reach to suggest they can waltz into a home and assess. I would have to say, given what friends of mine in other city governments are saying, that Norfolk is overreaching.
Having served on the Board of Review for Real Estate Assessments (the local equalization board), I have seen the cards maintained by the Assessor’s office (now on computer) on properties across the city. The information is often inaccurate, since work on homes without building permits is pretty pervasive. Even when permits are obtained, there is no guarantee that the home improvement winds up on the card. (My neighbor across the lake, for example, has an inground pool that was not on his card.)
So I can understand the need to update the information. But the writer has a valid point.
So my question, dear readers, is would you let the assessor’s representative into your home? Or would you politely ask them to leave your property?
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I think that I would go with the latter choice. However, if I were going to sell the house in the near future, I would invite the inspector in and make sure that he noted anything which might increase the home’s value.
Although the statute requires assessment at fair market value, do you really think having a higher assessment means your property equates to a higher sales price? Of late, assessments are exceeding the sales prices.
We have had a similar problem in Cumberland County with contracted assessment personnel appearing on the property with no warning and wanting to ‘just look around’. (Pearson is the one used mostly here.)
I would not allow one of these assessors-for-hire into my home, maybe not even with some kind of notice.
Property rights are a funny thing. My brother told me once (he is a surveyor also) that when you own a piece of property it is like a bundle of sticks. The sticks for property tax, zoning, etc are taken away from the bundle, and what you have left are your rights.
In the west, you might get shot or worse if you insist you have the right to ‘look around’. Indeed, when I owned property in Colorado and California, this was an unknown practice.
Something that bothers me about all of this is how it is legal for these people to trespass on my property without my permission in the first place. When officials are questioned, they insist that it is legal, but if you complain hard enough to the field personnel, they will leave without looking around.
That is, if you are home at all.
Easy answer. Get the home address of the assessor and everybody go over to his/her house to look around.
No entry! I don’t see why they need to enter my house. I followed all the rules. When I had work done, I ensured that the contractors filed with the county. Plus, how does this give them a better assessment of what the market value of my home is? I am in a 28 townhome community. There is a recent sale. They should be able to use that as a gauge for what the market value of my home is without entering it.
Also, the exterior of my home gives the assessor enough information to come up with a reasonably accurate assessment if they need to do a visual inspection. Interior improvements, as I have learned from HGTV and TLC, are so random in determining sales value (unless you bland it up). I mean what does my spending on a mirror ball, Chinese dragon faucets, a glass staircase with colored back-lighting, and buckets of gold leaf have to do with the assessment? =) I mean if anything those things that make it your home only reduce the value, not increase it.
Simple answer: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated….”
I’m with Mouse on this one. An employee of the city government wants to come into my house and poke around? I’ll be sure to offer coffee or tea for him to sip on while I look over his search warrant.
Meter readers still traipse across yards, right? (Well, in some places. Here I just have someone doing the slow roll by my house once a month.) Is that as objectionable?
Meter readers have access rights as part of your service contract with the utility. That is different from this situation.
meter readers are not government!
Yes, Randy, it is different. However, for the vast majority of people, it’s essentially the same. I’m trying to separate out how much of this is objection from convenience, and objection from nothing more than principle.
Does anyone find the timing of this curious? After all, real estate taxes account for a large portion of local budgets (I believe it is the second largest source of revenue for Norfolk, behind payments from the state). With values declining, is this an effort to shore up the values in order to maintain the assessments?
MB, for me, from a practical standpoint, the issue is that the a government employee, wearing a government-issued identification badge, driving an official government car, is going to knock on everyone’s door and ask to come in. It will be assumed by many citizens that the employee, by virtue of his obvious government connection, is authorized to enter peoples’ homes as a matter of policy and municipal code whether they’re welcome or not — and if the press-release and the email writer’s response is any indication, the assessors are not going out of their way to make it clear to homeowners that they’re allowed to say “no.” The assessor’s office seems to be counting on the ignorance of the citizenry w/r/t their rights in order to proceed with city policy, which to me seems like a sign that their policy isn’t actually very good to begin with.
And then what happens if the assessor talks his way into your home, where he comes to suspect some sort of illegal activity unconnected with your home’s tax assessment?
And if you refuse access, is a record kept somewhere? Will that be regarded as “suspicious?”
This is ridiculous. Norfolk officials claim this latest intrusion is legal because they said so. Even our local media lacks the courage and fortitude to question their authority. So now they allege they have the right to enter our homes? Not a chance. As a general rule, I do not, and will not, open my door to any stranger, and that definitely includes someone wearing a City of Norfolk identification badge that can easily be duplicated. Am I paranoid? Yep. I’ve seen too many incidents involving phony cops wearing phony badges victimizing the public. We’ve been advised these reviews will be conducted by fully qualified appraisers, yet the City’s recent hiring practices have proven they are tainted and lack any credibility. This is just another scam to add more friends to the payroll and buy more city vehicles. Just a few weeks ago, I saw the City Treasurer and several of his staff members, including “double dippin” Burfoot, playing hooky at our expense while attending an afternoon Tides game. I was livid. Tax dollars hard at work or hardly working? Maybe these “qualified” appraisers should stay in their offices and work on updating their computer information presently available through permits first, instead of violating the privacy of its citizens. And maybe these “qualified” collectors should stay in their offices and collect what’s already been assessed, instead of publicly flaunting their mid afternoon fun at the ballpark. The City’s inability to think outside the box with this issue may very well endanger their residents and place them in harms way. But then again, I’m sure it will be our fault, certainly not theirs, should a senseless tragedy occur.
“…objection from nothing more than principle.”
You mean the principle of having the government actually abide by the Constitution?
I have to wonder if the cost of doing these field surveys is worth the benefit of possible increased assessments. You know…a Cost/Benefit analysis. I think not. Sounds like another ploy to ensure job security for personnel in the assessors office or perhaps a ploy to increase the number of personnel… i.e….a local government jobs program.
The City Attorney only told you part of the state’s No Trespassing law. Although it requires the property be posted you can be charged with the offense if you refuse to leave the property after being told to do so by the owner. Also if the miscreant intends to or engages in any illegal activity such as vandalism. My answer will be a polite “NO” enjoy the view from the street.