2010AP2073 Faydash v. City of Sheboygan

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Tax
Personal property tax; de minimus use

Where a homeowner advertised her home for rent year-round, her personal property is taxable, even though she only rented the home out for 16 days.

“It is relevant to note that Faydash’s case is distinguishable from Deutsches Land, though both cases dealt with exemption of private property rented out for commercial use. There, a pattern was established and the pattern established—for-profit use on only twenty occasions annually—showed a de minimus commercial use. See Deutsches Land, 225 Wis. 2d at 77, 84. In contrast, Faydash did not establish a pattern of de minimus commercial use. The record does not reveal that Faydash chose to limit rental to sixteen days, it simply shows that she was able to find renters for sixteen days. The year-round advertising of her home for rent translates into a year-round availability of her home for commercial use. What if Faydash had found renters for many more dates? Then again, what if a homeowner’s advertisement for rent explicitly limited available rental dates to a de minimus number of dates? In such a case, depending on all the facts, the property might be exempt under the statute. This is exactly why our supreme court recognized that these fact-specific questions ‘can only be answered on a case-by-case basis.’ Id. at 84. Under the facts of Faydash’s case, her property is not exempt.”

Affirmed.

Recommended for publication in the official reports.

2010AP2073 Faydash v. City of Sheboygan

Dist. II, Sheboygan County, Bourke, J., Anderson, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Resimius, Anthony J., Sheboygan; For Respondent: Adams, Charles C., Sheboygan

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