Home-buying site Zillow is suing Richland County. What to know

National real estate marketplace Zillow is suing Richland County, claiming that the county is violating public records laws by not providing the company with data on real property and tax assessments after the company filed a legal Freedom of Information Act request for the information.

South Carolina law allows the public to access most government documents under the Freedom of Information Act. Every state has some form of public records law, and the federal government is also subject to a Freedom of Information Act. There are some exceptions that allow governments to keep some documents hidden, but most government records are public under the law.

Zillow has hired Greenville-based attorney Carl Muller to represent it in its suit against Richland County over that law.

In May, Zillow requested property assessment data from the county by submitting multiple records requests. The county initially told Zillow it did not have any records that matched the request, according to the suit filed June 12.

The county then told Zillow that the data the company is asking for is available online, and so the county denied Zillow’s records request on the grounds that the law does not require the county to create new documents to fulfill a records request. But Zillow argued that not all of the assessment information for every parcel in the county is available online.

“Even if the websites referenced by Richland County had complete information, Zillow specifically requested an electronic copy of the assessment files for all the parcels, not the option to search parcels one by one online,” the suit adds.

But Zillow also says that it has received an electronic file with all of that data in years past.

Prior to 2022, Zillow had received the assessment data from the county each year in the format the company requested — an electronic file that contains all assessment information. Zillow had paid “approximately” $8,785 per year for that information “with no issue,” according to the suit.

Zillow is asking a judge to require that Richland County provide the assessment data. The company is also asking that Richland County pay Zillow’s legal fees if the court rules in Zillow’s favor.

Richland County did not immediately respond to a request for comment.