What do I do if property taxes have gone up on a rental property of?
Welcome to the wonderful world of managing rental properties. That is why owners of residential real estate seldom enter into lease agreements with tenants for a period of longer than one year, two years at the most unless they have some type of annual escalation clause allowing rental price to be renegotiated in the event of an increase in property taxes or some other expense. I met one landlord in my area who has all of his lease renewals set for February 1 each year. The county bills property taxes annually in November and they are due by January 15. This allows the landlord to adjust their rental rates to reflect the increase in taxes, provided the market will bear the increase. On two of my properties I had a property tax increase of close to 40% in 2020 over 2019. This did reflect a huge uptick in property values and assessments. These are both on annual leases so the increase in taxes will be reflected in rental rates at lease renewal time. Thats how the system works. Taxes are always paid by the consumer. The business, in this case landlord, merely acts as a collector.