School Board vs Franklin County vs Me (Repost)

[Allen Tracy]

I posted this in the legal section of the forums but since it's Columbus based I thought I should warn investors in the Columbus forum.

Anyone else have to go through a tax appeal hearing and have to pay back taxes on a property even for the years you didn't own it? I just purchase a 4 unit in Columbus, OH a couple of months ago. The sale triggered an alert and The Board of Education has filed a complaint against the County Auditor's tax value of the property for the last two years. The Board of Education is claiming that for the past few years it was under valued for tax purposes and The Board of Education wants their money! Apparently in Columbus the back taxes fall on the current owner and does not follow any previous owners.

I've heard from other investors that The Board of Education is doing this over and over and really hitting new investors hard. They have a team dedicated to going after back taxes. You could purchase a property and then a few months later owe another $15,000 or more in back taxes.

When I ran the numbers on the property I noticed the taxes were extremely low but I ran it with updated numbers based on the purchase price knowing that eventually there would be a re-evaluation and the taxes would go up. I had no idea that I would be responsible for the years that the County Auditors were behind on.

To me this feels like purchasing a car from someone, then the DMV all of a sudden says "Sorry, we were under charging the previous two owners the incorrect registration fees for the last few years, you now owe us thousands of dollars."

If you plan to invest in Columbus, OH pay close attention to the previous tax years and put away thousands of dollars to cover any back taxes just in case The Board of Education goes after you.