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Board debates whether 101‑unit portfolio should be taxed as condos or apartments; keeps condo approach
Summary
Appellant argued assessor should value 101 units in Country Green as a multifamily property; the board declined to reclassify but agreed the owner should receive a larger bulk‑ownership discount.
At the May 12 hearing the owner of 101 units in the Country Green (Villas at Southern Ridge) development asked Albemarle County's Board of Equalization to value their holdings as a multifamily property rather than as individual condominium units. Appellant representatives said the investor operates the tranche as rental apartments, cited a November 2024 portfolio sale for $11 million, and submitted a CBRE appraisal that used an income approach with a 6.5% cap rate. The assessor's office countered that a majority of units in the overall development remain individually owned, exterior maintenance and replacement reserves are governed by the condominium association, and historically the assessor has treated the parcels as condo units since conversion in 2007.
Board members discussed whether the parcel presented an "interim use" as apartments and the practical differences between control of a single‑owner portfolio and ownership of scattered condominium units. Several members said the county lacks a clear legal pathway to treat the parcels as a multifamily building because the owner does not control the homeowners association and because prior assessments had consistently applied individual unit valuations. The board resolved the policy tension by preserving the condo assessment method and enlarging the bulk‑ownership (multi‑unit) discount from 15% to 25% to capture the buyer's limited control and the market's likely volume discount on a sale of many units at once.
Action: The board voted to keep the units valued as condominiums but to increase the multi‑unit ownership discount to 25%. The assessor's office said it would compute the exact dollar impact and provide updated totals for all affected parcels.
