LASP and partners help 333 Chester County mobile homeowners successfully appeal taxes in 2020 during COVID; volunteers needed for 2021 project
by Brian J. Doyle, Esq.
LASP Staff Attorney & Chester County Pro Bono Coordinator
With the close of 2020, the Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania and United Way of Chester County completed the second year of its Chester County Mobile Home Property Tax Reassessment project. The project brings together volunteer attorneys, paralegals, and law students to help mobile homeowners appeal incorrectly assessed property taxes. Thanks to the hard work of our volunteers, mobile homeowners in Chester County will save approximately $298,666 annually beginning this year.
The Tax Reassessment Project aims to correct a problem which is causing many mobile homeowners to overpay property taxes. Mobile homes are assessed separately from the land where they sit. The home is the owner’s personal property, but it is assessed and taxed as real estate. Generally the tax assessment of real estate is based on the fair market value of the property. However, mobile homes, unlike other forms of real estate, are depreciating assets. As the home loses value over time, the burden is on the homeowner to appeal in order to keep property taxes in line with the home’s value. Even then, the homeowner should appeal every few years as depreciation continues to reduce the fair market value.
“To date the project stands to save 510 Chester County mobile home owners over $4.7 million in taxes over the next 10 years that they should have never owed.”
We particularly want to thank the Chester County Bar Association and the law student interns who joined the project this year through the CCBA Diversity Program. In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced LASP to cancel all in-person workshops. Thanks in large part to the support of the CCBA, we were able to develop and staff online workshops to continue the project safely. In our final push, we returned to outdoor, socially distant, in-person outreach in July 2020 for the first time since the pandemic began.
The project recently gained statewide and national attention. In September, LASP presented the project at the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network annual conference and training for legal aid attorneys throughout the state. In December 2020, United Way Worldwide released a case study on the project, calling it "groundbreaking work" and the only one of its kind in the country. To date the project stands to save 510 Chester County mobile home owners over $4.7million in taxes over the next 10 years that they should have never owed.
Recognizing 2020 partners and volunteers
United Way of Chester County and Darshana Shyamsunder
Chester County Bar Association
Chester County Paralegal Association
Toll Public Interest Center at Penn Law School
Debbie and Randy Blough
An anonymous volunteer
Kelly Young
Sarah Planthaber
Renee Harris
Jessica Buttner
Volunteer with this impactful project in 2021!
Brian Doyle, LASP Staff Attorney, presents Sept. 14 at the 2020 Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN) virtual conference. He and Dan Vitek, Staff Attorney, Community Justice Project, discussed "Mobile Home Ownership Issues" with legal aid advocates statewide.
The project runs from January through July.
Workshops are held at locations throughout the county and online, where volunteers interview mobile homeowners and prepare appeals.
The time commitment is about three to four hours for a block of workshop appointments.
Training is provided for all volunteers.
During late summer and fall, volunteer attorneys represent clients at hearings before the Board of Assessment Appeals.
For more information or to volunteer for the 2021 project, please contact Brian Doyle at 610-436-4510 x211 or bdoyle@lasp.org.
Please spread the word
Potential clients can pre-register for workshops at: https://www.unitedwaychestercounty.org/our-impact/mobile-home-tax-reassessment/.
Note: This article was written for Chester County Bar Association’s New Matter magazine, 1st Quarter 2021 edition, on pages 28-29. A version appeared in October 2020 e-news.
Update!
Visit our webpage dedicated to this project: lasp.org/chester-county-mobile-home-tax-reassessments. The page links to the current year’s project and provides an impact summary for prior years and the project as a whole.