Volume 9 - Opinions of Counsel SBEA No. 10
Alternative veterans exemption (eligibility) (mobile home owner) - RPTL, §§ 102(12)(g), 458-a:
An otherwise eligible veteran may receive the alternative veterans exemption on a mobile home provided it is the veteran’s primary residence.
We have been asked whether a veteran who owns a mobile home located on lands leased from another may receive the alternative veterans exemption (RPTL, § 458-a).
Structures located on another’s land are generally eligible for an exemption only if separately assessed to their owner. Usually, where land and structures located thereon are separately owned, an assessor has discretion to assess the land and the structures in the name of the owner of the land, or to separately assess the structures and the land to the respective owners (1 Op.Counsel SBEA No. 95).
However, section 102(12)(g) of the RPTL, which provides that a mobile home and the land on which it is located must be assessed as one parcel, is an exception to this general rule. Nevertheless, that subdivision further provides that, if either the mobile home or the land on which it is located is entitled to any exemption pursuant to Article 4 of the Real Property Tax Law, such mobile home shall be separately assessed in the name of the owner. Assuming, therefore, that the veteran is otherwise eligible for exemption, and the mobile home is the veteran’s primary residence, he or she may receive the alternative veterans exemption.
January 29, 1987