Expert: Matt Heisler - 3/23/2008

Question
Hello!  Our daughter is a student in Boston and will be there several more years, possibly longer.  We have a contract to purchase a condo in the Back Bay, 4 blocks from her school.  She will live there fulltime, and we will come and visit frequently.  We just noticed the property tax is levied at different rates for personal vs. commercial, and that taxpayers must live there to get the personal exemption.  Is this true even if our 19-year-old dependent daughter lives there?  Is there a way to get the personal exemption?  Thank you for your help!  Sincerely, Beverly

Answer
Hello Beverly:

Most towns in MA have single-tax rates.  Boston, with up to 25% of the population being students, has clearly enacted some rules to cover your situation.  I suspect that a decent tax accountant can probably figure out a way to assist you (i.e., have a trust or 3rd party, based in MA buy the property, or have your daughter buy the property but put a lien on it yourself to prevent it's sale or re-finance.)  But this is really a tax / finance question, not necessarily a real-estate question.  From the real-estate perspective, you owe the tax the assessor tells you, unless you have cause to file an abatement.  Myself, I'd be surprised if a large municipality like Boston was able to correctly assess your tax bill based on your address, but it is feasible,  and only a call to the assessors office would be able to validate how strictly it's enforced. (Most assessor's systems assess tax based on the classification of the building based on the zone or recorded use, not the owner's address).

Best of luck-

Matt Heisler