Multifamily Tax Appeals

Multifamily Property Tax Appeals

Apartment buildings and multifamily properties are among the most frequently over-assessed commercial assets in Cook County. Whether you own a 6-flat in Logan Square or a 200-unit complex on the South Side, inflated assessments erode your net operating income and suppress your property’s market value. We help multifamily owners reclaim what they’re overpaying.

Why Multifamily Assessments Are Frequently Wrong

• Rent roll assumptions: The Assessor often uses market-rate rents even when your units are subject to rent stabilization, Section 8 contracts, or below-market leases.
• Vacancy and collection loss: Mass appraisal models may assume 3–5% vacancy when your actual experience is 10–15% or higher.
• Operating expense ratios: Generic expense assumptions don’t reflect the reality of older buildings with high maintenance costs, utility pass-throughs, or deferred capital needs.
• Comparable sales mismatches: The Assessor may compare your 1960s walk-up to newly renovated properties, inflating the implied per-unit value.

Our Approach to Multifamily Appeals

• Actual income analysis using your rent roll, operating statements, and lease abstracts.
• Market rent studies with data from CoStar, Apartments.com, and local brokerage reports.
• Per-unit comparable sales adjusted for building age, condition, unit mix, and location.
• Expense verification to ensure the Assessor’s model reflects your actual operating costs.

Portfolio Management

Many of our multifamily clients own multiple buildings. We manage portfolio appeals for 5, 10, even 50+ properties simultaneously — coordinating deadlines, tracking every case through our client portal, and providing consolidated reporting so you see total savings across your entire portfolio.

Get a Free Assessment Review

If you own multifamily property in Cook County or let us analyze your assessment at no cost. No upfront fees. Contingency-based representation.

Call 312.648.6184 or request your free review online.

Explore More Property Tax Appeal Services

• Office Building Appeals
• Retail Property Appeals
• How Cook County Appeals Work
• First-Time Commercial Property Owners

Frequently Asked Questions

How are multifamily properties assessed in Cook County?

Multifamily properties with 7+ units are assessed as commercial Class 3 at 10% of market value. Smaller 2–6 unit residential properties are Class 2 at 10%. The valuation approach is almost always the income approach — actual gross rents, less vacancy, less operating expenses, divided by a market capitalization rate. Assessors often use estimated market rents instead of your actual collected rents, which usually overstates value.

Why should I use my actual rent roll instead of market rent?

Illinois law requires assessors to value property at fair cash value — the price a willing buyer would pay a willing seller. Buyers value multifamily on actual NOI, not market-rent NOI. If your actual rents are below market because of long-term tenants, rent control, or below-market leasing strategy, that’s what the buyer sees and what the assessment should reflect.

How does the Class 9 incentive help affordable multifamily?

Class 9 is a 10-year incentive reducing multifamily assessments to the residential 10% rate (from Class 3’s 10%, applied differently) when a property commits to affordability restrictions. The benefit is substantial on mixed-income rehab projects in Chicago and the inner-ring suburbs.

What operating expenses are assessors required to recognize?

Real operating expenses: insurance, repairs and maintenance, utilities, management, property taxes, reserves for replacement, administration, and turnover costs. Assessors often apply a flat expense ratio (35%) that’s too low for older stock or high-turnover properties. Documented actual expenses — properly presented — typically exceed the assessor’s default ratio and drive down NOI and value.

What cap rate does Cook County use?

The Assessor publishes market cap rate ranges by submarket and property class each year, but the rates skew low relative to institutional investor benchmarks. We substitute the rates from CBRE, Integra, RealtyRates, and comparable sales. A 50-basis-point cap rate adjustment on a $10M NOI property changes value by over a million dollars.

Do 2–6 unit buildings follow the same appeal process?

Mostly yes. Class 2 residential (2–6 units) is assessed like single-family homes on comparable sales. Multifamily 7+ units (Class 3) uses income. The paperwork at the Assessor’s Office and Board of Review is the same. The valuation methodology is different — and that’s where strategy differs for small multifamily vs. large.