Michael E. Byczek
Attorney at Law
The owner may appeal the assessment valuation only during specific time periods throughout the year. If successful, your next tax bill will be lower than if you didn't appeal the assessment.
Depending on the county, the owner may have an opportunity to submit an appeal with the Assessor and/or Board of Review. Another option is to submit a request with Springfield (The Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board).
The most common type of tax appeal is based on lack of uniformity. That means your home is being assessed at a higher level than similar properties. Comparable properties should be within a reasonable distance and similar in size, type of construction, age, construction materials, style, and general condition.
Another option is to use a current appraisal or sale price to set the actual value of the real estate.
Results are not guaranteed because government administrators have the sole discretion to keep taxes the same, or to reduce the assessment by a percentage they deem fair. It is common for owners to have all their appeals rejected at both the county and state level. This is true even though there is plenty of comparable properties that show the property is being unfairly taxed at too high of an assessment valuation.
Description of Legal Services
Michael E. Byczek is both an Illinois attorney and real estate broker.
You will receive a complete package of everything needed to submit an appeal with any of the three government agencies.
- Assessment details for your real estate
- Five or more comparable properties (full analysis, photographs, and details)
- Submission of all appeal forms
Limitation of legal services: Appearance at the administrative hearing is waived. The entire appeal will be submitted to each government agency without any in-person hearing. For purposes of this attorney-client agreement, if Client wishes to have an in-person hearing, he/she are required to act on their own behalf without an attorney.
Depending on which county in Illinois the real estate is located, there may be two or three different government agencies with their own appeal deadlines throughout the tax year. Each government agency is a separate appeal. For example, for property located in Cook County there are three options to submit an appeal (Cook County Assessor, Cook County Board of Review, and State of Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board). The scope of legal representation shall only cover one appeal at a time and each appeal shall require a separate written agreement with a separate fee.
The fee of $99 is limited to one appeal per property to either the local county or state agency, not all three.
It is possible to file an appeal with all three agencies in the same calendar year. It is also possible for all three agencies to reject the appeal and refuse to lower the assessment regardless of how many comparable properties were identified.
If the first appeal is successful, the only legal fees are $99. If Client wishes the submit an appeal to all three agencies, the maximum legal fees are $297.
Once payment is received and the written Attorney-Client agreement acknowledged, you will receive access to a secure collaborative file sharing platform to exchange documents and information.
Disclaimer: The documents are only valid for real estate located in the State of Illinois and are provided for personal non-commercial use.
For more information about Michael E. Byczek:
Brokerage website: http://www.byczekbrokerage.com
Law website: http://byczeklaw.com
Detailed profile: http://michaelbyczek.pro
Email: michael@byczek.pro
Each owner must submit their own separate attorney-client agreement. For example, if the owners are a married couple, each spouse must submit their own agreement. Only one fee is required, even though multiple agreements are submitted. This step is the virtual equivalent of multiple clients signing a single physical contract in-person.
1. Scan the QR code (below) for a one-time payment of $99 (click for a larger image)
2. Visit paypal.me/michaelbyczek to send a payment using PayPal or www.venmo.com/michaelbyczek for Venmo.
3. Direct payment to @michaelbyczek for both PayPal and Venmo.
Options 2 and 3 require that you manually enter $99 as the payment amount.
You may include a comment about which service you requested. Otherwise, your payment will be matched to the attorney-client agreement after it is submitted.
Contact Michael E. Byczek if you would rather send a check or money order.
Note: If you order multiple legal products, you may send a single combined direct payment.
