Chandler Crouch, who operates a real estate brokerage in Fort Worth, is known for helping residents protest their property tax appraisals in Tarrant County.
Crouch offers the service free of charge and claims he has helped 28,000 homeowners this year alone.
However, last year, the realtor received four complaints against him from the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation. They were lodged by Randy Armstrong, in his official capacity as director of residential appraisal with the Tarrant Appraisal District (TAD).
In the complaints, Armstrong claims that Crouch is seeking to discredit TAD by providing misleading information to the Tarrant Appraisal Review Board (TARB) during tax protest hearings.
Armstrong also accused Crouch of allegedly misrepresenting the value of homes that he himself had sold to clients.
“Misrepresentations of fact in TARB hearings to achieve unwarranted value reductions by Mr. Crouch will likely continue only to promote his name and real estate brokerage,” states Armstrong in one of the complaints. “Mr. Crouch’s actions do in-fact create equity issues and inconsistent market values for all taxpayers in Tarrant County.”Â
Crouch responded to Armstrong’s accusation of discrediting TAD on his website by commenting, “I think this may be revealing of his true underlying concern. Is he afraid that by me filing so many protests it will expose the magnitude of grossly innaccurate (sic) values and hurt his performance evaluation?”
Frank Hill, Crouch’s lawyer, speaking with the Fort Worth Report, said the motive for Armstrong’s complaints is unclear.
Additionally, Armstrong allegedly misused his title by filing the complaints in his official capacity without the knowledge of other TAD members.
“We don’t know whether the person who submitted it (Armstrong) did it individually or, as it’s signed off, did it on behalf of the [TAD] board. Either way, it’s a bad thing,” said Hill.
Armstrong apparently told the Fort Worth Report that he submitted the complaints using his title as director of residential appraisal.
The TAD maintains that it is not associated with the accusations made by Armstrong against Crouch.
Jeff Law, TAD’s executive director, told The Dallas Express, “The Tarrant Appraisal District has no intentions of deterring any tax agent’s ability to help property owners with their property tax protest.”
Per the Fort Worth Report, Armstrong stated that he did not discuss the complaints he intended to file with Law and that Law did not see them.
Law plans to investigate the matter of Armstrong’s potential misuse of his title, and said he has been in contact with Crouch.
“We are actively working with [Crouch] and have already resolved the majority of his accounts for 2022,” said Law to The Dallas Express. “The appraisal district has not filed a complaint against any individual since I have been chief appraiser, and TAD is taking steps to assure (sic) an appropriate review of all the circumstances concerning this issue.”
He then stated that he would wait until the investigation was complete before commenting any further.Â
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The real property tax valuation should be based on the original cost not a market value. The market value includes unrealized gains. Unrealized gains on investment securities are not subject to Federal income taxes.