Each year, Champaign County property owners each get a tax exemption of up to $6,000 for living in their one home.

But about 1,400 landlords are granted multiple exemptions a year on their assessments — over 3,000 exemptions total — on multiple properties they own even though they can claim only one personal home.

Those exemptions saved county landlords an estimated $1.8 million in tax year 2025. 

The landlords are taking advantage of a loophole in the law that permits homestead exemptions, which reduce property taxes for a homeowner’s primary residence by up to $6,000, even when they do not live there.

Under the so-called “leasehold exemption,” property management companies like Green Street Realty and UP Urbana are able to save tens of thousands on their rental properties’ taxes under the same statute.

In the 2025 tax year, about 3,400 of Champaign County’s 43,000 homestead exemptions were leaseholds, based on property tax data released by the county assessment office.

Champaign County is exceptional in the number of leaseholds it allows, interviews with other county assessors in contiguous counties show. For example, McLean County currently has about 200. Douglas County has about 10.

Paula Bates, Champaign County assessor, said the office of county State’s Attorney Julia Rietz advised her that the leaseholds are legal. The state’s attorney’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2015, CU-CitizenAccess reported about 960 property owners received multiple homestead exemptions for 3,600 properties. The exemptions saved property owners about $2.1 million that year, but no changes were made to the practice or the statute

Apartment complex in Urbana gets 104 exemptions

One Green Street Realty apartment complex in Urbana saves tens of thousands of dollars on property taxes each year from leasehold agreements.

On one side of North Broadway Avenue, a street that neighbors Crystal Lake Park, stand six beige buildings with the same black trims. Split by a home with tall trees in their backyard, the buildings have one of two addresses: 904 or 908 N. Broadway Ave. Closer to the road, a sign reads “University Park Apartments” with the Green Street Realty logo.

These two addresses have at least 104 homestead exemptions, saving the two companies tied to local businessman Chris Saunders about $67,000 in property taxes in the 2025 tax year, state business records show. Saunders could not be reached for comment.

Other top landlords who were granted leasehold exemptions include:

• Fairlawn Village with at least 133 leaseholds
• Jones Property Management with at least 97 leaseholds
• Cox Property Group with at least 82 leaseholds
• Carmar Productions with at least 41 leaseholds

Property taxes are calculated by multiplying the annual assessment, the value of the property determined by local assessors, by the district’s property tax rate. In Champaign County, these exemptions reduce the annual assessment by up to $6,000, which saves the homeowner several hundred dollars each year.

Landlords in Champaign County can file the leasehold application for each property, which would then give the property a homestead exemption through the renter. This is how Saunders’ University Park Apartments can have each of its 104 units exempted under the statute.

There are several criteria for eligibility in the application:

• The property must be a single-family home
• The occupant must be an eligible taxpayer
• The occupant must be liable for paying all of the real estate taxes on the property
• The lease must be at least one year in length
• The lease must have a clause saying the rent will increase or decrease with changes in real estate taxes

According to Illinois law, the chief county assessment officer decides whether to allow leasehold exemptions and whether these exemptions require annual renewal.

“I was advised by the state’s attorney that we need to follow the statute,” Paula Bates, the chief assessment officer for Champaign County, said in an interview. “We had an opinion from them regarding what the application needed to entail. And they laid out criteria from the statute that we needed to follow.”

“We’re not doing it as an incentive for the landlords,” Bates said.

Cynthia Baer, the chief county assessment officer for Douglas County, said the statute is vague when it comes to rental properties.

“As far as I know, it’s only specific on leaseholds,” Baer said. “So, a lot of counties are going to do things a little different.”

Most of the properties that get leaseholds in Douglas County are rentals, she said. The county also requires an application to be filed every year with a copy of the lease agreement.

But Baer said Douglas is “totally different, since there’s no University of Illinois here. We have about 10 to 15 leaseholds.”

Encompassing Illinois State University, McLean County likely has a higher rate of leaseholds than is typical, said Timothy Jorczak, the chief county assessment officer for the county. There are about 200 leaseholds out of its about 40,000 homestead exemptions.

However, university life constitutes a much smaller part of McLean County than it does in Champaign County, he said.

With a lower number of leasehold applicants, Jorczak said they send out forms to interested property owners, which his office then reviews and assesses individually. These forms ask for documentation that the property is the lessee’s primary residence.

When determining who can get leaseholds and what should be included in a leasehold application, Jorczak said his office sought guidance and counsel from the county state’s attorney.

With the way its tracking procedure is set up, he said McLean County prefers the lessee to pay the property taxes.

However, “the individual property owner is liable for the taxes,” he said. “They’re on the hook.”

In Champaign County, the tax bill still goes to the property owner when there is a leasehold exemption, assessor Bates said.