Philly extends deadline to file property assessment appeals

Philadelphia property owners will have two more weeks to appeal their new property assessments because of delays in mailing out notices.

Owners will now have until Oct. 14 to file “first-level review” appeals with the Office of Property Assessment, the city department that sets assessment values. The original deadline was Sept. 30.

The timeline to appeal property assessments to the Board of Revision of Taxes, an independent oversight body, remains unaffected. Property owners must submit appeals to the BRT by Oct. 3, a deadline set by state law to be the first Monday in October.

The OPA first-level review process requires property owners to have the mailed notices; the BRT appeals process doesn’t.

» READ MORE: New Philly property assessment came in the mail? Here’s how to cope with the sticker shock.

The city had delayed mailing out property assessment notices by months because of an envelope shortage. That meant the timelines for BRT and the OPA appeals overlap this year, and residents who want to maximize their chances of winning an appeal will want to file both simultaneously. Officials are expecting an increase in the number of assessment appeals filed this year as a result.

Philadelphia has conducted assessments at irregular intervals in the past, and citywide reassessment cycles have usually resulted in large increases in assessed values. The new assessments, released in May and effective for the 2023 tax year, are no exception — residential property values are rising 31% on average.

An Inquirer analysis found that the assessments were more likely to be inaccurate in Black and low-income neighborhoods in Philadelphia.