Thanks to everyone for all the replies. Now I have some great info to build my case if in fact I have to put up a fight on this issue. (Like I don't have anything better to do with my time!)
Assesors Office Wants to see Pellet Stove
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Invite them in, just pull the stove out before they come. Remember, it is not a permanently installed device. (I pull mine this time of year for the big cleaning anyway) When they ask where the stove is tell them your wife took it for a walk. 
fishingpol said:
Years ago I'm in court fighting a speeding ticket (whole other story how I got it dropped...what can I say, I'm brilliant and resilient) anyway...there is a guy there fighting a ticket for having an unregistered and uninsured car sitting in his driveway and he says to the judge, "It's a 1927 Ford under a tarp that I'm rebuilding but haven't done anything on it for years because my wife of 40 years was dying of cancer. After her death I moved from the house because we was too lonely living there without her, so he rented the house until I decided where I wanted to live the last years of my life. I only just moved the frame of the car out of the garage a few weeks back because the tenant wanted to store their wood pellets. What is wrong with you people? Why I'm not being cited for having a shed that is also unregistered or uninsured?....like my 1927 Ford, I also use it for storage and it too has no wheels, no windows. no motor and no seats and it neatly occupies about 60 sqft of the property. For that matte,r I think the area under the front steps of the house fall into that category too."
The whole court room had a giggle and the judge tapped his gable and asked him if he had any other "smart remarks".
The guy talks back to the judge and says, "that's what I cannot understand from you people! I'm getting a motor vehicle citation for something I have on my property that does not have a motor, is not drivable or movable!
The judge says...."Not movable? You were able to move it it out of the garage."
"Yeah, but I had to ask a neighbor to lift it with his son."
Judge says," Well, why don't you ask them to split the fine with you? ...and I'm not looking for an answer back from you..final ruling...good day sir, please see the clerk in the hall."
So he pleads back at the Judge....I forget exactly how it went...and most of this is kind of a sloppy paraphrase...
But he asks why he should have to pay a fine on a piece of metal, that if he desired to work on it, may be a car one day. It's like paying home owners insurance on a pile of 2 x 4's that may become a house if he chose to build it.
The judge asks him how much stuff he stores in the garage, in the shed and under the stairs or within the house of his rental property.
He responds that he lived there for 40 years and raised his family in the house and has a lot of furniture and family memorabilia, tools and other stuff one collects over a lifetime. Since his wife's passing he has not been able to deal with any of it, so he moved a few towns away so he could be closer to his sister and rented the house.
The judge then asks the guy if he can produce a tax receipt for personal property stored outside of his domicile.
The guy is awestruck and says what are you talking about?
The judge says that he is sorry for his wife's passing, but tax laws exist for the better of communities. Sir, you are allowed to keep possessions of person effect within your own primary residence, but if you are going to live in one community but store all of your stuff in another, you need to accommodate the later by declaring and paying a personal property tax. It's obvious that someone in the community isn't happy with you storing junk cars out in the driveway. That's how this whole thing started, by you collecting too much stuff. You can store person property at your own primary residence, the law affords this right to you. If you have so much stuff that you now have to store it in other places...well, you are obligated to declare it by law and pay taxes on it. Simply put, if you are going to collect junk sir, perhaps you should be responsible enough to pay your fair share for the inconvenience other communities have to bear so that you can "not deal" with.
He then orders that the plaintiff draft a letter to the assessors office of his town to notify them of a possible evasion of tax liability concerning personal property under some Massachusetts State Law and then tells the guy that he should modestly go out to the clerk and pay his fine and get his antique car properly registered and insured and then he will not have to pay personal property tax on that item.
Welcome to Massachusetts!
Welcome to Massachusetts!
Correction - Taxachussets.
I pretty much go along with the ruling powers at City Hall. They have enough crap to deal with. They try their best to work with what they have.
Correction - Taxachussets.
I pretty much go along with the ruling powers at City Hall. They have enough crap to deal with. They try their best to work with what they have.
Bub381
Minister of Fire
mralias said:Invite them in, just pull the stove out before they come. Remember, it is not a permanently installed device. (I pull mine this time of year for the big cleaning anyway) When they ask where the stove is tell them your wife took it for a walk.
If you did this, would you have to get a permit to reinstall?
Franks said:
Uuhhh. No, Franks. I was merely making a point. You were actually in error.... :red:
Bub381 said:
Photographic mind. No, that wasn't it word for word, but in the spirit of telling a good story one must fill in some of the details which decay over time. The actual story is not very far from that as I remember, but I found it interesting and was paying attention. The poor guy. The judge really had it out or him.
The assessor is looking for permanent changes to the hearth and the fireplace opening and chimney that the insert goes into.
Those are all real property and subject to appraisal.
It isn't the stove but the structure the stove went into.
Folks can play all the games they want, the assessor has the power to place whatever assessment he wants on a property subject only to state law which places very few restrictions on the assessor if the homeowner denies entry.
Then it becomes a problem of making it through the abatement process.
ETA: Used to work for a municipality in a prior life got to know the assessor there and learned a lot.
Those are all real property and subject to appraisal.
It isn't the stove but the structure the stove went into.
Folks can play all the games they want, the assessor has the power to place whatever assessment he wants on a property subject only to state law which places very few restrictions on the assessor if the homeowner denies entry.
Then it becomes a problem of making it through the abatement process.
ETA: Used to work for a municipality in a prior life got to know the assessor there and learned a lot.
mascoma said:
i have heard that they have something called a view tax in NH....if your propertyy could possibly have a view of anything they will tax you more for that.
Taxes and death....only things you can count on!
phatfarmerbob
New Member
hindsight or hindsigh.... my motto is dont tell em anything,,, prolly should have just done the install without telling anyone.. its your business, would you get a permit for changing a boiler or such im sure people do that everyday without permits.... i know of a guy who chased a building inspector off his property with a sledge hammer,, the inspector never came back. not that im condoneing violance or anything just a funny story
OK. This one is getting crazy like all of these usually do. Please come back and start a new thread with the results.
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