Federal Appeals Court - Miami - National Implications for Liveaboards

[gasaholic]

This was in todays Miami Herald.

A man whose floating home was auctioned and destroyed by the City of Riviera Beach argues his boat should’ve been considered a house and not a vessel

Read more: Federal appeals court in Miami hears floating house case with national implications - Florida - MiamiHerald.com


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BY JAMES H. BURNETT III


Is it a boat or is it a floating residence?
In a case that could affect floating residence owners across the country, the Atlanta-based 11th District Court of Appeals in Miami heard oral arguments Wednesday surrounding the City of Riviera Beach’s 2009 confiscation of a floating residence that the city insisted was a vessel or a boat — and not a home.
Fane Lozman, 49, owned the structure in question: a two-story floating building valued at about $35,000 brand new.

Mod note: *** Click link for full text ***

[boatman61]

Hmmmm... interesting one.. be a laugh if florida has to repay mega bucks in back taxes with interest that they've screwed folks for on the 'residence' position..
Talk about being petty and shooting yourself in the foot...

[Don1500]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Hmmmm... interesting one.. be a laugh if florida has to repay mega bucks in back taxes with interest that they've screwed folks for on the 'residence' position..
Talk about being petty and shooting yourself in the foot...

And if this is upheld by the Fed Circuit court it will mean the same all over the country. The other states might get a bit miffed at Florida.

[capngeo]

They should look at the old houseboat row litigation in key west

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by Don1500

And if this is upheld by the Fed Circuit court it will mean the same all over the country. The other states might get a bit miffed at Florida.

Hey, if Florida is an embarrassment to the rest of the USA, just cut it loose and let it drift away... like we did with Tasmania

[Khagan1227]

Hmmm... Florida treats mobile homes the same way.

If a Mobile home is not permanently set up, the owner pays vehicle registration. If the owner sets it up on a private lot, it becomes real estate property and is subjected to much higher property taxes.

Seems to me if they decided they don't like the looks of your mobile house, they could have it towed away as being illegally parked.

Looks like a slippery slope for the state here.

Don't want to cut Florida away, it has it's purposes. One is a place for old people to go to sun bathe away and the other to collect money from Brits and Canucks looking for a vacation.

[Hudson Force]

There's no unusual mistreatment by the state in this case. If the owner claimed homestead exemption and paided property taxes, as he did, identifying his home as a "residence" and not a "vessel", then he established his own identification as not being a vessel. You can't justify a position that plays both sides of the fence. This doesn't appear to be a threat to liveaboard vessels, but more of an identification that a "condo" constructed as a box on the water is not a vessel. Take care and joy, Aythya crew

[hellosailor]

Well, that one's going to be a mess. And probably NOT with national consequences since os many of the issues allow for local weaseling.

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Floating residence owners pay property taxes and, in Florida, can even claim homestead exemptions, but they cannot register with the state as vessels.
Property records in Palm Beach County show that Lozman had indeed claimed a homestead exemption on his structure and had paid property taxes on it.

There's the question of emminent domain, which AFAIK is only applied to real estate and not to chattel goods and vehicles. If the town stated that was their policy--then the home was real estate, not a vessel.

And again, the article claims that Florida law allows a floating home (no propulsion, no intent to move) to be taxed and treated as a homestead, again real estate not a vessel.

It sure looks like this is going to be a question of emminent domain and real estate, not a boating matter at all. Sadly, the US Supreme Court has already decided that emmiment domain abuse can go bascially unchallenged in the US. By one of their usual 5:4 split decisions.

Last time a sovereign acted that way...I think the colonies rebelled, didn't they?

[captain58sailin]

Aye that they did, then the whole process started over again. It always do.

[atoll]

all the more reason to go cruising...........

[captain58sailin]

Amen Brother!