Real property is defined as land and any permanent structures attached to it. Some examples of real property are:
• Houses
• Office Buildings
• Vacant Land
• Gas Stations
• Motels
• Shopping Centers
• Farms
• Apartment Buildings
• Factories
• Restaurants
• Manufactured Housing
• Saleable Natural Resources (Oil, Gas, Timber)
All real property commonly known as real estate is assessed. KRS.132.690 states that each parcel of taxable real property or interest therein subject to assessment by the property valuation administrator shall be assessed annually by the PVA at its fair cash value in accordance with standards prescribed by the Revenue Cabinet. Real property shall be physically examined no less than once every four years by the PVA or his assessing personnel.
The PVA office uses Field Representatives to collect data. We receive information from several different sources:
- The County Building & Electrical Inspector provides a list of permits as they are issued. These have all improvements such as additions, garages, multiple dwellings (duplexes, apartments, condos), new businesses, pools and manufactured home placements.
- The City also provides permits for such improvements (new homes, manufactured housing placement).
- On site visual inspections such as required for quadrennial plan and physically checking each parcel for improvements.
A Field Representative is responsible for going to the site, listing all improvements, measuring all structures and taking photos of said improvements. Interior specs are gathered from onsite discussion with the owner or occupant. If no one is onsite the field rep will estimate interior specs and leave a card for the owner to fill out and return to the PVA office with information on the structure.
The Field Representative is also responsible for keeping track of all manufactured housing placement in the county and city. Information on the manufactured house should include the owner’s name, mailing address, make, model and year. The field rep checks every year to see of the manufactured home has been removed from the site, is new on the site or has had any improvements made during the year. Manufactured home parks are required by law to fill out forms yearly that list owner’s names and information on the home.