Determining the Cost of New Work

It is our current understanding that when building back under 110% as “Like for Like” the LA County Tax Assessor will not reassess your taxes. Good news.

However for folks wanting to build beyond 110%, then the rebuild will be categorized as a new, and must conform to all current codes, zoning and be reassessed for taxes. It has been our experience in that past that when you do work on your home, your property tax will go up based on the cost of the improvements. This is at first determined by the Construction Cost written on the Permit Application. LA City has provided guidelines of the cost of construction. We have used these valuations as a starting point for permit submittals since bids have not come in yet. They have historically accepted this approach. Hopefully they continue to provide and use this guideline from 2015. Please click HERE to see these valuations. Do yourself a favor. Click the button…

If anything ever comes into question you can back a valuation with a letter signed by a licensed contractor. If a plan checker has balked at this, the supervisor typically accepts. Who is a plan checker to know what things cost. Your architect also does not definitively know costs (CA Architects Practice Act). A licensed contractor knows best prior to construction. Later the County Assessor will send a letter to the owner asking if these evaluations need to be updated based on the actual cost of work. This paperwork is up to you to fill out and send. There is no guarantee that they wont come back later and reassess, but this has been our experience.