• Mark D. Armstrong, CIAO, Kane County’s supervisor of assessments since 2006, has nearly 30 years’ experience in property valuation. Click here for more about Mark. To Ask Mark a question, email it to KaneSOA@co.kane.il.us or mail it to: Mark at 719 South Batavia Avenue, Geneva, IL 60134.

Q: I live in a single-family home, but I don’t own it; I pay rent to a landlord. Am I eligible for a homestead exemption?

A: Yes, but only if certain conditions are met.

For the purposes of the General Homestead exemption, the Illinois Property Tax Code defines “Homestead property” as “residential property that is occupied by its owner or owners as his or their principal dwelling place, or that is a leasehold interest on which a single family residence is situated, which is occupied as a residence by a person who has an ownership interest therein, legal or equitable or as a lessee, and on which the person is liable for the payment of property taxes.”

The exemption also requires occupancy as of Jan. 1 of the year in question.

So, lessees of single-family dwellings who occupied the property as of Jan. 1 can be eligible, provided the lessees (NOT the property owners) are the ones liable for paying the property taxes. But how can this liability be established?

The terms of the lease are a good start; the lease needs to clearly state that the lessee is going to pay the taxes. However, some leases are using boilerplate language such as this, which I found in a lease in Elgin:

“Tenant shall be liable for the payment of real estate taxes with respect to the Residence, in accordance with the terms and conditions of Section 200/15-175 of Chapter 35 Illinois Compiled Statues, as amended (35ILCS 200/15-175,(194)). Tenant shall be deemed to be satisfying Tenant’s liability for such real estate taxes through the monthly rent payments as set forth above.”

Despite its claims, such language is insufficient to meet the definition in the property tax code. In establishing the qualifications for this exemption, the General Assembly used the plain language cited above. If the General Assembly had intended payment of rent alone to satisfy the requirement of liability, it could have drafted the statute that way, and then every leased single-family home in Illinois would qualify for the exemption. However, by including the phrase “on which the person is liable for the payment of property taxes”, the General Assembly clearly did not intend to include all leased single-family homes.

Therefore, in order to meet the requirements of the state statute, a lease must require that lessee pay the property tax bill directly; payment by the lessor is insufficient to establish liability. Additionally, the owner of record must direct that the property tax bill be mailed directly to the lessee at the lessee’s address.

If you meet these qualifications, you are eligible for the General Homestead Exemption, which will remove $6,000 of equalized assessed value from your property before taxes are calculated. You can print an application form at www.KaneCountyAssessments.org/leasehold.pdf or call (630) 208-3818 for more information.