Request By:
Ms. Marcella W. Horney
Administrative Secretary
Kentucky Real Estate Commission
100 E. Liberty Street, Suite 204
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: James S. Goldberg, Assistant Attorney General
This letter is in response to your correspondence of December 9, 1976 in which you have requested an opinion from this office as to whether KRS 227.550 to KRS 227.660, concerning mobile homes and recreational vehicles, apply to real estate brokers and salesmen who list for sale mobile homes which have the wheels removed and are part of the real estate, sitting on a lot or acreage.
We would refer you to Title XI of the Kentucky Revised Statutes on Revenue and Taxation. Under Title XI, KRS 132.750 states:
"If the wheels or mobile parts have been removed from a housetrailer and the unit rests on a permanent, fixed foundation, it shall be classified as real estate. "
Further, KRS 132.720 states:
"As used in KRS 132.260 and 132.720 to 132.750, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) 'Housetrailer' means any housetrailer or mobile home which is a self-propelled or non-self-propelled vehicle or similar portable structure used or maintained for use, or so constructed as to permit its being used, as a conveyance upon public streets or highways, and designed to permit the occupancy thereof as a permanent or temporary dwelling place for one or more persons, or as a sleeping place for one or more persons, or the conduct of any business or profession, occupartion or trade, or which is held for sale or lease, whether resting on wheels, jacks or other foundations.
(4) 'Permanent, fixed foundation' means a foundation permanent in nature which is so constructed as to be fixed upon the surface of the land."
In OAG 74-761, this Office held that a mobile home cannot become realty by the mere election of the owner.
"It is deemed realty if, as a matter of factual determination, the property valuation administrator, after an inspection of the mobile home on the ground and site, properly decides that the mobile home meets the test of KRS 132.750. The P.V.A. must necessarily determine whether such mobile home is personalty or realty for the purpose of taxation. He can only determine this fact by going out and looking at the mobile home and its foundation."
We recognize that the above cited statutes fall under the Revenue and Taxation statutes of the Kentucky Revised Statutes. However, it is this Office's position that if it was the Legislature's intention that a mobile home be classified as real estate for tax purposes under the provisions of KRS 132.750, it was also the intention of the Legislature that a mobile home be classified as real estate for all purposes and situations under the provisions of KRS 132.750. We therefore conclude that, for all purposes and situations, if a mobile home is, after a determination by the P.V.A., classified as real estate under KRS 132.750, it then loses its character as a mobile home.
Under KRS 324.010 (1), concerning real estate brokers and salesmen, it is stated:
"As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:
(b) 'Broker' means any person who for compensation or valuable consideration sells or offers for sale, buys or offers to buy, or negotiates the purchase or sale or exchange of real estate, or who leases or offers to lease, or rents or offers for rent, any real estate or the improvements thereon for others, as a whole or partial vocation.
(e) 'Salesman' means any person who for compensation or valuable consideration is employed either directly or indirectly by a broker to sell or offer to sell, or to buy or offer to buy, or to negotiate the purchase or sale or exchange of real estate, or to lease, rent or offer for rent any real estate, or to negotiate leases thereof or of the improvements thereon as a whole or partial vocation. "
It is therefore this Office's position that KRS 227.550 through 227.660, concerning the manufacturing and sale of mobile homes and recreational vehicles, are not applicable to real estate brokers and salesmen who list for sale mobile homes which have had the wheels removed, rest on a permanent, fixed foundation and are classified as real estate by the property valuation administrator, under KRS 132.750.
We hope that this opinion will satisfactorily answer all your questions. If we can be of any further service, please do not hesitate to call upon us.