Practical Legal Tips

Beware of Fulton County Reassessments

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The Fulton County tax assessor has been reassessing commercial property over the last few years. As a result tax assessments on many Fulton County commercial properties has increased substantially. Most leases pass this expense onto the tenant. If you are looking at new space you want to ask for the building's operating expenses and pay close attention to whether the property has been reassessed yet or not. In negotiating the lease, this can be addressed by having the most recent year for operating expenses that includes the tax increase be used as the base year for determing expenses above the base year operating expenses that are passed onto the tenant. In other situations where taxes are part of CAM charges you want to negotiate for a cap on CAM charges if possible. In any event, if you know about the tax assessment issue you can plan alternative strategies to try and mitigate the cost of this increase.

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