8.1.1 Screening Homeowners

You can help preserve home ownership for low-income clients by a simple check-up of their real estate. Check for the following:

• Is the homeowner listed as the homeowner in the assessor and conveyance records?
• Is the homeowner’s address in the assessor’s records correct?
• Has there been a tax sale, blight adjudication or other adverse government action?
• Is the homeowner getting the correct homestead exemption?
• Is the homeowner the surviving spouse of an active-duty service member?1
• Is the homeowner a 100% disabled veteran due to a service-connected injury or the surviving spouse of such a person?2
• Is the homeowner eligible for an age freeze for being 65 or older?
• Is the homeowner permanently totally disabled as determined by a court order?

If the owner’s name and correct address are not listed with the assessor, the owner won’t get notices of tax sales, code enforcement, and other adverse government actions. If the assessor’s records list another person as the owner, there may have been a tax sale.

• 1See La. Const. art. VII, § 21(M).
• 2The ad valorem tax exemption for disabled veterans under La. Const. art. VII, § 21(K) is distinct from the homestead exemption established by La. Const. art. VII, § 20 and offers a benefit in addition to a homestead exemption. The exemptions under La. Const. art. VII, § 21(K) and La. Const. art. VII, § 20(A)(3) may be cumulated under certain circumstances, but a tax assessor must conduct a fact-specific inquiry when both exemptions are claimed. La. Att’y Gen. Op. No. 16-0206 (June 22, 2017).