Another reason that rent will go up? How revaluation can affect Charlotte tenants

Mary Ramsey
·2 min read

Rising property values

Another round of revaluation means Mecklenburg County homeowners are bracing for the potential of increased property taxes, but renters may not be immune.

Although revaluation directly affects property owners, renters can eventually feel an impact, too, when rising rates are passed along to them.

It comes as many in the Charlotte area are already having to choose between rising rents and rising home sale prices when looking for housing.

Here’s what to know about the potential impacts of Mecklenburg County’s revaluation process and property taxes on renters in Charlotte:

Does revaluation increase property taxes?

“Property taxes are based on the market value of your property,” the Mecklenburg County Assessor’s Office explains, which is why the county regularly undergoes revaluation, “the process where all property (land and buildings) within Mecklenburg County is revalued to its current market value.”

But if the value of your property goes up, that doesn’t necessarily mean your property tax bill will go up too. That’s because tax rates are determined separately by the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners and local cities and towns.

“The value of your property combined with the tax rate determines your property tax bill, which is mailed in late July,” the Assessor’s Office says.

Specifically, your bill is “calculated by multiplying the Market Value by the tax rate.”

So, the combination of what a property’s market value comes in at and what tax rate is decided on determines if the property owner’s tax bill goes up, down or stays the same.

Do renters pay property taxes?

Since renters don’t own the property they’re living in, they don’t have to pay property taxes directly to the government like property owners do.

But when property owners see their expenses go up, some of those costs can get passed on to renters in the form of increased rents.

That’s especially of concern for renters during this revaluation cycle, as rents are already trending up in Charlotte amid a hot real estate market.

The median rent across the Charlotte metro area’s ZIP codes sits at $1,900, according to data from RentHub, up 6.3% in the last year. And multiple ZIP codes have seen median rents rise by upwards of 25% in the past 12 months.