CHAPTER 647
H.P. 1093 - L.D. 1552
An Act To Make Owners of Cooperative Housing Eligible for the Homestead Exemption
Mandate preamble. This measure requires one or more local units of government to expand or modify activities so as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenues but does not provide funding for at least 90% of those expenditures. Pursuant to the Constitution of Maine, Article IX, Section 21, 2/3 of all of the members elected to each House have determined it necessary to enact this measure.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §681, sub-§§1-A and 1-B are enacted to read:
1-A. Cooperative housing corporation. "Cooperative housing corporation" means an entity organized for the purpose of owning residential real estate in which residents own shares that entitle the shareholder to inhabit a certain space within a residential dwelling.
1-B. Cooperative property. "Cooperative property" means the real property, including mobile and manufactured homes, owned by a cooperative housing corporation for the primary purpose of residential use.
Sec. 2. 36 MRSA §681, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 643, Pt. HHH, §3 and affected by §10, is amended to read:
2. Homestead. "Homestead" means any residential property, including cooperative property, in this State assessed as real property owned by an applicant or held in a revocable living trust for the benefit of the applicant and occupied by the applicant as the applicant's permanent residence or owned by a cooperative housing corporation and occupied as a permanent residence by a resident who is a qualifying shareholder. A "homestead" does not include any real property used solely for commercial purposes.
Sec. 3. 36 MRSA §681, sub-§5 is enacted to read:
5. Qualifying shareholder. "Qualifying shareholder" means a person who is a:
A. Shareholder in a cooperative housing corporation that owns a homestead in this State;
B. Shareholder for the preceding 12 months in the cooperative housing corporation specified in paragraph A; and
C. Permanent resident of this State.
Sec. 4. 36 MRSA §683, sub-§5 is enacted to read:
5. Determination of exemption for cooperative housing corporation. A cooperative housing corporation may apply for an exemption under this subchapter to be applied against the valuation of property of the corporation that is occupied by qualifying shareholders. The application must include a list of all qualifying shareholders and must be updated annually to reflect changes in the ownership and residency of qualifying shareholders. The exemption is equal to the amount specified in subsection 1 multiplied by the number of units in the cooperative property occupied by qualifying shareholders. A cooperative housing corporation that receives an exemption pursuant to this section shall apportion the property tax reduction resulting from the exemption among the qualifying shareholders on a per unit basis. Any supplemental assessment resulting from disqualification for exemption must be applied in the same manner against the qualifying shareholders for whom the disqualification applies.
Sec. 5. Application. This Act applies to property tax years beginning on or after April 1, 2007.
Effective August 23, 2006.
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