Should I grieve my Long Island property tax assessment?
A 60-second self-assessment. Five questions — we score your likely outcome and tell you
whether filing a grievance is worth the time. Filing is free; firms work on contingency
(no win, no fee), so the only downside is the time to gather comps.
Not legal or financial advice. This quiz is a rule-of-thumb evaluator using
industry-standard heuristics. Outcomes depend on your specific evidence, the
grievance process, and your county/town's assessor practices. For high-stakes
cases, talk to a grievance firm or tax-cert attorney.
1 of 5
1. Compared to recent sales of similar homes in your neighborhood, your assessment is…
2. When was the property last assessed or reassessed?
3. Do you have evidence that supports a lower value? (Comparable sales, defects, etc.)
4. Have you been issued any building permits in the last 3 years for additions, finished basements, decks, etc.?
5. Where is the property?
How we score: Each answer adds points toward a likely-success score (0–15).
Scores above 9 typically mean grievance is clearly worth it; 5–9 means borderline /
depends on evidence; below 5 suggests it's likely not worth pursuing. The scoring rubric
is based on aggregate industry data from grievance firms and town BARs — not legal
advice for any specific property.
Why this quiz works
Property tax grievance success on Long Island correlates with four things, in roughly this order:
Evidence quality. Three recent comparable sales beats vague claims of "my home is over-assessed."
Time since last reassessment. Nassau reassesses annually (so even small changes matter); Suffolk towns can lag 5-10 years (where over-assessment can be substantial).
No recent major improvements. If you finished a basement that's not yet on the roll, filing a grievance can backfire — the assessor may catch up.
County / town norms. Nassau ARC accepts ~50% of well-supported grievances. Suffolk varies by town BAR — some are very homeowner-friendly, others rubber-stamp the assessor.
What grievance can and can't change
Can: Reduce your assessed value. A 10% reduction = ~10% off your bill, repeated every year until your home is reassessed back up.
Can't: Change the tax rate (set by school district + town + county budgets), trigger reassessment of neighbors, or refund prior years' overpayment unless you file a SCAR petition within strict timelines.