Property Occupied by Owner’s Relative Living Rent-Free Does Not Qualify as “Owner-Occupied” for Purpose of a Tax Assessment Review Pursuant to Real Property Tax Law 730

The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Rivera, over a dissent, determined petitioners’ property did not qualify as “owner-occupied” within the meaning of Real Property Tax Law (RPTL) 730(1)(b)(i).  Petitioners, the owners of a single family home, did not live there but an owner’s mother lived there rent-free.  Petitioners filed a “small claims assessment review” petition seeking a tax assessment review (SCAR) under RPTL 730.  The Court of Appeals held that the meaning of “owner-occupied” could not be stretched to include a relative of an owner living rent free in the property:

The history of the SCAR program establishes that its purpose is to address the plight of small homeowners. Limiting access to the SCAR program to owners who occupy their property reasonably restricts the program to those most likely to have limited resources and who are most economically in need of the SCAR program’s expeditious and inexpensive procedures. Hence, interpreting “owner-occupied” to mean what it says, namely a property occupied by its owner, is not such a “literal and narrow interpretation[]” as to thwart the statutory purpose … . Matter of Manouel v Board of Assessors, 2015 NY Slip Op 01555, CtApp 2-24-15