Taxpayers for Equal Appraisal Access Information!
Taxation must be equal and uniform!

HCADTEA.ORG is a non-profit organization established to help you understand how to protest your property taxes.

This landmark case showed that you do not have to accept the appraisal district's rulings.

Taxpayers for Equal Appraisal has noted in red the highlights of the case.

Some key highlights you will read on the next few pages:

In short, the plain language of the statute requires us to hold that subsection (d) allows a protest without proof of the market value of the comparable properties.

As to our conclusion that an independent appraisal of market value is not required,
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HCAD’s argument again is misplaced.

If we were to allow this, one landowner would be paying property taxes disproportionately to other landowners. The constitution expressly prohibits this. TEX. CONST. art. VIII, § 1(a). If a conflict exists between taxation at market value and equal and uniform taxation, equal and uniform taxation must prevail.

Landmark Case Overview

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UNITED INVESTORS REALTY TRUST, Appellee
On Appeal from the 80th District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 98-43435

O P I N I O N

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This is a property tax appraisal case involving alleged unequal taxation of commercial property. The Harris County Appraisal District ("HCAD") appeals the trial court’s judgment in favor of the property owner, United Investors Realty Trust ("United Investors"), and presents two issues for review: (1) in applying section 42.26(d) of the Texas Tax Code, did the trial

court improperly ignore the property’s market value and consider only that the property was allegedly appraised unequally with comparable properties appropriately adjusted; and (2) contingent upon prevailing on the first issue, was it error to award attorneys’ fees to United Investors? We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

1 In relevant part, section 41.44, entitled "Notice of Protest," provides that "to be entitled to a hearing and determination of a protest, the property owner initiating the protest must [timely] file a [sufficient] written

notice of the protest with the appraisal review board having authority to hear the matter protested, or show good cause for failure to timely file such notice. TEX. TAX CODE ANN. § 41.44 (Vernon Supp. 2000). Giving

sufficient notice under this section entitles a property owner to a hearing and determination of the protest.

Id.

2 Generally, section 42.21 requires a party who appeals an order of the ARB to timely file a petition

for review with the district court. TEX. TAX CODE ANN. § 42.21(a) (Vernon Supp. 2000).

3 Neither party disputes that United Investors exhausted its administrative remedies.

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FACTUAL BACKGROUND

United Investors purchased Mason Park Centre on January 28, 1998, for $15,200,000.00. Mason Park Centre is a neighborhood shopping center located on Mason Road in Houston, Harris County, Texas. It contains 163,278 square feet of rentable area.

HCAD appraised Mason Park Centre at $13,900,000.00 for the tax year of 1998.

United Investors protested this assessment to the Appraisal Review Board ("ARB") under section 41.441 of the Tax Code.

The ARB upheld HCAD’s appraisal.

Then, pursuant to section 42.212 of the Tax Code, United Investors filed a timely appeal to the district court.3

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Taxpayers for Equal Appraisal Access Information! Taxation must be equal and uniform!

Property taxes must be equal and uniform. Protesting taxes must be a fair and equitable process. All property must be valued and taxed equally and uniformly.

LANDMARK CASE TO SAVE PROPERTY OWNERS AND TAXPAYERS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

Taxpayers for Equal Appraisal Access Information!
Taxation must be equal and uniform!

Property taxes must be equal and uniform.
Protesting taxes must be a fair and equitable process.
All property must be valued and taxed equally and uniformly.

LANDMARK CASE
TO SAVE PROPERTY OWNERS AND TAXPAYERS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.