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Westchester County Property Tax Appeals Lawyer
Welcome to the Official Update Portal of AAA Property Tax Appeal, LLC
I am Aaron Cohen, Esq., a Westchester County Property Tax Appeals Lawyer who oversees AAA Property Tax Appeal, LLC. Challenging and reducing residential real-estate tax assessments is the only work the company does — not estate planning, not closings, not personal injury on the side. Just tax grievance, Small Claims Assessment Review (SCAR) proceedings under Real Property Tax Law (RPTL) § 730, and, when the record demands it, judicial review by Article 78 petition in New York State Supreme Court. After many years in Rockland County, I opened my Westchester office to put us physically closer to the assessors’ offices, hearing rooms, and Supreme Court courthouses where my cases are won and lost. I am a licensed New York attorney and a licensed Real Estate Broker with decades of valuation experience — a combination that lets me see your case the way a Justice, a SCAR hearing officer, and an appraiser would see it, all in one sitting. If you live in the lower Hudson Valley, you should retain an experienced Property Tax Appeals Lawyer in Westchester County who understands all three perspectives.
This blog exists to share what I have learned from filing thousands of grievances and litigating the appeals almost nobody else in the Hudson Valley will touch. The most important thing for you, the homeowner, to know up front: there are no upfront fees, no hidden fees, no expense reimbursements, and no charges of any kind unless we actually reduce your assessment. A single one-time contingent fee equal to 55% of your first year’s tax savings — payable only after you have written proof your assessment was reduced — is the entire economic relationship. Every subsequent year of savings is 100% yours. If we lose, you owe nothing.
Westchester County: The Most Complex Tax Map in New York State’s Hudson Valley
Westchester is the hardest tax map in the state, and it is exactly where we have our main office — and exactly why a Westchester County Property Tax Appeals Lawyer needs to know it cold. The county is a patchwork of towns, cities, villages, and coterminous town-villages — Bronxville, Scarsdale, Pelham Manor — each its own assessing jurisdiction, some of which reassess every year and some with the same antiquated assessment for decades, each with its own taxable status date and its own filing deadline. The county-level Grievance Day for most towns lands on the third Tuesday in June, but villages typically file in February, the City of White Plains in January, and the City of Yonkers in November. New Rochelle just recently switched their grievance deadline from June to February causing many people to miss the deadline. Miss a deadline and the right to challenge is extinguished — no extensions, no waivers, no equitable tolling. Many Westchester assessing units are also notoriously aggressive: some towns will fight tooth and nail to keep inflated assessments on the rolls, deny grievances en masse at the Board of Assessment Review (BAR) stage, and send sophisticated municipal counsel or appraisers to defend the assessment at SCAR. We prepare every Form RP-524 grievance to a tax-certiorari standard, and when a SCAR hearing officer issues a determination that is arbitrary and capricious under CPLR § 7803(3), we very often do something almost no other Westchester tax appeal outfit will do — file an Article 78 petition in Supreme Court to annul it. That extra step is what separates a true Westchester property tax appeals attorney from a volume filer. In effect, I have ‘written the playbook’ on appealing SCAR decisions in Westchester County and the Hudson Valley. A copy of some recent Article 78 filings can be found here and here. Some town assessors — quietly, and always with a “don’t tell him I told you!” — refer overassessed homeowners to me precisely because they know how much we care about every dollar.
Rockland County: Where I Lived for decades, Where This Company Was Built
Rockland is where we began before opening the Westchester office over 15 years ago. Rockland’s assessing units — Clarkstown, Ramapo, Orangetown, Haverstraw, Stony Point, and the villages within them — generally publish the tentative assessment roll on May 1, with Grievance Day on the fourth Tuesday in May. The Residential Assessment Ratio (RAR) and equalization rate published annually by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance are the levers that translate your assessment into an implied full-market value, and in Rockland those ratios can swing materially year over year — which is why even homeowners who grieved successfully two or three years ago should be reviewed again. My ties to Rockland run far beyond business. I am a former member of the Board of the New York State Troopers PBA, a former Ramapo Auxiliary Police Officer, and an active volunteer with the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. When a Rockland County homeowner hires me for a tax grievance, they are hiring a trusted public servant who has spent twenty-plus years building working relationships with the assessors, hearing officers, and Supreme Court clerks who do a fantastic job handling all these cases. Rockland homeowners get the same Westchester property tax appeals attorney and the same relentless approach, just closer to home.
Putnam County: Vacation Homes, Lakefront Premiums, and a Small Cluster of Reassessing Jurisdictions
Putnam County is its own animal. With only six towns — Carmel, Kent, Patterson, Philipstown, Putnam Valley, and Southeast — the universe of reassessing jurisdictions is small, and the lakefront and second-home market on Lake Mahopac, Lake Carmel, Lake Gleneida, Lake Peekskill, and Oscawana Lake dominates the valuation conversation. Putnam assessors often lean heavily on a small set of nominally “comparable” lakefront sales that may share a zip code but differ enormously in frontage, depth, swamp acreage, dock rights, and seasonality — none of which the BAR (Board of Assessment Review) is in the habit of examining closely. Under Matter of Boffa v. Assessor, 154 AD3d 934 (2d Dept 2017), a case I have cited in my Article 78 petitions often, post-valuation-date comparable sales cannot be relied upon without proper time-trending; under Matter of Yee v. Town of Orangetown, 76 AD3d 104 (2d Dept 2010), a desktop appraisal supported by building-department records and public data is competent SCAR evidence. I cite these cases by name at hearing because Putnam SCAR hearing officers are sometimes unfamiliar with the nuances of the law. Putnam’s grievance deadline is the fourth Tuesday in May, and the property must be the petitioner’s owner-occupied residence or a vacation home (or seasonal residence) to fit the SCAR jurisdictional threshold under RPTL § 730. Even in a small county like Putnam, having a Westchester County Property Tax Appeals Lawyer who litigates lakefront valuations makes a measurable difference at the hearing table.
Orange County: Fast-Appreciating Market, Slow-Updating Assessment Rolls
Orange County — Goshen, Warwick, Monroe, Newburgh, Cornwall, Chester, Middletown, Wallkill, and New Windsor — is where Hudson Valley appreciation has run hardest and where reassessments have lagged the furthest behind it. The result is an assessment roll filled with properties whose assessed-to-market ratios make no sense in either direction. Some homeowners are dramatically overassessed; others are sitting on hidden over-equity because the assessor has not caught up. Orange County’s Grievance Day is the fourth Tuesday in May. I file in every Orange County town, follow each case through to the SCAR hearing, and — where the determination warrants it — through Article 78 review. The combination of a fast-moving market and a slow-moving assessing infrastructure makes Orange County one of the most productive corners of my practice — and one more reason homeowners across the region call this property tax appeals lawyer in Westchester County first.
A Brief Word on the Law
New York gives every overassessed homeowner five escalating remedies. First, the administrative grievance filed on Form RP-524 with the local Board of Assessment Review under RPTL §§ 524–525. Second, the Small Claims Assessment Review (SCAR) petition under RPTL § 730 — the informal, accessible Supreme Court forum the Legislature created precisely so ordinary homeowners would not need a litigation budget to fight an unfair assessment. Third, the Article 78 proceeding under CPLR Article 78, the only remedy when a SCAR determination is arbitrary, capricious, affected by an error of law, or unsupported by a rational basis — the Matter of Pell standard, 34 NY2d 222 (1974). Most firms stop at SCAR. AAA does not. I treat every rung of that ladder as available, and your case as worth climbing it. After Article 78 is an appeal to the New York State Appellative Division, and after that is an appeal to the New York State Court of Appeals. (Rarely do cases wind up there, but Town’s know we wouldn’t hesitate in instances of extreme inequity)
How to Engage AAA Property Tax Appeal
If you own a residential property in Westchester County, Rockland County, Putnam County, or Orange County and you believe you are overassessed, the path forward is simple. No upfront fees. No hidden fees. No filing-fee, appraisal-fee, or expense reimbursements. No added fees of any kind. The only fee — ever — is a single contingent fee of 55% of your first year’s tax savings, payable only after you receive written proof of the reduction. If we do not reduce your taxes, you pay nothing. To put an experienced Westchester property tax appeals attorney to work on your assessment, sign up using the big blue SIGN UP button on the home page, or email us if you still have any questions.
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Meet the Attorney
With more than 25 years of experience in property tax appeals, Aaron Cohen, Esq. has helped thousands of homeowners throughout Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, and Orange Counties pursue fair property assessments and meaningful tax savings.Our Process
Every challenge starts at the local level. A written complaint on Form RP-524 goes to your municipality's Board of Assessment Review by Grievance Day, backed by evidence that the assessor's number overstates your home's true market value. There's no filing fee, no courtroom, and no downside — the review can lower your assessment, never raise it.
If the Board denies relief, owners of one-, two-, and three-family owner-occupied or seasonal residence homes (as well as some other cases) can petition for SCAR within thirty days of the final roll's filing. A this stage an impartial hearing officer takes a fresh, informal look at the evidence — It's the appeal built deliberately for homeowners.
Some disputes call for a judge. Commercial parcels, non-qualifying residences proceed under Article 7 of the Real Property Tax Law in State Supreme Court, where certified appraisals and skilled negotiation drive the outcome. And when a SCAR ruling itself misses the mark, an Article 78 petition can place that decision before a judge for review.
Frequently Asked Questions
My assessment is already lower than what my home would sell for — doesn't that mean I'm fine?
Not necessarily. Most municipalities assess at only a fraction of market value, and an equalization rate (or Residential Assessment Ratio) translates one into the other. Divide your assessment by that ratio and you get the market value the town is actually claiming — a figure that can far exceed what your home would really fetch. That gap is what a grievance attacks.
What kind of evidence actually wins a reduction?
Hard market data. Recent sales of genuinely comparable nearby homes, a certified appraisal, as well as at times documented condition issues — an aging roof, outdated mechanicals, needed structural repairs — are what move hearing officers. Frustration over a big tax bill isn't evidence; a tightly organized valuation case is.
I just bought my home — should I wait a few years before challenging?
Quite the opposite. A recent arm's-length purchase price is often the single most persuasive exhibit a case can have. If you paid less than the value your assessment implies, the first eligible filing season after closing is usually the smartest time to act.
Will anyone need to inspect the inside of my home, or will I have to show up anywhere?
No, on both counts. A case is built from sales records, photographs, and public property data, and your representative handles every appearance. Interior details you choose to share — an unfinished basement, a dated kitchen — can strengthen the argument, but access to your home is never a requirement.
If I win, what stops the town from raising my assessment right back the following year?
New York law builds in protection. After a reduction ordered through SCAR or the courts, the new assessment is generally frozen for the next three assessment rolls, apart from limited exceptions such as a municipality-wide revaluation or physical changes to the property. A win is a durable reset, not a one-year fluke. Even in reassessing jurisdictions, the reduction typically carries forward year after year because town’s typically adjust the following years assessment based on the reduced amount of the prior year.
Client Reviews
I've tried to get a tax reduction in the past and never worked via other law firms. I was super pleased to see a notification , this week, that AAA Property Tax Appeal successfully reduced my tax assessment. Easy process and great outcome. Highly recommend.
I received a flyer from AAA Property Tax Appeal and was skeptical that anything would change with my property taxes. However, since there is no upfront cost and no charge if our property taxes don't decrease, I decided to give them a try. The process was very simple and my property taxes were...
Thanks to AAA Property Tax Appeal, I am saving over $4,600.00 a year on my property taxes!!! I had no idea they would be able to reduce my tax burden to that degree! I highly recommend AAA Property Tax Appeal!
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