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🏡 Keeping Your Home

Property tax help, free legal advice, warm winters and repairs, for Linn County homeowners.

Your home matters, neighbor. Iowa has real help for homeowners, and especially older homeowners: lower property taxes, free legal advice, protection from winter heat shutoffs, and help with repairs. A lot of it goes unclaimed simply because folks don’t know it’s there. Here’s where to start. – Kathy

If you only remember one thing: if a letter about unpaid property taxes, a tax sale or foreclosure arrives, please don’t set it aside. Call the Legal Hotline for Older Iowans at 1-800-992-8161 (free for Iowans 60 and older) that same week. Younger neighbors can call Iowa Legal Aid at 1-800-532-1503.

Last checked: November 4, 2026. Amounts and deadlines can change, so please confirm with the office before you file.

Lower your property taxes

Homestead exemption

If you own and live in your home, you can take 10% off its taxable value, at least $5,500 and up to $20,000. This new exemption replaces the old homestead credit starting with the 2026 assessment, so you’ll see the savings on tax bills due in September 2027 and March 2028.

Already had the homestead credit? You don’t need to do anything; it switches over automatically.

Extra exemption at 65

If you were 65 or older by January 1, you can take another $6,500 off your home’s taxable value. It’s on the same form, the Homestead Tax Exemption (Form 54-028).

If you turned 65 after you first signed up, call your assessor to make sure your birth date is on file.

Apply once, by July 1

File Form 54-028 with your assessor by July 1. Once it’s approved, it stays in place for as long as you own and live in the home. A form filed after July 1 counts toward the next year.

Which assessor is yours?

Inside Cedar Rapids city limits: Cedar Rapids City Assessor, 500 15th Ave. SW, 319-286-5888, Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Everywhere else in Linn County: Linn County Assessor, 935 2nd St. SW (2nd floor), 319-892-5220, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Not sure? Look up your address on either assessor’s site, or just call one of them.

Veterans

Veterans may also qualify for the military service exemption, and veterans with a 100% service-connected disability rating may qualify for the Disabled Veteran Homestead Credit, which can cover the whole tax on the home. Ask the same assessor, or see our Veterans page.

More info: Iowa Dept. of Revenue: homestead exemption ¡ Form 54-028 ¡ Cedar Rapids Assessor ¡ Linn County Assessor

Tax credit for seniors and neighbors with disabilities

Who can get it

The Iowa Property Tax Credit is for lower-income homeowners. For claims filed in 2026 (based on 2025 income), you qualified if you were:

  • 65 or older, with household income under $26,895, or
  • totally disabled and 18 or older, with household income under $26,895, or
  • 70 or older, with household income under 250% of the federal poverty level ($39,125 for one person, $52,875 for two).

The limits change each year, so check the new form when it comes out.

File every year, Jan. 1 to June 1

Unlike the exemption, this one is filed every year, on Form 54-001, with the Linn County Treasurer (not the assessor), between January 1 and June 1. The next filing window opens January 1, 2027.

Linn County Treasurer, 935 2nd St. SW, 319-892-5500. Making an appointment gets you the fastest service. Missed June 1? Call anyway; the treasurer can grant extra time.

Two offices, two deadlines

Exemptions (homestead, 65+, military): the assessor, by July 1, filed once.

Property Tax Credit: the treasurer, by June 1, filed every year.

More info: Iowa Dept. of Revenue: Property Tax Credit ¡ Form 54-001 ¡ Linn County Treasurer

Behind on property taxes?

Here’s how it usually goes in Linn County, so nothing catches you by surprise.

  1. Due dates: property taxes are paid in two halves, in September and March. Payments must be postmarked by September 30 and March 31, or a late charge of 1.5% a month is added.
  2. Spring notice: in late April, the Treasurer mails a Notice of Tax Delinquency and Pending Tax Sale to homes with taxes still unpaid. Unpaid parcels are then listed in the newspaper. (In 2026, paying by May 15 kept a home out of the newspaper.)
  3. Tax sale in June: the tax sale is held each year on the third Monday in June (June 15 in 2026). An investor pays the overdue taxes and gets a lien on the home, not the house itself.
  4. You can still redeem: pay the Treasurer what was owed, plus 2% interest a month and costs. After 1 year and 9 months, the investor can send a written notice, and you then have 90 more days to pay.
  5. Only if it’s never paid by the end of that 90 days can the investor get a deed to the home.

What to do: call the Linn County Treasurer at 319-892-5500 for the exact amount you owe, and call the Legal Hotline for Older Iowans at 1-800-992-8161 for free advice.

A word of caution: after a tax sale, some folks get letters or calls offering to “help” or to buy the house fast for cash. Please talk with Legal Aid or a trusted family member before you sign anything.

More info: Linn County: 2026 tax sale notice ¡ Linn County: tax sale questions ¡ Iowa Code 447.9

Legal Hotline for Older Iowans

For: any Iowan 60 or older.

Helps with: phone advice from a lawyer on property taxes, foreclosure, debt, scams, wills and more.

Call: 1-800-992-8161, Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to noon.

Iowa Legal Aid

For: lower-income neighbors of any age.

Apply: by phone at 1-800-532-1503, weekdays 9 to 11 a.m. and 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. (closed Thursday afternoons), or online.

Cedar Rapids office: 317 7th Ave. SE, Suite 404, 1-800-532-1275, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Not sure where to start?

The Heritage Area Agency on Aging can point you in the right direction: 319-398-5559.

More info: Iowa Legal Aid: get help ¡ Heritage Area Agency on Aging

Keeping the heat on

From November 1 to April 1, Iowa’s gas and electric utilities can’t shut off heating service for nonpayment if your household is approved for energy assistance (LIHEAP) or weatherization. If you tell your utility you’re applying, they’ll hold off 30 days while your application is processed.

HACAP takes LIHEAP applications through April 30, 2027. For HACAP’s offices, hours and text line, see our Winter Ready page.

Please keep paying what you can; shutoffs can start again after April 1. Not eligible? Ask your utility about a payment plan.

More info: Iowa Utilities Commission: LIHEAP and winter shutoffs ¡ HACAP energy assistance

Help with repairs and staying safe at home

Most of these have income limits, so call and ask. They’re glad to talk it through.

Aging Services (UnityPoint Health)

Helps with: small home repairs, lawn mowing, snow removal, seasonal yard care, and home adaptations like ramps, grab bars and handrails, for neighbors who meet the program’s guidelines.

Call: 319-398-3644

City of Cedar Rapids housing repairs

For: income-qualified homeowners inside Cedar Rapids.

Helps with: minor repairs for health and safety problems, and larger rehab work, as funding allows.

Call: Housing Services, 319-286-5872

Cedar Valley Habitat for Humanity: Affordable Repairs

For: homeowners with limited means in Linn and Benton counties. You’ll need current homeowner’s insurance and a few hours of “sweat equity.”

Helps with: porch and step repair, doors, windows, trip hazards and accessibility changes.

Call: 319-366-4485, 350 6th Ave. SE

HACAP Weatherization

For: income-qualified homeowners and renters. If you’re approved for LIHEAP, you’re signed up automatically.

Helps with: free insulation, sealing drafts, and furnace or water heater work.

Call: 319-739-0100

Try it before you buy it

Thinking about grab bars, a ramp or other aids? The DeWolf Family Innovation Center has a smart-home showroom. See our Golden Years page.

More info: Aging Services ¡ Cedar Rapids housing repair programs ¡ Habitat Affordable Repairs ¡ HACAP Weatherization