Why am I paying property tax on land when I own a condo?

"Fee simple" means you own property outright; that is, there is no mortgage balance associated with it. No, this is wrong -- or at least misleading. It's also totally beside the point. Look, I think the safest answer to any question even arguably touching on a legal question is "go see a lawyer." That's fine, but non-lawyers sometimes wish to learn a little something about their situation w/o having to pay an attorney. Or so I'm told. This is a reasonable desire and people should be able to at least learn the general contours of the law as it concerns them without having to consult the priesthood. That said, asking (and answering) legal questions online is certainly "fraught with peril", as they say, and both asker and answerer need to be careful. Anyhow, in my experience people often use the term "fee simple" in a loose way to mean "not leasehold". Strictly speaking, the definition of "fee simple", which is totally irrelevant to the question asked, could depend on what state you live in. In some states ("lien theory" states) the purchaser holds title outright in fee simple, with the lender holding a lien on the property. In others ("title theory" states) a mortgage is more like a conveyance of title to the lender, so that the purchaser holds something less than fee simple.

You got a bad appraisal. It's not uncommon for records to get confused. Time to go down to the county assessor's office and get this sorted out. You won't be entitled to anything until this is sorted out. Also, around here we call your kind of property a "flag lot."

might have happened when the property was subdivided. look back to when your house was built.

It would be smart to talk to an attorney before you talk to the city. Could there be an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_possession claim? I don't know, but your real estate attorney could tell you. If there is, what you say to the city could have a bearing on the outcome of that.

I am not a Real Estate Attorney. What you need is a "title report", which is a document that traces the ownership of your property back through time and notes every encumbrance on the land, including easements and condominium regime declarations. Title reports are not generally prepared by lawyers, but by companies who specialize in doing such reports. If you look in the yellow pages for "title insurance" companies you can find some, or ask an attorney for a reference. A title report will cost a couple hundred dollars but you won't get anywhere without one, and you almost certainly won't be able to lookup the information yourself. You might need a lawyer to help you read the thing, but generally you'd be looking for something like a "Declaration of Condominium" or "Declaration of Horizontal Property Regime" in the title chain. If your wife bought the property with a mortgage, then a title report was done when the bank took out the mortgage and you might be able to find a copy of that report in your files. As far as the "condominium" thing goes, if you (or your wife) really had no idea you were buying condo property then yes, that would be a big deal and something you'd want to look into. But "condominium" does not mean "big apartment building with an owners' association." What exactly it does mean depends on the state you live in, but generally it means two things: (1) you own some property in fee simple, and some other property in common with others; and (2) you (or a predecessor in interest) agreed to be bound by the condominium documents. These documents are often, but not always, long complex things that setup an association to pay expenses, and requirements for members to pay dues to the association. They may be just about anything though, and they don't necessarily involve paying dues. As far as #1 above goes, in the prototypical apartment/condominium the property you own in fee simple is a box 200 feet in the air (or whatever). In your case it might be an L shaped plot of land. In either case, you'd own some property in fee simple and have to pay property tax on that. What I'm saying is that you may very well own condo property. But this doesn't mean you own only the house or that you don't have to pay property tax on the land.

You need to speak to a lawyer about this. Note that one of the responders above uses the legal term "fee simple" incorrectly. "Fee simple" means you own property outright; that is, there is no mortgage balance associated with it. Again, speak with a competent real estate attorney.

Wasn't a title search required?

Thanks, everyone, for your help! It's pretty clear I need to see a lawyer or at least have a title company do a new search (if our current documents don't shed any light on the matter).

I assume condominiums are pretty much the same across the land, in general. And in general, when you buy a condo, you buy the space within your walls, and a percentage share in the common areas (the building itself and the land). So you own the land in that you own a share in the corporation that owns the land. And so you are responsible for that percentage of the property taxes. It's not that you don't own the land, but that you don't hold title to the land or have exclusive control over it. (For example, I live in a condominium building that sits on about an acre. My neighbors live in an identical building, on much less land. They pay less in property taxes.) (In other words, someone owns the land and you DO pay your fair share for it, it just depends on whether you pay it directly or indirectly through your condo dues.) In your case, if it really is a condominium (which it can be), your association owns the land (and possibly the house), and you own the inside of it. This kind of setup is done to keep control over a neighborhood (because the condo board can usually evict you for breaking their rules), or to appease the municipality, who might not want to deal with the upkeep of a new neighborhood full of streets. To answer your question differently- do you pay someone a monthly assessment? Do you have to maintain your own building and yard? Etc.