Errors in county assessor listing. Leave it alone?

Question

Hi allI have a  two flat in Chicago whose listing on the county assessor website has a number of errors (see below).

Is there any practical reason to get these fixed now as opposed to waiting until I sell? I assume these errors are reducing my taxes.

Description.    One story residence, any age, up to 999 square feet [Should be Two Story]
Residence Type One Story [Should be Two Story]
Use. Single Family [Should be Multi Family]
Apartments     0 [Should be 2]
Exterior Constr.       Frame
Full Baths. 2
Half Baths.    0
Basement.    Crawl Space
Attic. Partial
Central Air. No [Should be Yes (I think--Unit 1 has mini-splits; Unit 2 has central air)]
# of Fireplaces. 0
Garage Size/Type   None [It has a detached garage.]
Age. 115
Build. Sq Footage. 800

Thanks.

Tj Floros · Answer

I would just leave it alone. 1. Will be be extremely hard to get someone on the phone who understands that you are trying to make corrections. 2. County will ask YOU to do a bunch of work to get the changes. 3. I personally would not want to give or let the county know about any improvements to the property, IE HVAC. My biggest fear would be county charging me more for property taxes.

My first 3 unit used to have the wrong PIN info and it was zoned as a commercial business space somewhere on California and Addison and it took county months to make the corrections.

If your property taxes are low or are in-line with other similar properties in the area I would just leave it to be honest.

Svend W. · Answer

Haha. No, I will leave it alone.

Eudith Vacio · Answer

Hey @Svend W. 👋🏽

These are crook errors & I agree with @Tj Floros and just leave it. Many records are have flawed information especially because over the years improvements have been made on the property. I wouldn't attempt to make any corrections + it helps with keep assessment value low :) the zoning certificate should supercede what's on the county website, too. So as long as zoning qualifies your property as multi-family you should be good!

Jason Malabute · Answer

Hey Svend, good question — and honestly, this comes down to a cost-benefit analysis and a personal decision.

If the incorrect info on the assessor’s site is causing your property to be undervalued, then in theory, you’re paying less in property taxes — so updating it now could increase your tax liability. On the other hand, if the data is inaccurate in a way that could hurt your resale value or complicate things when you go to refinance or sell (like mislabeling a multifamily as a single family), it might make sense to correct it sooner than later.

Keep in mind, getting records corrected often requires paperwork, back-and-forth with the assessor, and hours of your time. If you’re not planning to sell or refinance soon, and the inaccuracies are working in your favor from a tax standpoint, it might be worth just documenting everything and fixing it later when it matters more. But if the errors could trigger appraisal or lender issues down the road, it might be worth addressing now.

So yeah—your call, but it’s all about whether the time investment now is worth the potential upside or peace of mind.

John Clark · Answer

If the city’s certificate of zoning shows two units, mum’s the word.

Eudith Vacio · Answer

No problem! @Svend W.!

Svend W. · Answer

Thanks @Tj Floros and @Eudith Vacio. Makes sense.

Bill B. · Answer

I think a 2 flat is a duplex, is a 2 unit apartment building. Same with triplex and quad plex. Giving it a nickname doesn’t make it not a 2+ unit apartment building.

Try 8-flat, double quad plex or 8 plex on for style. Sill a 2+ unit apartment building. :-)

Svend W. · Answer

True. I was thinking that "two-story" implied 2 *units* when I wrote that, which on further reflection doesn't make much sense. So I guess there's no real overlap there.

Errors in county assessor listing. Leave it alone?

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