Guides

How to fix a mistake in your NC property record

Updated Oct 29, 2026

Your value is built from the county's record of your home: heated square feet, bedrooms, bathrooms, year built, quality grade, lot size. If that record is wrong, the value can be wrong too, and a factual error is the easiest thing in property tax to get fixed. It isn't an argument about market value. It's a correction.

1. Check what the county has on file

Look up your address to see the county's record, or use your county's own property search (linked from your county's page). Compare it with what you know about the house:

• Heated (finished) square footage, not including garages or unheated porches
• Bedroom and bathroom counts, including half-baths
• Year built, and any major renovation the county may not know about
• Basement, finished or unfinished
• Lot size, and anything that limits its use
• Condition: damage or deferred repairs the county can't see from the street

2. Ask the assessor to correct it

Contact your county assessor's office with your parcel ID, what's wrong, the correct figure, and proof: plans, a recent appraisal, a measured sketch, or dated photos. Contacts are on your county's page.

When a fix takes effect

• Before a revaluation: if your county is about to revalue, fix the record now so the new value is built on correct facts.
• In any year: outside a revaluation the county carries the last value forward, but the assessor can still change it to correct a clerical or mathematical error, or an appraisal error from misapplying the county's schedules. A change made that way takes effect as of January 1 of the year it's made. It isn't retroactive.
• After you get a notice: an error can also be raised in informal review or in a formal appeal to the Board of Equalization and Review. How the appeal works.

Correcting the record can lower or raise the value: a missing half-bath works the other way too. Ask for what's accurate.

Questions

How do I correct the square footage on my property record?

Contact your county assessor's office with your parcel ID, the correct figure, and proof: plans, a recent appraisal, or a measured sketch. Contacts are on your county's page.

Can the county fix my record outside a revaluation year?

Yes. The assessor can change a value in any year to correct a clerical or mathematical error, or an appraisal error from misapplying the county's schedules. The change takes effect as of January 1 of the year it's made and isn't retroactive.

Sources

• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-287 (changing appraised value in non-reappraisal years)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-322 (Board of Equalization and Review)