04-22-2014, 02:20 PM
I have a set of questions about what triggers changes in tax assessments when you screen in a lanai or other outdoor living space. Please, please, please do not derail this thread into a discussion about the relative merits of our system of property taxes, value or lack thereof of building codes or any other side tangents. I am looking for knowledgeable answers to my questions so I can make decisions intelligently. I would just call the county but they don't answer their phones and I can't take a call back at work during business hours.
Questions:
At what point does screening in a covered lanai change how it is assessed, as indoor or outdoor space?
My understanding has been that space lower than 5 or 6 feet tall isn't assessed at all, that taller space with no slab floor is assessed at a low rate, with a floor at a higher rate, and that if you enclose it with screens and put in partial walls the screens must be more than 50% of the wall or it is taxed as inside space. I learned most of this several years ago from a friend who is usually correct, but is sometimes really off base so I was wondering if this is correct?
We have a situation with a space under the house that includes a bedroom, bathroom and laundry room that are all finished and taxed as finished indoor space. There is a larger area that is L shaped wrapping around those rooms that I would like to screen in and use as an additional living room. Along the front of the house I would like to create privacy by having 2 feet of screen at the top and bottom and four feet of solid wall in the middle, that way we would still have good air flow but not have the neighbors looking into our outdoor living area.
In addition to my question above, the things I was wondering were:
Will I need a permit to do this?
Will it increase my property taxes? The guy who assesses our street drives by and checks the houses out every year, complete with photos of the outside, so they would notice within a tax year.
If it does increase the taxes what will the space be taxed as?
Can anyone recommend someone to make removable screens and wheelchair friendly sliding screen doors (no raised sill)?
Can anyone recommend someone to do the carpentry for this?
Mahalo for all answers to my actual questions!
Carol
Questions:
At what point does screening in a covered lanai change how it is assessed, as indoor or outdoor space?
My understanding has been that space lower than 5 or 6 feet tall isn't assessed at all, that taller space with no slab floor is assessed at a low rate, with a floor at a higher rate, and that if you enclose it with screens and put in partial walls the screens must be more than 50% of the wall or it is taxed as inside space. I learned most of this several years ago from a friend who is usually correct, but is sometimes really off base so I was wondering if this is correct?
We have a situation with a space under the house that includes a bedroom, bathroom and laundry room that are all finished and taxed as finished indoor space. There is a larger area that is L shaped wrapping around those rooms that I would like to screen in and use as an additional living room. Along the front of the house I would like to create privacy by having 2 feet of screen at the top and bottom and four feet of solid wall in the middle, that way we would still have good air flow but not have the neighbors looking into our outdoor living area.
In addition to my question above, the things I was wondering were:
Will I need a permit to do this?
Will it increase my property taxes? The guy who assesses our street drives by and checks the houses out every year, complete with photos of the outside, so they would notice within a tax year.
If it does increase the taxes what will the space be taxed as?
Can anyone recommend someone to make removable screens and wheelchair friendly sliding screen doors (no raised sill)?
Can anyone recommend someone to do the carpentry for this?
Mahalo for all answers to my actual questions!
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb