{"id":5366,"date":"2026-06-24T04:02:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T04:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=5366"},"modified":"2026-06-24T04:02:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T04:02:21","slug":"state-senator-warns-homestead-exemption-cheaters-to-stop-or-else","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=5366","title":{"rendered":"State Senator warns Homestead Exemption cheaters to stop or else"},"content":{"rendered":"<div> <!-- --> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>HOUSTON<\/strong> &#8211; <\/span>Cheating by Texas property owners who improperly claim the state&#8217;s generous Homestead exemption has drawn the attention of State Senator Paul Bettencourt, who is urging violators to stop or face consequences.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=5364\">Katy Tesla crash: Expert explains what investigators will be looking for as federal probe continues<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Homestead exemption cheating has State Senator Paul Bettencourt issuing a warning<\/h2>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These are benefits, but they are not designed to be stolen. That is not the intent, nor will we tolerate it,&#8221; said Bettencourt.<\/p>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>An independent data analysis by FOX 26 contributor Charles Blain revealed substantial cheating within a sample of 20,000 mostly Harris County homeowners.<\/p>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>The violators fall into two categories &#8211; residents who &#8220;double dip&#8221; by claiming multiple properties as their primary residence and so-called &#8220;corporate cheaters,&#8221; including house flippers and real estate holding companies fraudulently claiming exemptions on entire residential portfolio, including short-term rentals.<\/p>\n<p> <!-- --> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are not going to tolerate LLC&#8217;s trying to claim Homestead exemptions on properties they buy. We are not going to tolerate people trying to claim a homestead exemption on every single property they own, because this was designed for one homestead and one homestead per taxpayer,&#8221; said Bettencourt.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=5362\">Catalytic converter thefts surge in Harris County as critics question low bonds for repeat offenders<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>FOX 26 asked Bettencourt if he would push for criminal prosecution of egregious offenders.<\/p>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you sign multiple homestead exemptions, you&#8217;ve got a problem right there if you are tampering with government documents and fraudulently doing stuff, you got a problem. It&#8217;s not just a traffic ticket. This stuff builds up to class B, class A, and even State Jail felony, so folks need to take this seriously&#8230;.If the investigation results in actionable items, I&#8217;m going to turn all of this into the Attorney General and have them look at prosecution,&#8221; said Bettencourt.<\/p>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>In response to a request for comment from FOX 26, the Harris County Appraisal District claimed it is endeavoring to verify the validity of Homestead Exemptions citing a 2017 audit and an ongoing pilot with an outside vendor aimed at cross-checking the eligibility of 1.3 million residential properties listed on its tax rolls.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=5360\">Houston weather: Humid, hazy conditions for Tuesday World Cup match<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <!-- --> <!-- --> <!-- --> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cheating by Texas property owners who improperly claim the state&#8217;s generous Homestead exemption has drawn the attention of State Senator Paul Bettencourt, who is urging violators to stop or face consequences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8,12,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-houston","category-news","category-texas","category-top-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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