Opinion ID: 839980
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: PHEASANT RING v. WATERFORD TWP.

Text: Five months after the Court of Appeals issued its opinion in the instant case, the Court of Appeals decided Pheasant Ring. In Pheasant Ring, supra at 440, 726 N.W.2d 741, the petitioner was a nonprofit corporation organized to carry on educational and other charitable activities, including establishing and supporting a transitional community for persons with autism. The petitioner sought a property-tax exemption for a building that it owned and rented to persons with autism. Id. at 441-442, 726 N.W.2d 741. Nothing in the Court of Appeals opinion stated that any of the petitioner's employees resided in the building to supervise or monitor the tenants. Nonetheless, the Court of Appeals held that the petitioner occupied the home within the meaning of MCL 211.7o(1). The Court looked to the dictionary definition of occupy and then, without discussing Detroit Young Men's Society, Webb Academy, Gull Lake, or Oakwood Hosp I, held that the petitioner occupied the building because it used the building in furtherance of its charitable purpose. The panel held, in pertinent part: The Township asserts that Pheasant Ring does not occupy the property because the location of its offices is not physically on the property at issue and it rents the property to tenants. This interpretation of the requirements for tax exemption is too narrow and restrictive. There is no dispute that Pheasant Ring owns the property. Although Pheasant Ring does not use the property for its own offices, the property is occupied by tenants of Pheasant Ring in furtherance of its charitable purposes. This Court, in determining whether a charitable organization occupied a property for purposes of qualifying for a tax exemption, has determined that [t]he proper test is whether the entire property was used in a manner consistent with the purposes of the owning institution. Holland Home v. Grand Rapids, 219 Mich.App. 384, 398, 557 N.W.2d 118 (1996). Under this criterion, Pheasant Ring occupied the residence. [ Pheasant Ring, supra at 442, 726 N.W.2d 741.]