The Los Angeles County assessor Monday again warned property owners about companies offering to find ways to lower property assessment rates.
County Assessor Rich Auerbach says his office continues to receive calls from property owners regarding such solicitations.
"Neither Los Angeles County nor any government agency approves or endorses these companies' services," Auerbach said. "Furthermore, companies offering to lower property taxes must show clearly that they are not a government agency, and failure to do so is a violation of California law."
"Don't get ripped off," county Supervisor Gloria Molina said. "You never have to pay for a review of your property's assessed value. The L.A. County Assessor's Office does this service for free."
The county is conducting an automatic review of about 500,000 single-family residences, with the list of properties included in the review posted on the County Assessor's Web site.
Property owners who disagree with the results of the review may contest the outcome through Dec. 31.
Those ads are terrible. They are done in the same style as the property tax bills using shading, font etc that make it look official. It would be easy for someone to mistake for the real thing.