If a property owner is dissatisfied with an order issued by the Appraisal Review Board, the property owner may want to consider Binding Arbitration. Binding Arbitration is a new remedy available to residential property owners whose property is valued under a million regardless of if it carries a Homestead Exemption and to all residential properties over a million that have Homestead Exemptions. Equity, the relationship of your property’s value compared to that of neighboring property values, cannot be addressed at a Binding Arbitration hearing.

To begin the Binding Arbitration process, the property owner must complete and submit a Request for Binding Arbitration form along with a cashier’s check or money order in the amount of $500.00 made payable to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. A new recourse for property owners is expedited arbitration which lasts for no more than an hour. The fee for expedited arbitration is $250 made payable to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. This form must be submitted to the Appraisal District within 45 days after the property owner has received the order from the Appraisal Review Board. The Appraisal District will then forward the request to the Texas Comptroller’s office for processing.

The property owner and the Appraisal District will then agree on an arbitrator. In the case that no agreement can be reached, the Comptroller’s office will randomly appoint an arbitrator.

Once an arbitrator has been selected, the arbitrator will arrange a date and time for the arbitration meeting. After hearing both sides of the argument, the arbitrator will render a final decision. If the arbitrator’s opinion of value is closer to the property owner’s, the Appraisal District will pay the arbitrator’s fee and the Comptroller’s office will return the initial payment less a $50.00 administrative fee to the property owner. If the arbitrator’s opinion of value is closer to that of the appraisal district’s, the property owner will pay the arbitrator’s fee and lose the entire $500 or $250 arbitration deposit.

For a fee, Novotny & Company will represent your case at a Binding Arbitration hearing at your request. For more information on Binding Arbitration or to discuss the specifics of your case, please contact our office.