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    FAQ - Data

 
Geographic Questions...
The parcel boundaries seem to be incorrect, what should I do?
The parcel boundaries were developed using a "best fit" approach and do not represent legal plats or deeds.  While we strive to ensure that the parcel geography is as accurate as possible, errors may exist.  If you suspect that a particular parcel boundary is in error, please contact staff responsible for updating parcel boundaries in the County's Real Estate office to see if a correction can be made.  Questions or concerns about real estate assessment information can also be handled by this office.

The parcel layer seems to have different boundaries from the zoning layer and/or the comp plan land use layer, is this possible?
The parcel layer is updated weekly, however the parcel boundaries that comprise the zoning and comp plan land use layers may only be updated annually (the actual zoning and comp plan land use designations, however, are updated weekly).  Therefore, there may be some discrepancies between the parcel boundaries of the parcels layer and the parcel boundaries of the zoning and/or comp plan land use layers thoughout the year.  Possible errors with the zoning or comp plan layers should be directed to staff in the Community Development Department (CDD).

The map shows my house and/or property are in the flood plain, yet the parcel information from this website indicates that my parcel is not within a flood plain, what's happening?
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) may issue Letters of Map Amendment (LOMA) or Letters of Map Revision (LOMR) to remove structures and/or parcels from the flood plain without revising the effective Flood Insurance Rate Maps (the maps that appear on this website).  The County is not authorized to change the effective flood maps.   Therefore the flood zone status of a parcel may change, but the maps may still depict the conditions prior to the LOMA/LOMR.  Questions about any LOMAs or LOMRs that may have been issued can be directed to staff in the Community Development Department (CDD).

Why don't school district boundaries (and other boundaries) match up with the parcels?
These boundaries are not parcel based, therefore, you will frequently see these boundaries travelling along other features (like streams and roads) or no features at all.  School district boundaries, in particular, generally should go around features like buildings and driveways.  If you see a school district boundary cutting through a driveway or dividing a subdivision, this may be erroneous and you should let us know.  Please note that any official decision about which school district a particular house or parcel belongs to, must be made by the Albemarle County School Division.

 
Are the school districts listed on the GIS-Web the official school districts for a given parcel?
No.  While every effort is made to make sure the school districts listed on the GIS-Web are accurate, it's not possible in every case to ensure this.  Please note that any official decision about which school district a particular house or parcel belongs to, must be made by the Albemarle County School Division.

How is it determined in which watershed a given parcel would be?
There are certain criteria that are followed to indicate in which watershed a particular parcel would be.   That criteria includes:
  • If a parcel is wholly contained within a given watershed, the parcel will be attributed with that watershed name.
  • If a parcel is within more than one watershed, and one of those watersheds is a water supply watershed, the parcel is attributed with the water supply watershed name.
  • If a parcel is within more than one water supply watershed, the water supply watershed that occupies the greater area is attributed to that parcel.
  • If a parcel is within more than one NON-water supply watershed, and has NO water supply watersheds, it gets attributed with the watershed with the greater area.
 
Map Labels
What's up with the "+" after parcel labels or address labels?
They indicate that there is more than one parcel ID or address number for a given parcel or building respectively.  Examples of these situations would be if there was a parcel with condo units or mineral rights or leaseholds. 

Why are there no road names for the address labels?
The map would quickly become too cluttered, however, please be aware that it's possible that an address label may not be for the road that you think.
 
How do I relate the "shorthand" parcel labels that appear on the map to their full 14 character format that can be used for searching?
The full 14 character format of a parcel id looks something like this:  05500-00-00-08300.  The "05500" represents the tax map number, the first "00" represents the section, the second "00" represents the block, and the "08300" represents the parcel number.  This particular parcel number is tax map 55, parcel 83.  Shorthand notation removes the extraneous zeros yielding something that looks like this:  55-83.  Notice how the section and block numbers were completely removed.  In a scenario where a parcel has a section and/or a block number the notation would look something like this:  56A1-1--10.  The "1" represents the section number and the double dashes, or "--" indicates that the block number is "00".  Looking at another example, 62A2--G-24, the "--" in this case means the section number is "00" and "G" is the block number.

If you're in the mapping interface and you can't figure out what the full notation of a parcel would be, you can select the parcel in question using the tools in the Selection tab of the mapping interface.  The full parcel ID will then be visible in the selection result panels below the tools.
 
Property Information
The text "N/A" appears where owner information should be, why?
Owner values of "N/A" are, by definition, new parcels that have been recorded between the months of January to June in the current tax year.  Owner information cannot be displayed on the County's current tax records, because these new parcels don't get tax bills until the following tax year.  After June, these parcels will have owner information, however, they still won’t have assessment information until the following tax year.

 
What's the deal with parcels that can't be mapped?
These parcels either represent "inactive" parcels because they have been removed from our GIS parcels layer after the first of the current year due to subdivision activity (more common) -OR- because a parcel has been added to our Real Estate records but has not yet been added to our GIS parcels layer (less common).  For those parcels that are "inactive", the parcels will have owner and assessment information until the following tax year.  These parcels will not be able to be mapped through this application, however, it may be possible to locate where these parcels were by referencing the online tax map PDFs which reflect parcels as they existed as of 12/31 of the previous calendar year.  When unmappable parcels are in the Search Results page, the total number of mappable records, as shown in the upper right-hand portion of the page, will be less than that the total number of records returned.

These parcels will also not be in any mailing labels generated from this application since parcels included in the mailing label process come from those parcels that can be mapped.
 
Why are some parcels mappable but have almost no Real Estate information?
These parcels either represent "new" parcels and are those that are added to our GIS parcels layer after the first of the current year (more common) -OR- those parcels that have been removed from our Real Estate database but have not yet been removed from our GIS parcels layer (less common).  For those parcels that are "new", they will not have owner or assessment information until the following tax year.  Furthermore, these "new" parcels will not appear in any generated mailing label files because there is not yet any owner information.  Partial assessment and current owner information for these "new" parcels are available in the County's Real Estate office.

 
Why do some parcels not have an Owner Address?
Some of these parcel records may be "new" (see previous question) or they have been removed from our GIS parcels layer but are retained in our Real Estate database for tax purposes.  Others may represent situations where a parcel of land simply doesn't have an owner address (e.g. cemetery).  If, however, you suspect for any reason that a parcel record should have an Owner Address, don't hesitate to contact the County's Real Estate office.

Are the school districts listed the official determinations?
No.  The ultimate authority in determining school districts must be made by the Albemarle County School Division.
 
What are the different Tax Statuses?
  1. Exempt – The property is exempt from local property tax as allowed by the Code of Virginia.
  2. Regular (Reg.) Taxable – the property is assessed based on its market value by the Albemarle County Assessor’s office.
  3. Land Use – The property is all or in part qualified for at least one of the following land use categories: Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry or Open Space. All improvements and any non-qualified land (such as a homesite) are assessed at market value but qualified land is assessed with use-value rates developed by SLEAC.
  4. Conservation Easement – The property is subject to a perpetual conservation easement. All improvements and any non-qualified land (such as a homesite) are assessed at market value but qualified land is typically (with some exceptions) assessed with use-value rates developed by SLEAC.
  5. SCC – The property is assessed by the State Corporation Commission. The SCC assesses utility, railroad and communication company properties as required by the Code of Virginia.
  6. Future – This parcel was created through a plat and will not be assessed until the next tax year effective January 1st. The parent parcel is being assessed in the current tax year.
 
Unexpected Search Results
When I search for a parcel and get to the Search Results page, over 40,000 records have been returned and the criteria I used to search doesn't seem to have been taken into account.  What's happening? 
There is a known issue with the GIS-Web where an internet browser that is set up to NOT accept cookies will return incorrect results.  It's also possible that when you click on the Property Info link for a given returned parcel record, you may be presented with an error page.  To avoid these problems, please set your internet browser to accept cookies from all sites or at least to allow gisweb.albemarle.org to use cookies.

I was looking for a particular property address, but I couldn't find it, what's going on?
If you were looking for a particular property address using the Address Search portion of the Welcome and Basic Search interface, you may have been searching for a non-primary property address.  Instead, you can either use the Property Address Information section of the Advanced Search interface or the Building Address Search portion of the Location Search interface.  Be aware that the Search Results will still only show the primary property address.

Also, it's possible that the property address you were looking for is new enough that the application hasn't been updated yet. Checking back in a couple of weeks should yield better results.
 
Validity of Sale
Can you please explain how values for 'Validity of Sale' are determined - in particular, the value 'Invalid Sale'?
The value of 'Invalid Sale', like the other values for 'Validity of Sale', are primarily used for internal assessing purposes by County Real Estate staff.  The term 'Invalid Sale' doesn't necessarily mean that a property transfer was invalid in the lay person sense.  Property sales determined invalid are researched by staff and found to have had unusual influences that affected the sale price as of the date it sold.  For more information about the 'Validity of Sales' values, please contact the County's Real Estate office.