Request By:
Mr. Billy H. Squires
Green County Court Clerk
203 West Court Street
Greensburg, KY 42743
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; Patricia Todd Thomas, Assistant Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of July 31, 1987 in which you requested answers to the following questions:
1. I would like a ruling on the type of form on the lien statement for a Mobile Home that has no wheels, permanently setting on a lot but has a title to it.
2. Also, the type of lien form for a camper trailer or a fifth wheel trailer. These vehicles are pulled by a car or truck.
In response to your first question, KRS 132.750 provides:
(i)f the wheels or mobile parts have been removed from a mobile home or recreational vehicle and the unit rests on a permanent, fixed foundation, it shall be classified as real estate.
With the premise that an affixed mobile home is considered real estate, notation on the title would be inappropriate. The security interest should be processed as any other interest in realty.
As to your second question, KRS 186A.190 requires:
(t)he perfection and discharge of a security interest in a motor vehicle, required to be registered or titled in accordance with this chapter, shall be by notation on the certificate of title. (Emphasis added.)
The term "motor vehicle" is not defined in the above statute. Pursuant to KRS 446.080, all words and phrases which are not defined by statute shall be construed according to the common and approved usage of language.
Webster's New World Dictionary, 2nd College Ed., defines motor vehicle as, "a vehicle on wheels having its own motor and not running on rails or tracks, for use on streets or highways." Using this plain meaning definition, a vehicle which is motorized requires notation on the title of the security interest or the discharge of security interest in the motor vehicle. Neither a camper trailer nor a fifth wheel would require the notation of such interests on the title because they are not motor vehicles. Security interests in these items and those of like kind which are not motorized are perfected pursuant to the Uniform Commercial Code by the filing of a financing statement. On the other hand, recreational vehicles which move by their own motive power require a notation of a security interest on the title.