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Weekly UpdatesThe Court of Appeals of Ohio ruled that a manufactured home was properly appraised as real property when it was affixed to the land, regardless of whether the motor vehicle title had been surrendered.
Robert Rickett is a certified real estate appraiser and the owner of the Country Manor Management and Appraisals Company. On July 20, 2001, one of his employees appraised a manufactured home located in a residential district, which she valued as real property. However, the homeowners did not surrender the motor vehicle certificate of title until July 24, 2001. That same day, Rickett signed the appraisal report as the supervisor appraiser, after determining that the home was bolted to the real estate and that the motor vehicle title had been surrendered.
In 2003, a citizen's complaint was filed with the state's real estate appraiser board alleging that the appraisal improperly valued the manufactured home as real property while it was still personal property; in 2006, the board sent notice of a hearing to Rickett charging him with a state law violation on those grounds. At the hearing, the board found that Rickett violated eight statutory standards by improperly appraising the home as real property.
He was ordered to complete 15 hours of education, assessed a civil penalty of $250, and issued a public reprimand. The trial court overturned the board's ruling, finding that it was not supported by sufficient evidence. The board appealed.
On appeal, the board argued that the manufactured home should not have been appraised as real property before the motor vehicle title was surrendered. The appellate court acknowledged that the home was taxed as personal property until the title was surrendered; however, the court held that the home's tax classification did not determine its status as real property. The surrender of the motor vehicle title is the result, and not the cause, of a manufactured home's transformation to real property, according to the court.
Applying traditional fixture analysis, the court found that the home was real property at the time of the appraisal based on undisputed evidence that it was affixed to the land, used as a stationary residence, and intended to be a permanent accession to the real estate. The court thus concluded that Rickett's appraisal of the home as real property was proper. The trial court decision was affirmed.
Rickett v. Ohio Real Estate Appraiser Board
Court of Appeals of Ohio
June 26, 2008
2008 WL 2555045
(Ohio App. 10 Dist. 2008)
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