2013 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 12 - Taxation
CHAPTER 43 - COUNTY EQUALIZATION AND REASSESSMENT
SECTION 12-43-230. Treatment of agricultural real property, mobile home and lessee improvements to real property; department shall prescribe regulations.

(a) For the purposes of this article, unless otherwise required by the context, the words "agricultural real property" shall mean any tract of real property which is used to raise, harvest or store crops, feed, breed or manage livestock, or to produce plants, trees, fowl or animals useful to man, including the preparation of the products raised thereon for man's use and disposed of by marketing or other means. It includes but is not limited to such real property used for agriculture, grazing, horticulture, forestry, dairying and mariculture. In the event at least fifty percent of a real property tract shall qualify as "agricultural real property", the entire tract shall be so classified, provided no other business for profit is being operated thereon. The term "agricultural real property" shall include real property used to provide free housing for farm laborers provided such housing is located on the tract of land that qualifies as agricultural real property.

The department shall provide by regulation for a more detailed definition of "agricultural real property" consistent with the general definition set forth in this section, to be used by county assessors in determining entitlement to special assessment under this article. Such regulations shall be designed to exclude from the special assessment that real property which is not bona fide agricultural real property for which the tax relief is intended.

(b) For the purposes of this article all mobile homes in this State and all improvements to leased real property made by the lessee shall be considered real property and shall be classified and assessed for ad valorem taxation in accordance with the provisions of Section 12-43-220. "Mobile homes" is defined as a portable unit designed and built to be towed on its own chassis, comprised of a frame and wheels, connected to utilities, and designed without a permanent foundation for year-round residential use. A mobile home may contain parts that may be folded or collapsed when being towed, and expanded on site to provide additional space. The term "mobile home" shall also include units in two or more separately towable components designed to be joined into one integral unit for use, and capable of being again separated into the components for repeated towing. It may also include two units which may be joined, on site, into a single residential unit.

(c) The department may further provide by regulation for definitions not inconsistent with general law for real property and personal property in order that such property must be assessed uniformly throughout the State.

(d) For purposes of this article, "homeowners' association property" means real and personal property owned by a homeowners' association if:

(1) property owned by the homeowners' association is held for the use, benefit, and enjoyment of members of the homeowners' association;

(2) each member of the homeowners' association has an irrevocable right to use and enjoy on an equal basis, property owned by the homeowners' association, subject to any restrictions imposed by the instruments conveying the right or the rules, regulations, or bylaws of the homeowners' association; and

(3) each irrevocable right to use and enjoy property owned by the homeowners' association is appurtenant to taxable real property owned by a member of the homeowners' association.

Subject to making the appropriate application pursuant to this subsection, a homeowners' association may designate one or any number of its qualifying tracts or parcels as homeowners' association property for purposes of the special valuation contained in Section 12-43-227.

As used in this subsection, "homeowners' association" means an organization which is organized and operated to provide for the acquisition, construction, management, and maintenance of property.

Homeowners' association property does not come within the provisions of this subsection unless the owners of the real property or their agents make a written application for it on or before the first penalty date for taxes due for the first tax year in which the special valuation is claimed. The application may be with respect to one or any number of tracts or parcels owned by the homeowners' association. The application for the special valuation must be made to the assessor of the county in which the special valuation property is located, on forms provided by the county and approved by the department which includes the reporting of nonqualified gross receipts, and failure to apply constitutes a waiver of the special valuation for that year. No additional annual filing is required while the property remains homeowners' association property and the ownership remains the same, unless the nonqualified gross receipts within the meaning of Section 12-43-227 for the most recent completed tax year either (i) exceed the amount of nonqualified gross receipts with respect to the property reported on the most recently filed application by ten percent or more or (ii) are less than ninety percent of the amount of nonqualified gross receipts with respect to the property reported on the most recently filed application. In that case, the owners of the real property or their agents must make additional written application with respect to the property and report the change in nonqualified gross receipts.

HISTORY: 1975 (59) 248; 1976 Act No. 618 Section 7; 1979 Act No. 133 Section 1; 1996 Act No. 403, Section 2; 1998 Act No. 419, Part II, Section 61D; 2003 Act No. 69, Section 3.K, eff June 18, 2003.