Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

I purchased my newly built house 15 years ago. I recently discovered that my house has been classified as a colonial rather than a cape (which it is). My real estate tax on the house is dependent, to a large extent, on square footage. The square footage of a colonial is two times the footprint of the house and a cape is 1.75 times the footprint. Consequently, my tax on the house has been approximately 12.5% higher than it should have been. I realize that I am responsible for checking my tax bill for accuracy every year but this is an error that would be very difficult for anyone to catch (the house is listed in a column as cl and others are listed as ca without any column heading or legend at the bottom. Also, the house has been re-appraised by several independent appraisers over the years and nobody corrected the error. Do I have any legal recourse against the town, or the independent appraisers?


Asked on 3/24/10, 12:39 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Craig J. Tiedemann Kajko, Weisman & Colasanti, LLP

Although more information is necessary to intelligently answer your question, you may well have claims against the persons/entity that erroneously classified the house, perhaps any design professional involved in the misclassification, etc . One potential problem, however, is the 15 year period that has transpired since any misrepresentation was made and your discovery of potential claims. However, this is probably worth exploring whether you still have rights here.

Feel free to contact me directly to discuss this matter further.

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Answered on 3/29/10, 1:57 pm


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