Using Land Tax Records Properly: A Guide

What are land tax records and how can you use them properly? The following information can serve as a guide to help you correctly negotiate what’s available to you in these documents.  

Use Land Tax Records to Find Out Direct Information

A careful research of records at the county tax assessor’s office can yield information about the name of a property’s owner, amount or quantity of land owned, the land’s location, amount of tax owed, and any ownership changes.

If you are interested in a prospective property for the purpose of buying it, you can look up the property owner by using the land tax records at the tax assessor of the county. Hint: the person who pays the taxes is usually the owner of the property. If the property is owned and rented, the tax bill goes to a different address – that of the property owner.

Other Purposes for Search of Land Tax Records
  • Searches of records for land tax can also help distinguish between persons with the same name living at the same time in a locality.
  • Tax records can serve as a substitute for records in counties where the original deeds, wills and other records have been destroyed.
  • Use of these records is also helpful in dating structures.



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