City of Cleveland - Residential Property Tax Abatement for Green Buildings

Summary

Note: Cleveland's tax abatement was overhauled by Ordinance 482-2022, effective January 1, 2024. 

The City of Cleveland, in cooperation with the Cuyahoga County Auditor's Office, provides a 10 to 15 year 100% tax abatement for increases in assessed real estate value for eligible residential projects. All projects are required to be built to the Cleveland Green Building Standard.  Abatements are available to both homeowners and developers. The abatement is for 10-15 years depending on the type of project and is for the portion of the increased property tax that results because of the improvement to the property. The following types of projects may qualify:

• New construction of single-family homes or multifamily investor-owned properties: 15 years
• Conversion of nonresidential buildings to residential units with 1 or 2 units: 10 years
• Conversion of nonresidential buildings to residential units with 3 or more units: 12 years
• Rehabilitation of existing 1 and 2-family homes which increases the market value: 10 years
• Rehabilitation of multifamily (3 or more units) structures costing over $15,000 per unit or $500,000 total: 12 years
• Improvements costing over $2,500 of 1 or 20 family homes that increase the assessed value of the property: 10 years

For a complete list and additional information, visit the program website.

Cleveland's Green Building Standard is based on the "Enterprise Green Communities Initiative" and requires that projects meet all mandatory requirements of the Initiative's standards plus 30 points (with one exception, the Environmental Assessment mandatory requirement under Enterprise Green Communities is not required by Cleveland's Green Building Standard for single-family up to 4-unit residential rehab project).

The City of Cleveland also accepts the LEED Silver as well as the National Association of Home Builders "National Model Green Home Building Guidelines" as equivalents and acceptable substitutes. See the Cleveland Green Building Standard Handbook for more information.